Kinglake Distillery in the Yarra Valley may be relatively new to the whisky industry, but is determined to make waves having just announced its commitment to produce Australia’s first government certified carbon neutral whisky.
Owners Same Lowe and Chantal Daniels said they plan to achieve their goal by offsetting their carbon footprint increasing the sustainability of their whisky making processes and undertaking rigorous auditing. Kinglake Distillery aims to produce their first certified carbon neutral whisky by the end of this year. They are also setting aside land for the re-planting of indigenous native forest.
A statement from the distillery says: “Kinglake is different, and so is the whisky. There is no power, water, gas, or telephone lines to the Distillery, instead using a mixture of solar and generator power for electricity, a tank for gas and onsite dam for recycling cooling water, making it completely off-grid. Its surrounds comprise of deep forests, impenetrable bush, mountain streams, and national park.
“The Distillery is specially designed to take advantage of its bush setting and rural location. Situated on top of the hill, one of the mountain streams rises on the property and runs almost all year round.”
With such surroundings and with a philosophy of understanding the provenance of everything that goes into their whisky the step into being fully certified carbon neutral, while significant may not be as challenging as it is for others.
Eighty per cent of the barley is farmed and malted in New South Wales and each grower is known to them personally.
Rather than focusing on single cask releases, the couple maintain a consistent line of the best malt they can make by vatting different barrels (typically small-format ex-bourbon barrels re-coopered in Australia). Smaller casks are perfectly suited to ageing conditions in the Kinglake Ranges.
A 2500 litre copper pot-still was handmade for them by Tasmania’s premier still-maker, Knapp Lewer, and was engineered to produce a heavy, flavourful spirit, with nature influencing every stage of the whisky distilling process.
The couple foster a strong brand ethos centered around authenticity, honesty, and integrity; hence their belief in charging the minimum they can for their product, rather than the maximum they can, charging $100 per 500ml bottle.
