Above left: Angela and Gareth Andrews checking the whisky barrels. Above right: Brewing the whisky wash and making the liquid ready for distillation is a labour intensive process. Bottom left: Gareth testing their wares. Bottom right: ‘New make’ spirits are completely clear before they go into the barrels.
Great craft beer, Gareth tells me, should be treated like milk; it has to be transported and stored at a low temperature for it to be at its best. Whisky on the other hand is a far more stable and consistent product. ‘It’s easier to send a bottle of whisky to Germany than it is to send a carton of beer to Melbourne,’ says Gareth. In addition to traveling well, whisky has a significantly longer shelf life than beer and can be kept open for much longer periods of time. This allows connoisseurs to explore whisky from across the globe and develop extensive whisky ‘libraries’. Humans have been distilling for a long time. It’s possible the Babylonians were distilling in the second millennium BC. The art of distillation spread to Ireland and Scotland in the fifteenth century and the first evidence of whisky production in Scotland comes from an entry in the Exchequer Rolls for 1494 where malt is sent ‘To Friar John Cor, by order of the king, to make aquavitae’. In recent years, whisky has enjoyed a surge in popularity with several small-scale distilleries popping up in unexpected locations. ‘Whisky has a certain sophistication,’ says Gareth. ‘It has complexity and depth of flavour. You can have several bottles in your ‘library’ open and there is no strict timeframe in which it must be consumed.’ Like beer, whisky starts with barley, water and yeast. But that’s where the similarities end. While a batch of beer can be brewed in five to six weeks, whisky is a labour of love ... and patience. It takes on average around five years for a barrel of whisky to mature, but as I’m about to learn, there is no usual when it comes to this liquor. ‘It can all depend on the particular micro-climate that that barrel is sitting in,’ says Gareth. ‘If it’s just slightly cooler than the others stored on top, it’ll take longer and taste completely different.’ Indeed, whisky maturation is so variable; there is an element of the unpredictable, if not magical to it. ‘The end result is affected by the barrel size and what it was previously used for, where exactly in the shed the barrel is located and then also what the weather is like in the place it’s being stored; our terroir,’ says Gareth. ‘Unlike Adelaide’s heat waves throughout summer, by the afternoon we get this amazing, cooling sea breeze. Goolwa’s climate is ideal for whisky making.’ The process begins with crushing malted barley and mixing it with 18
pure spring water, which Gareth and Angela have trucked in from Mount Lofty. The ‘wash’ is then fermented for eight days and then distilled twice, bringing the alcohol content from six per cent to seventy-three per cent. Finally, the whisky is watered down and put into a reconditioned barrel that originally held a fortified wine such as sherry or port. This is where the real magic happens. ‘There are just so many factors, every barrel has its own distinct character,’ says Gareth. ‘The complexity of flavours within whisky is just incredible,’ Angela adds. ‘One barrel may have strawberry and cream flavours, sometimes you’ll get coffee overtones or salted caramel and raisin, it’s just amazing what can happen in the barrel.’ To maintain consistency of flavour, Gareth and Angela take several barrels and blend them, before the whisky is bottled. ‘We want people to be able to taste our whisky and say ‘yes, that’s Fleurieu Distillery,’ says Angela. ‘We are aiming for high quality and consistency of flavour.’ Fleurieu Distillery whisky is only available from the cellar door or by joining the mailing list, but already it has a strong following. Their ‘First Release’ became available in November last year and was quickly snapped up. The second release, a peated whisky called ‘The Rubicon’ has limited numbers. Future releases for this year include the lightly peated ‘Whisky Kisses’, and ‘River’s End’, an unpeated single malt whisky. The number of bottles, which are hand-numbered, varies for each release. ‘It’s labour intensive at times but it’s good,’ says Gareth. ‘This is very much a family business and we’re really proud of what we’re doing.’ Throughout our entire interview, Gareth and Angela’s two sons have been playing next to us. They’re as comfortable in this building, full of sounds and steam, as they would be in their own living room and that’s exactly how Gareth and Angela like it. ‘As a family owned and operated business our growth is much more organic and familyorientated than if we were a large-scale, investor-driven operation,’ says Angela. As much as the Andrews family is breathing new life into the historic building, filling it with purpose and enterprise, the magic of whisky is also weaving its way into the fabric of their future.