Tasteful, spirited tour of the peninsula ONE of the highlights of Melbourne Whisky Week is a selfdrive tour of Mornington Peninsula that includes distilleries, a winery and brewery. Venues include Saint Felix, at Mordialloc, Chief’s Son, Somerville, JimmyRum, Dromana, Red Hill Estate and St Andrew’s Beach Brewery. First stop on the Lexus of Brighton Whisky, Spirits and Barrels Driving Tour of the Mornington Peninsula is Saint Felix Distillery. It offers tastings, masterclasses as well as food and spirit pairings all made on site. Bartender Orlando Marzocan will give cocktail-making lessons. The second stop is the family Chief's Son Distillery that specialises in small-batch, single malt whiskies. Owner Stuart McIntosh started making whisky after winning a competition that took him and wife Naomi on an all-expenses paid holiday to Strathisla distillery in Scotland. McIntosh said after the trip he and Naomi, who had a science degree, gave up being financial advisors to make the spirit. They imported a 40 litre still to make some whisky “for fun”, and then decided to go commercial. Launching their first whisky in 2019 the 900 Standard is their flagship stocked at BWS and Liquorland. Owner of the JimmyRum distillery, James McPherson, makes rum and cane spirit. A ship’s engineer before being made redundant five years ago, McPherson undertook a three-month tour of distilleries in the US, the Caribbean and the UK in 2016 before returning to the peninsula and opening JimmyRum. He bought equipment from Italy and two years ago JimmyRum opened at Dromana Industrial Estate. In its short history as a cocktail bar, garden bar and distillery, JimmyRum has won a gold medal at the Australian Distilled Spirit awards; came 10th in the Hottest 100 Spirits by Bartender magazine and won best-in-category at the World Spirit Awards in the UK. The fourth stop, Red Hill Estate Winery and the final stop St Andrews Beach Brewery. Once a horse training centre and now a brewery, taproom and farm, it offers two-for-one 150ml tasting paddles of pale ales, lagers, golden ales and pilsners. All venues on the tour are offering tastings and discounts from Saturday 21 August to Sunday 29 August. Stephen Taylor
Improving volunteering on our Peninsula We’re seeking your feedback about how individuals and services can better access volunteering roles and volunteers? We want to know how you find your volunteering opportunities? Our community consultation closes on Friday 27 August 2021. Scan the QR code and go straight to the survey.
Art road to recovery
TOUR of taste: Visitors at the JimmyRum distillery at Dromana take a sniff before tasting, above, while, left, Frank Fabrizio and Max Paganoni are in the barrel room at Red Hill Estate. Pictures: Supplied
AN art exhibition titled Road to Recovery is telling the stories of young people living through the coronavirus pandemic. Nineteen 10-25 year olds have created artworks, including paintings, sculptures, stories, drawings, poetry, photography and digital art to illustrate how their lives have been affected by COVID-19. Artworks in the exhibition include Ocean Lillies, a painting by Isabel Wille, 18, who said: “I wanted to make people feel calm when looking at it. Anxiety has had a huge impact on my life so whenever I looked at the ocean I would always feel better and content. Looking at nature always makes me feel better and I hope this piece will reflect calmness in others.” Isabelle York, 14, said her Breathing Barriers painting included a mask as “a kind of metaphor as masks can make breathing more difficult and act as a barrier to an essential action of the body ... [it] is representative of restrictions, acting as a barrier to something essential for the mind, socialisation”. The Keep the baby close sculpture by Jemaya Raymer Sparkes, 15, is based on a train trip to visit her grandmother at Shepparton: “My favourite memory was watching the kangaroos out the train window. Kangaroos are symbols of freedom and strength; Coco Barrent, 17, described her Diversity Blobs painting as “different emotions in a crowd”. To comply with restrictions and to reach as many people as possible the exhibition has gone online. Members of the public can vote for their favourite artwork. Voting closes Friday 6 August. Go to mornpen.vic.gov.au/R2R
Attention Schools, sporting clubs & community groups
Free advertising listings Each month the Mornington News will run a Community Events page, where your school or organisation can promote upcoming events, fund raisers, social events, etc. at no charge. This page is sponsored by the Mornington Village Shopping Centre and listings are completely free. Listings should be about 40 words and include event name, date, time & address.
Send your listing to:
Community Events
Have your say using the QR code or at: mornpen.vic.gov.au/volunteeringsurvey
PO Box 588, Hastings 3915 or email communityevents@mpnews.com.au Mornington News
3 August 2021
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