Next in our ‘Meet the Distiller‘ series, aimed at promoting the hard-working individuals behind Australian craft distilleries and their brands, we meet Holly Klintworth of Bass & Flinders Distillery in Victoria.
Holly Klintworth Bass & Flinders – Photo: Supplied
Tell us a little about yourself, your position, where you work and where it’s located.
I am the Managing Director and Head Distiller at Bass & Flinders. We are a family owned and operated distillery and I am a second generation distiller, having recently taken the reigns from my father.
Bass & Flinders Distillery is a Single Vineyard distillery and the first to be established on the Mornington Peninsula. We have just relocated from Red Hill to Dromana, ten minutes down the road to a purpose built facility where we have a lot more space and room to grow.
How did you get started in distilling?
My background is in business / marketing but I’ve since proven to myself that it’s never too late to learn. My career started in the wine industry and I was interested in starting my own wine label so I took a trip to France to explore my passion further. I met not only winemakers but also distillers and my visit to Cognac was where I first really saw the merging of wine with spirits.
I took more interest in my dad’s hobby when I returned and I started to help him at the cellar door on weekends. I quickly found that working along side my dad, creating grape-based products was where I wanted to be. In 2016, I made a full time commitment to the distillery.
Tell us a little bit about your distillery, when it was founded, the vision behind it and the spirits you currently produce.
Bass & Flinders Distillery was founded in 2009 as a project, inspired by a passion for the traditional distilled fruit and grape based products of Europe. We wanted to take on the challenge of making fine brandies such as those found in the Charente region of France. We were inspired, by tradition and challenge of producing quality aged spirits through the distillation of fruit such as grapes. Every stage of the process was important to us, as was the creativity of the process and attention to detail and is why we chose to produce our own grape based spirit eau de vie in house for use across our entire product range including our gins.
At the time, it was rare to use wine to make spirits in Australia and certainly not on the Mornington Peninsula. We really wanted to add value to the local region by turning wine into spirit which happens a lot in Europe but there were no other distilleries on the Peninsula doing this.
Originally we set out to produce a premium brandy called Ochre – and while this was maturing in French oak, we played around with other products using the same eau de vie as our base spirit. Today we produce a range of spirits, fruit and grape brandies and liqueurs.
What is it about your products that make them so unique?
It is a rare practice in the spirits industry to be producing one’s own grape-based spirit from scratch because it’s a time consuming and expensive process to undertake. We hold our traditional methods of eau de vie distilling in high regard as all of our gins, spirits, liqueurs and brandies are created from this base spirit using Victorian grapes sourced from one vineyard. We are a vine-to-bottle operation and this makes us a one of a kind distillery.
Whilst most gin makers focus on the botanical blend, we decided to also utilise the quality and characteristics of the base spirit itself. We distil Chardonnay wine for our brandy and have worked with the winemaker to select a particular clone of Chardonnay for its properties that were most comparable to the white grape varieties Ugni Blanc and Folle Blanche, used to make fine brandy in the Charente region of France. We distil Shiraz wine for our gins because of the bolder characteristics we want to emphasis rather than mask with our botanical blends. Our Shiraz eau de vie presents unique flavours, aromas and viscosity which are not often the focus for gin production.
What has been the most rewarding part so far, and are there any innovations that have impressed you?
I love the idea of taking something traditional and putting a new spin on it like adding a new native botanical to a traditional gin botanical blend, or utilising traditional French methods and working with the grape variety Chardonnay to produce a uniquely Australian brandy.
In the wine industry, every vintage is different and tells a story. I found similarities with what we were doing at Bass & Flinders for our premium brandy. Gin, on the other hand, is where I’m really able to explore new flavours and create in small batches.
In terms of innovation, Angry Ant Gin has one of the most unique ingredients. We use pheromones extracted from gravel ants, for their unique aroma and flavour reflective of the local native vegetation. These ants are agitated very easily and it’s the moment when their alarm pheromones are released. We worked with an entomologist from Melbourne University to help us extract these pheromones and use them as one of the most unique botanical flavourings in our gin.
Aside from taxation, what has been the most challenging part so far?
The objective of the distiller is to ensure the wine and spirit are the same each year to ensure consistency in the final product. It’s not possible to ensure every ingredient, botanical and wine vintage is replicated given we’re working with organic products where flavour profiles and aromas change from season to season.
Working in small batches, my ongoing challenge is to ensure this quality and consistency is maintained with every batch and that each batch is a true reflection of the ethos of Bass & Flinders – that is to utilise the quality and characteristics of the base spirit itself.
While most gin makers focus on the botanical blend, we decided to also exploit the quality and characteristics of the base spirit itself. Our gin eau de vie spirit is made from selected Shiraz grapes, normally used to produce a bold and complex wine. We have selected our gin botanicals to complement and work in harmony with this eau de vie base so that the flavours and aromas interact to produce very unique gins with added flavour, mouthfeel, texture and overall tasting experience, and it’s about getting this balance right every time.
What advice would you give anyone considering distilling as a career?
The generation of people who are choosing to buy local craft spirits is very sophisticated and care about the story behind the product. It’s important to think about how you want your product to stand out from an increasingly crowded marketplace. For Bass & Flinders, we are focused on hand-crafted nature and the uniqueness of our products. We are a real heritage brand with a story linking craft from the past to modern technologies and flavour profiles of the future.
The Australian spirits industry is an extremely collaborative one. Talking to other distillers in the industry is the best way to learn, grow and understand where you might fit within the marketplace.
What’s your opinion on the current state of Australian distilling, and is it sustainable long term?
We have over 180 distilleries in Australia at present and less than 1% of the total spirits consumed in Australia are Australian craft spirits. As a whole, our industry is still in its infancy and many of these producers are making products on a very small scale. There is still a lot of room for growth and innovation in the Australian marketplace.
Although there are new distilleries popping up all the time and releasing new products to the market, there’s still huge room for growth in Australia and also internationally – not many brands are exporting to the world but there seems to be a lot of interest in what we are producing and the unique expressions of different spirits we can bring to the global marketplace.
Where do you see the future of Australian distilling heading?
The industry has come leaps and bounds even just in the last 5 years. As it grows, developing a sense of place through working with local businesses and using local produce will become an increasing focus.
Our goal in Australia should be to show local and international lovers of craft spirits that our products can rival the largest producers of the world. The more distilleries there are, the more we all strive to improve and make more ground-breaking products and the stronger we are at taking on international brands. We can band together and advocate more strongly for the interests of Australian distillers on topics such as the Australian spirits tax.
Are there any projects in development that we can look forward to?
I’m focusing a lot more on local fruit and native botanicals found on the Mornington Peninsula. We also need to streamline a few processes that are still being done the same way as when we started. We will probably keep hand-zesting limes and oranges because I haven’t found a better alternative that gives the same freshness of flavour. We will probably still hand-label small batches and limited releases. But now we have the space to be able to source a larger still than our current 300L pot still. This will help us process the tens of thousands of litres of wine we need to distil each year to produce enough eau de vie for our product range.
We want to grow organically, nationally and perhaps even internationally. But we want to do this in a sustainable way, retaining our points of difference which is hand crafted, small batch, unique products.
Any closing comments?
It’s a very exciting time to be part of this budding Australian spirits industry.
Bass & Flinders Distillery is listed in the Australian Distillery Directory.
In partnership with Bass & Flinders Distillery.
