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David Baker doesn’t mind a bit of drama when it comes to a dram.
The former high school chemistry teacher left behind a career in education and refinanced his house to make whisky – despite never having tried the stuff.
“No Breaking Bad comments please,” the founder of Bakery Hill Distillery laughs. “I’ve always been absolutely fascinated with chemistry.”
Since he pioneered Victoria’s single malt scene by opening the Australian mainland’s first distillery in the late 1990s, Baker has produced his whiskies in the shadow of what was coming out of Scotland.
David Baker from Bakery Hill Distillery.
Now, he believes what’s being distilled in Melbourne tastes as good as anything in the world – yes, even Scotch whisky.
“They would say the only place in the world that can make whisky is Scotland because of the air and the water – if you ain’t got the air and you ain’t got the water, you can’t do it,” he says.
“I said ‘that’s completely and utterly wrong’, it is chemistry. If you know the process, you can bloody well do it.”
Whisky maker Little Lon Distilling Co stores its barrels at the Old Melbourne Gaol.Credit: Joe Armao
Local whisky wonks can put Australian’s finest to the test when Bakery Hill and other Victorian distillers showcase their wares at Melbourne Whisky Week, which kicks off on August 18 and runs until August 27.
There will be events across Melbourne featuring Australian, Scottish and Irish brands such as Glenmorangie, Starward, Macallan, Laphroaig, Fossey’s, Timboon Distillery, Backwoods Distilling Co, Slane and Chief’s Son.
The taste for local whisky is booming. Drinks giant Dan Murphy’s reported a 150 per cent spike in sales of Australian whisky during the pandemic.
A newcomer on the whisky scene nestled among the city skyscrapers is Little Lon Distilling Co, which is the only spirit maker operating in Melbourne’s CBD.
The distillery makes gin, whisky and absinthe in a still in a small two-room heritage house just off Little Lonsdale Street, once the beating heart of Melbourne’s red-light district.
Little Lon Distilling Co’s Taylor Spelt (right) and Brad Wilson (left).Credit: Joe Armao
Built in 1877, the red brick cottage at 17 Casselden Place was once a thriving brothel and sly grog shop that survived redevelopment in Melbourne to become the last remaining single-storey house in the city.
However, the size of the property, just 23 feet by 23 feet, does pose a problem.
While gin can be consumed soon after it is distilled and proofed (when water is added to dilute the alcohol), whisky needs time “on wood” to develop flavour and complexity.
Little Lon Distilling Co. operates from a two-room cottage at 17 Casselden Place in the city.Credit: Joe Armao
Little Lon Distilling Co founder Brad Wilson had to find space to store his barrels of ageing whisky, while still maintaining its connection to the heritage of the area’s past.
After trying unsuccessfully to get access to the tunnels that run under Melbourne, he managed to secure cell 13 at the nearby Old Melbourne Gaol watch house.
The barrels have been locked up there, with no chance of parole, until ready for release. That will happen at Melbourne Whisky Week, where the first batch will be poured.
“We don’t think our whisky was the first thing to start life here and end up in a jail cell around the corner,” says Wilson.
But back to those comments about why Australian whisky can match it with Scotland. How can that be?
Scotland is known for its consistently cold climate, which Baker says slows down the maturing of the whisky, meaning it has to spend longer in barrels before it’s ready to drink.
A bottle of Bakery Hill single malt whisky.Credit: Andrew Ashton
Melbourne’s changeable weather actually provides an advantage, he says, because the oak casks expand or “breathe”, which speeds up the chemical reaction inside.
An Australian whisky aged for four years has the equivalent palate of an eight-year-old Scotch, says Baker.
“If you were to pick a place on the surface of the earth to make whisky, it would have to be Victoria,” he says.
“We grow our own crops, the temperatures are perfect for the job and the water here is magnificent. So where we are in Melbourne, Victoria is just made for whisky.”
To capitalise on the interest in local whiskies, Baker is preparing to open his distillery’s new location at a warehouse in Kensington, alongside his son Andrew.
“People say they go to work, we don’t – it’s fun,” he said.
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