Three years on from its purchase of the historic Beenleigh Distillery in Queensland, Bickford’s Group of Companies including Vok Beverages has completed the $5 million upgrade of Australia’s oldest registered distillery and new visitor centre. The South Australian based, family-owned business has made this upgrade as part of a wider $25 million investment into Queensland and hopes to attract up to 200,000 visitors a year to the site as a result. Dating back to ...

Diageo Australia has appointed Anthony Mortimer as the new Chairman of Bundaberg Distilling Company (BDC). Mortimer joined the Australian business as Supply Director in July and will continue his role in conjunction with the new appointment. In Mortimer’s new role as Chairman of the BDC, he will be responsible for advising on new liquid innovation and business strategy, as well as distillery operations and development plans. Mortimer will also be ...

Kegstar has announced that existing investor Brambles has increased its 30 per cent ownership to acquire 100 per cent of the supply-chain logistics company. Under the new ownership, significant investment will be put behind Kegstar to expand the company into UK, which the company says will open up the opportunity for customers in New Zealand and Australia to export their beer there in Kegstar kegs. Kegstar first launched in December 2012 with 880 kegs, one ...

A producer of exclusive, super premium spirits has expanded its footprint to Australia, bringing with it a portfolio of high-end whiskies, including The Last Drop 1967 Glen Garioch Single Malt Scotch Whisky and 48 Year Old Blended Scotch Whisky - both 2015 award winners in Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible. The company, The Last Drop Distillers Limited, is owned by whisky industry veterans, James Espey, Tom Jago and Peter Flack, who came together ...

Treasury Wine Estates is midway through implementing a new distribution model under which customers will no longer be able to order wines directly from the company. Orders will now be fulfilled through wholesalers, which a company spokesperson told drinks bulletin is “part of a broader strategy to continually drive improvements in business performance”. “We can confirm that this new model will not impact the level of service our sales team ...

Retail Sales and Events Manager at City Wine Shop Melbourne, Adam Cotterell, has been named Dux of the 2015 Len Evans Tutorial. As Dux of the course, Adam will now be guaranteed judging positions at two of Australia’s most premier wine shows, the Sydney Royal Wine Show and the National Wine Show in Canberra. Adam will be flown business class to London and then onto Europe with invitations to the greatest wine houses. The Len ...

Four Pillars has appointed bartender Sam Ng as its full-time Gin Ambassador and Bartender in Residence. Sam previously worked at the award-winning Black Pearl in Melbourne, where he moved up the cocktail ladder from bar back to General Manager. Sam has also collected a number of personal awards, including Australian winner of the Olmeca Altos Tahona Society in 2015 and 2014 winner of Bombay Sapphire’s Project Botanicals. Sam has also been ...

UK wine writer for The Sunday Express and publisher of leading wine website WineAnorak.com, Jamie Goode, landed in Australia this week to embark on a tour of Australia’s wine industry. During his ten day stay, which began on Thursday (26 November), Goode will visit Sydney’s Rootstock festival as well as producers in the south of Australia. Goode’s trip is being sponsored by Wine Australia, who is hoping that the first-hand tour will ...

The 2015 winner of ‘World’s Best London Dry Gin’ at The World Drinks Awards is now available to Melbourne-based on-premise venues from The Wigs Cellar. The Wigs Cellar has been appointed as the official supplier of the Scottish gin for major bars and restaurants across the city. The NB Distillery is located on the east coast of Scotland in North Berwick and follows the stringent London Dry distillation process to the letter to ...

In response to the growing number of people wanting to have a go at making their own craft beers, Coopers Brewery has released a new series of DIY beer extracts. The series will mean at home brewers can now create all sorts of brews, including the most popular styles of craft beer. The new series is being released under Coopers’ existing Thomas Cooper label and includes an amber ale, American pale ale ...