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Katie Woolf spoke with Willing Distillery owner Dave Willing about opening Friday from Midday and the new Gin · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Well.
• 0:00
  Speaker 2: Joining me in the studio right now.
• 0:01
  Speaker 1: We're all pretty excited in here because there is a
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: brand new distillery, a Gin distillery that is set to
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: open tomorrow.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: And joining me in.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: The studio is Dave Willing, who is the owner.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Good morning to.
• 0:14
  Speaker 3: You, Good morning Katie.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: How are you very well now? Dave? You and I
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: have known each other for years.
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: Many many.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: I thinking about twenty years. That's exactly right, about twenty years.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: And mate, for as long as I've known you, you've
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: been a high ranking public servant. And then I found
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: out probably six months ago, maybe a bit longer, that
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: you were going to be opening a Gin distillery. And
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: then you sent me a message a few days ago
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: and said it's happening yeap. What made you make the
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: massive life change?
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: I think the timing was right.
• 0:47
  Speaker 4: But back in twenty seventeen, I've always had a love
• 0:50
  Speaker 4: of spirits, yep. And there's a bit of a mad
• 0:52
  Speaker 4: scientist in me as well that has always been fascinated
• 0:55
  Speaker 4: with the distillation process to make spirits. So back in
• 0:58
  Speaker 4: twenty seventeen I went down to Tazzy and I did
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: a course with the Tasmanium Whiskey Academy I also love whiskey,
• 1:04
  Speaker 4: so I studied to make whiskey and then graduated with
• 1:09
  Speaker 4: a general Certificate in Distilling from the Institute of Bruis
• 1:12
  Speaker 4: and Distillers, which is actually UK based, and then from
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: then on it just started to grow. So the business
• 1:20
  Speaker 4: plan was written and it sort of sat on the
• 1:23
  Speaker 4: shelf and other work priorities in the public sector sort
• 1:26
  Speaker 4: of took priorities for a while and the.
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: EBB and flow.
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: Anyway, June last year, timing was right. It was time
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: to take that massive sideways step public sector into a
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: very tactile business like distilling.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: Which I think it's fantastic, Like you know, as somebody
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: who's known you for a long time, I think it's
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: really wonderful that you've made that change and that you're
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: doing something so exciting and so exciting for the Northern Territory.
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: Where is this distillery opening yep.
• 1:56
  Speaker 4: So we're opening from We'll be doing tastings from tomorrow
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: midday till six pm.
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: Friday, Saturday Sundays.
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: We're located at thirty one Benison Road in Winnelly, which
• 2:06
  Speaker 4: is if anyone knows the indoor beach volleyball court, it's
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: right next door.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: What is Darwin? Have we become like a gin capital?
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: What's going on?
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: Because it seems to be a very popular drink and
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: something that you know that people seem to really enjoy
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: here in the territory.
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: I do really enjoy it.
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: Gin is very popular across the country now there are
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: distilleries popping up all over the country. There's some great
• 2:30
  Speaker 4: things happening with local botanicals, Australian botanicals, Australian flavors. We're
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: not quite so tied down with regulations as the European
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: manufacturers are. Yeah, yep, So we can do a lot
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: more experimentation when we make our spirits.
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: So it's pretty exciting. Actually, well, we're not just going
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: to be doing gin.
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: Going to be doing some other stuff as well, So
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: as a distillery, we're not going to lock ourselves into
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: one product.
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: Yep.
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: We've got initially this this first release is gin.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: Yep.
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: We've got a second release which is another gin, another
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: style of gin, coming out in may even be a
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: couple of weeks time.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: Are you hoping to export this like worldwide? What are
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: you hoping to do it?
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: That'd be awesome, but let's go baby steps first, getting
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: it to the East Coast to be nice at the moment,
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: as we know, is that killer for us up here.
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: So we've got to work through all that.
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: But at the moment, we just wanted to create something
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: that locals could be proud of, that locals can enjoy,
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: tourists can enjoy, people can use by a present for
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: their family, whatever. But we will be making some vodka
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: later in the year as well, and I'm also going
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: to very keen to lay down some whiskey and some
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: rum barrels for a couple of years. That's a couple
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: of years off before release.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: There you go.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: Well, I'll tell you what. And we always drink responsibly,
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: there is no doubt about that.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: But Maddie Hepworth and Ronnie my producer, well, they are
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: in the studio right now because when I said that
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: you were coming in, they were both incredibly excited. Now
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: they're wondering if you need any ambassadors. They don't have
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: very good song. They're like, we're happy to help.
• 4:15
  Speaker 5: Dave.
• 4:16
  Speaker 6: Well, I thought we could garnish up some kind of
• 4:19
  Speaker 6: deal this morning here where for all of my one
• 4:21
  Speaker 6: hundred and seventeen Instagram followers that you know, for every
• 4:26
  Speaker 6: bottle that they buyd I could use code map twenty
• 4:29
  Speaker 6: for an extra twenty percent off or something.
• 4:31
  Speaker 5: I've actually got one hundred and thirty two Insta followers.
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: So.
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: Funny.
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: Well, no, we are incredibly excited to have a little taste.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: And as I said, we always drink responsibly, there's no
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: doubt about that.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: But this is the first batch day, isn't it is?
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: This is BAT zero one, and this is one of
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: the first bottles, so I think so far I've only
• 4:57
  Speaker 4: sold a.
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: Couple of bottles. Yeah, this is probably about the fourth
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: bottle of double number one. Yeah, that one.
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: And there's three hundred and ten bottles in the first batch,
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: so wonderful.
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: These will go pretty quick, we think, Well, I tell
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: you what.
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: Good on you. I just think it's amazing. We are
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: going to have a little taste.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: I feel as though we need to stay on ere
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: while we do that. Ronnie and Maddie are looking like
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: it's weekend time already. They're looking like I really.
• 5:32
  Speaker 5: Like is the fact that you're opening and you pretty
• 5:34
  Speaker 5: much as I like to call it a cellar door
• 5:36
  Speaker 5: from like you're saying from midday to six and across
• 5:38
  Speaker 5: the weekend, which I think is fantastic and it gives
• 5:41
  Speaker 5: us I suppose not only territories, but a lot of
• 5:43
  Speaker 5: family and people are coming up from down South as
• 5:45
  Speaker 5: of now anyway, so it means that we can come
• 5:47
  Speaker 5: round and visit you. But you've also got the foresight
• 5:50
  Speaker 5: to say that you're going to be dealing with blocking
• 5:53
  Speaker 5: another gin soon vodka, And like yourself, I'm very excited
• 5:57
  Speaker 5: about the whiskey.
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: I am to. We have to be patient for the whiskey.
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: The whiskey has to.
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: Has to mature in the barrel, so minimum two years
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: in Australia to even be able to call it whiskey.
• 6:11
  Speaker 4: People do sell it before that and they have to
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: call it new make right. That's what it's actually going
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: to be whiskey one day.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: But well, Mattie, have you got any questions for Dave,
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: because I know that you thoroughly enjoy your jeans.
• 6:25
  Speaker 6: Yes, So this is a London dry is it done?
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: This is a London dry style.
• 6:31
  Speaker 4: Yes, Because we're making it in Darwin, we're calling it
• 6:34
  Speaker 4: Darlin dry gin and it has a little little bit
• 6:37
  Speaker 4: of an Australian a twist in there that differentiates it.
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: From the standard London dry gin. Now this is straight
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: at the moment, a little.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: In the.
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: Enjoying the smell. The smell is delicious.
• 6:52
  Speaker 6: I was going to ask it as a distiller, what
• 6:55
  Speaker 6: would you recommend with this, because I know there's that
• 6:57
  Speaker 6: that wall between tonic and soda.
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: There is a preference. My preference is actually on the rocks.
• 7:03
  Speaker 6: Yeah, isn't it?
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: It is very smooth?
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: Yeah, my preference for a tonic. And we've tried several
• 7:11
  Speaker 4: different brands of tonic, and different tonics will match with
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: different gins, so don't just necessarily say I always buy
• 7:17
  Speaker 4: the Shweps or the Cappie or whatever. We've matched it
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: with fever Tree Mediterranean Tonic is we think the best
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: tonic to mix it with. And thankfully fever Tree is
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: available and Willie's so it's pretty easily accessible too.
• 7:32
  Speaker 6: Well.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: It tastes absolutely lovely, Dave, We are going to have
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: to wrap up, mate. Where can people contact you or
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: where can people go if they're keen to find out more?
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: Sure jump on our Facebook page. We're also on Insta,
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: so it's just Willing Distillery. You'll find us there on
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: Facebook and if you google us now, actually on Google,
• 7:51
  Speaker 4: there's a Google Google Business set up as well, which
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: has our business ours and address and everything on there,
• 7:56
  Speaker 4: and there's a landline number on that.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: On you, well, thank you so much for coming in
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: this morning, and thanks for allowing us all to have
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: a taste of well this this first bottle of gin.
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: It's lovely and I love seeing territorians do well.
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: Good on you, thank you,