Loch Brewery & Distillery

About the distillery (in brief)

Loch Brewery & Distillery is located in the small town of Loch in South Gippsland and combines a brewery, distillery, and cellar door in an old bank building with the former butcher shop as a neighbor. Ales are brewed and spirits are distilled on site, and whisky’s starting point is the house’s own beer profiles. That makes the place particularly exciting for whisky lovers, because the production bridges brewing and distillation and lets every bottling get its own cask character.

History

The story begins with an idea that grew out of a conversation about whisky and many years of fascination with single malt. Later, the opportunity arose to learn more about whisky-making at one of Tasmania’s leading distilleries, and a trip to Scotland as well as visits to small breweries in the UK pushed the project forward. The couple behind it, Craig Johnson and Melinda Davies, then found a 100-year-old red bank building in Loch, where the stills and the cellar door fit into the large main building, while the former butcher shop was converted into a 12 hL brewery. The brewery was designed in an old British style and built locally in Leongatha. They also wanted copper alembic-type stills and found them in Portugal. Commercial production began in March 2014, and since then the site has developed into a home where beer, gin, vodka, rum, and whisky are produced under the same roof.

Ingredients and production

Production starts with Australian-grown and malted barley, which is used as the base grain in the brewery, supplemented with specialty malts from the UK. The beers are described as traditional, unfiltered, and bottle-conditioned, and they’re intended as easy-drinking ales with clear malt profiles. It’s exactly these beer profiles that form the basis for the whisky: the house distills three different malt spirits from its core types and lets them mature in different cask finishes, so each batch becomes individual. Distillation takes place in hand-beaten alembic copper pot stills, and on site there are both 30- and 100-liter pot stills for gin, as well as a 400-liter Alembic spirit still and a 1200-liter Knapp Lewer wash still for single malt whisky. In addition, bottle and cask conditioning is part of the work at the address, so maturation and final development are closely connected to the place.

Maturation and cask types

Cask maturation is a distinct part of the house’s style. The whisky can be found in ex-Bourbon, ex-Barossa Shiraz French oak, and other wine and spirit casks, and the descriptions show that each release gets its own precise cask finish. The rye whiskey is aged for over five years in a single ex-Barossa Shiraz French oak cask, while different single malt bottlings point to both ex-Bourbon and Shiraz casks. Barrel-aged gin uses ex-brandy casks, and here both longer ageing of over four years and another release with more than twelve months are mentioned. This gives the house a clear focus on wine, brandy, and bourbon influence rather than standard ageing in new casks.

Whiskies

The whisky range is relatively small, but clearly built around individual bottlings and different malt profiles. At the core is Loch Single Malt Whisky, which appears as a series of numbered releases, and in addition there is Loch Rye Whiskey as a separate release. Beyond whisky, the house also works with gin, vodka, and rum, but the whisky expression is linked to the brewery’s malt profiles and to the different casks that each batch gets. This creates a series where variation in cask choice and malt base is more important than fixed standard expressions.

Whisky style and tasting profile

The overall tasting impression ranges from juniper, fresh citrus, and an aromatic, fragrant gin style to a clearly malt-driven whisky with deep, dry fruit from Shiraz casks. In the whisky and the barrel-aged expressions, wood, wine, and spiced dryness come through again, while gin’s profile often ends in a savoury or dry finish. Taken together, the material points to a style with malt fullness, citrus, dry cherry, bergamot, spiced juniper, and wine-cask depth.

Visit the distillery

The Cellar Door in Loch Village is open to the public, and visits are walk-in only with no booking. Tastings are offered and there is the option to buy directly from the door, but no food is served. Opening hours are Friday to Sunday from 11:00 to 16:00, and the house’s news and social channels are referenced for the most current holiday and special opening times. The venue is therefore ideal for an informal whisky or gin stop in South Gippsland.

The listed opening hours are Friday to Sunday 11:00–16:00.

Philosophy and craft

Loch Brewery & Distillery uses traditional methods, but combines them with modern ingenuity and local craft. The couple behind it has developed methods and recipes themselves, and both the brewery and distillery are set up to build on classic British models within an Australian setting. The products are made on site; the ingredients are chosen with care; and the whisky gets its identity through small, numbered batch bottlings, where each cask is allowed to imprint its own character.

Sustainability

Australian grown and malted barley is used as base grain.
Loch The Weaver and g&t gin use locally collected and sustainably harvested native botanicals.
Some products highlight the use of locally produced and locally sourced solutions.