Kinglake Distillery

Fifty-six kilometres north of Melbourne, where the Yarra Ranges climb toward the sky, Chantal Daniels and Sam Lowe found their calling in 2018 among the eucalyptus and mountain ash of Kinglake. Here, where bushfires once scarred the land, they built something unprecedented: Australia's first certified carbon-neutral single malt whisky distillery, running entirely off-grid on solar power.

The distillery draws its lifeblood from Chyser Creek, a natural spring that bubbles up from the earth untreated and unfiltered. This water, carrying the mineral signature of ancient Victorian soil, flows directly into their fermentation vessels—open to the mountain air, inviting wild yeasts and native pollens to join the dance of transformation.

At the heart of their operation stands a 2,500-litre copper pot still, handcrafted by Tasmania's premier still-maker Knapp Lewer. But this isn't merely equipment—it's a deliberate choice, engineered specifically to produce heavy, flavourful spirit that captures the essence of this high-country terroir. The still's copper gleams against the backdrop of rewilding native bushland, where Daniels and Lowe have set aside acres for nature to reclaim.

Their open-door distilling philosophy extends beyond the literal—eighty percent of their barley comes from growers they know personally across New South Wales, each grain carrying the story of its farm. This isn't industrial whisky-making; it's a network of relationships mapped across the Australian landscape.

The extreme temperature swings of the Yarra Ranges—scorching summers followed by crisp mountain winters—drive maturation at an intensity unknown in Scotland or Ireland. Here, whisky doesn't merely age; it breathes with the rhythm of the Australian seasons, expanding and contracting in barrels that work overtime in this demanding climate.

By February 2026, Kinglake will break new ground again with Australia's first underground whisky warehouse, carved into the mountain itself. It's a fitting metaphor for Australian whisky: taking the traditions of the old world and burying them deep in new soil, letting them emerge transformed by this ancient, unforgiving, magnificent continent.