London Recognition for Magpie Distilling
BY JEM ANSHAW
As the year goes on we are hearing more stories about businesses launched during covid to great success, and Magpie Distilling is no different.
Not even a year on from launching, two of their products have been recognised at the 2021 London Spirits Competition
Owners Geoff and Nikki Drummond brought their property in Murrurundi four years ago and despite not having any experience in hospitality or distilling they were inspired to give making gin a go.
“I am a home brewer with a couple of decades under my belt there but I thought okay, let’s start a distillery,” Geoff said of the cheaper option to setting up a brewery.
“Given my love of whiskey and gin it was a natural fit for us.”
Their first product was the Murrurundi Dry Gin which is inspired by the land around them and flavoured with peppercorn and wild fennel, which received a gold award at the Australian Gin Awards months after launching, and has received a silver at the London Spirits Competition.
The Songbird Gin was also awarded a silver at the London Spirits Competition earlier this month with its inspirations drawing from the flavours, botanicals and smells of the Middle East.
Having achieved and exceeded what they thought they would in the first year, the next step is currently under construction – renovating a barn on site into a tasting room to help encourage tourism into the area that has been so supportive of them.
“There are things to do in Murrurundi and it is our intention to add to that portfolio of experiences that people can undertake when they visit this town,” Geoff said.
“There is a desire for this town to be something bigger and better.
“We want to dream big on this, and while we may be setting up as a fairly small regional distillery, I want to take this for a walk and to start selling in Asia – to take the Upper Hunter out of Australia.”