WATER

The plans for our distillery were built upon a foundation of sustainability, a process we believe has delivered a state-of-the-art facility. It is purported that the true Third World War will be fought on water rights. There is no resource more valuable to sustaining life than this underappreciated resource.

From the beverage industry of spirits and beer it deserves much more respect and discussion as the majority of these products consist of water. Our largest capital expense investment was setting up a water system capable of

operating off grid and guaranteed to ensure quality was surpassed.

One of the most unique procedures in our distillery process is the use of 3 onsite bores, originally drilled for irrigating crops. A specially designed Reverse Osmosis system has been installed to demineralise the bore water and strip all impurities before it is diverted to the brewery and distillery for use in production. Here, our production team is able to add back the necessary minerals and salts to mimic specific water profiles from around the world, thus giving us the ability to capture the terroir of iconic spirits from those regions, as well as maintain complete control over the quality of our beer.

Once production is complete, the process wastewater from the distillery is reclaimed and microbially treated to be used for irrigation throughout our current and future apple orchards, hop crops and seasonal gardens.

“Multiple dams on the property, including a large 11 megalitre purposely designed dam, give us multiple storm and rainwater collection points.”

These fall and collection points are programmed, allowing us to divert collected water to the wastewater treatment plant for decanting against processed wastewater to achieve the right levels of BOD (biochemical oxygen demand) and COD (chemical oxygen demand). The water is then processed through the bioreactor, using live microorganisms to filter and clean the water, and screw pressed to remove all solids. All solid waste is then diverted to our composting program. The average distillery uses 6-7 litres of water to produce 1 litre of cask strength spirits.

This means that there is 6-7 litres of processed wastewater per litre of spirit produced. With our system, instead of sending this to the sewer, we can reclaim the water and return it to its original intended use. Returning anything to its original intended use is one of the hardest and most costly exercise, however, it allows us to tangibly reduce our impact on our land.