Introducing 'Sister Sunday'.
Local champions and champions of locals the Bellarine Distillery are providing a salve for the effects of lockdown with the release, is releasing the sister barrel of their Australian Single Malt Whisky Bad Boy Billy, which was released back in April this year. The whisky was the first whisky to be made on the Bellarine Peninsula as well as the first whisky to be made, matured and bottled in the Geelong region since the closure of Corio Distillery in the 1980s.
Now the good people at the Distillery are releasing Sister Sunday, a whisky that’s a touch sweeter and a little more mature than their first release.
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Filled into casks from the same distillation as the first release, Bad Boy Billy, it seemed fitting for the Distillery to name this barrel after their Staffordshire Terrier distillery dog Billy’s actual sister, Sunday. And like this whisky, she shows more vanilla, is a touch sweeter and a little more mature, with a finish of scones, cream and apricot jam.
Initial maturation was in two heavily charred 100L pinot noir barrels from Scotchman’s Hill winery. They were then married together and finished in a first fill ex bourbon cask and bottled at 52% ABV where this whisky truly sings.
While exciting for the Geelong region no doubt, this is a monumental effort from the Bellarine Distillery who was established back in 2015 by Russell Watson and Lorelle Warren with the dream of making a single malt whisky. They started commercial production in 2017 when Distillery Manager Craig Michael joined the team and in 2019 he and his wife Nicky came on board as business partners. They say whisky’s best friend is time and the Whiskery certainly know it.
Lucky for the gin lovers in the region, whilst Bellarine Distillery’s much-anticipated whisky was maturing, the team were working on releasing their award-winning gin range under their label, Teddy and The Fox, as well as becoming a favourite local hot spot with its rustic cellar door. Aptly named The Whiskery, the cosy cellar door, tasting room and cafe opened early 2018 and is set on seven acres in the heart of the Bellarine and has allowed visitors to experience their award-winning gin, delicious cocktails and scrumptious local produce platters in a unique setting.
Rightly so, co-founder Russell Watson has been thrilled by the success of Bellarine Distillery & The Whiskery Venue.
“Since opening early 2018, the cellar door has proven to be a popular venue for visitors both local and far and wide, with our gin products now being sent all over Australia,” he says.
“However from the beginning, the dream was to produce our own single malt whisky, made, matured and bottled on the Bellarine.”
Bottles of ‘Sister Sunday’ will be made available to the public via the website on October 3 2021, with pre-release available to their subscribers.
Set your alarms, with this being a single cask release, it will produce a very limited number of bottles that will sell out.
