Here’s a toast to Shepparton Brewery’s new Side Hustle

By Nicola Ceccato

Feb 2, 2022

In-gin-ious new idea brewed up: Co-owners Daina Winch (pictured) and Matt Milsome are keen to start using their copper gin still and produce locally-made gin for Greater Shepparton. Photo by Rodney Braithwaite

The minds behind Shepparton Brewery are trying their hand at gin distilling.

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And they’ve now got all the equipment set up and ready to go.

Owners Daina Winch and Matt Milsome are getting ready to start production in the next few weeks.

“Everything will be made here on-site and we’ll be doing an all-grain wash made with organic grain from voyager malt out near Whitton. Made out of organic barley, wheat and corn we’ll make a wash from that which is fermented grain then distil that and flavour it from there,” Ms Winch said.

“Then we’ll put the botanicals through it to make the gin. Juniper and coriander seeds will be the base botanicals for gin.”

As nothing is set in stone yet, Ms Winch said they were excited to experiment and test out different flavours when it got to that stage.

The production of gin marks the start of a new business venture for Shepparton Brewery. They plan to move the equipment to another location as it will come under the new business name of Side Hustle Distillery.

“It will be a brand new trading name under the same company, but just under a different label,” Ms Winch said.

Ms Winch and Mr Milsome are hoping to launch their product in a couple of months, once they’ve finalised artwork and started production.

“We do everything on-site and everything is brought in. So, it’ll be a couple of months before the product is ready to go once we get everything lined up,” Ms Winch said.