Women's Culture Jill

W O M E N ' S C U L T U R E 7 M A N L Y S P I R I T S C O . D I S T I L L E R Y The sand in your toes, the ocean wind in your hair, the sun on your face – these are the things that summer is made of. Meet Vanessa Wilton, co-founder of Manly Spirits Co. Distillery, who have bottled sun and sea into some of the most delicious Gins, Vodkas and Liqueurs on the market! Capturing the harmony between carefree beach life and urban sophistication for which Manly is renowned, Founders Vanessa, David and the Manly Spirits Co. team have created award winning Australian Gins, Botanical Vodkas, Liqueurs and Whiskies that rival the best in the world taking much of their inspiration from the stunning surrounding marine environment of the New South Wales coastline. We catch up with Vanessa. M A N L Y S PI R I T S C O. H i Vanessa. Tell us the story about what made you decide to throw in your day job to build a distillery on the Northern Beaches of Sydney? We spent a boozy long weekend with great friends, enjoying Tasmania’s best culinary and cultural offerings, including a spur-of- the-moment trip to a distillery off the beaten track. After speaking to the owner about what it took to handcraft spirits in the modern world, David turned to me and said, ‘We could do this.’ Maybe it was the silly holiday mood or maybe it was one too many samples of gin, but David and I were suddenly struck by a strange possibility. With backgrounds in design/communications and chemical engineering, we knew that we had the skills to make a go of it – David at the still and me building a brand that would connect with craft spirits lovers all over the world. In those first few weeks after returning from Tasmania, we steadily worked out how we could make both whisky and gin – and, in fact, how it would be a far better long-term proposition to build a distillery capable of making both, but also other spirits that we may not have even thought of yet. We’re quick learners, It didn’t take long for us to realise that making a gin is a highly creative endeavour, where a sense of place can – pardon the pun – be distilled into a spirit via the use of nature’s botanical palette. We don’t see making a great gin as a technical exercise, It’s about flavour combinations and balance developed over time, through countless small-scale distillations and tasting sessions. We do know that frangipani doesn’t make a good gin. Tell us about your life in the Northern Beaches and how that has influenced what you do at the distillery? As the birthplace of Australian surfing, and one of the world’s five surfing reserves, Manly Beach offers a lifestyle that people from all over the world are drawn to – and waves that they seek to surf! We get up early and stay out until the sun goes down. You could try a new restaurant every night for a month, and you’d still just be scraping the surface of the Northern Beaches booming food scene. We draw inspiration from the ocean and incorporate its elements into our gins & liqueurs. We sustainably forage sea lettuce from the semi submerged rock shelves along the beaches and collect kelp to bring the taste of this beautiful area into the bottle.