Not Your Average Dram: How Bellarine Distillery Turned Highland Haze into Aussie Alchemy.

Some distilleries are born from business plans, market gaps, and investor pitches. Bellarine Distillery is not one of them.

Instead, it began - as all dangerous and wonderful ideas do - with a few drams in the Scottish Highlands and the intoxicating delusion that “we could probably do this ourselves.” That spark, stoked by mist, malts, and madness, would eventually become Bellarine: the first distillery on Victoria’s Bellarine Peninsula since the 1980s, and now one of the most quietly rebellious voices in Australian spirits.

Bellarine Whisky: Aged Like a Gentleman, Drinks Like a Rebel.

Founded in 2015 by Russ Watson and Lorelle Warren - later joined by Nicky and Craig Michael - the distillery took shape not in a boardroom but in the hands of a fitter and turner, on a plot of fertile black soil once home to chickens, Cobb & Co coaches, and now, legacy whisky. Head Distiller Craig Michael brings both a Diploma in Distilling and a deep reverence for science and story, crafting spirits that are as intellectually curious as they are sensorially bold.

From the cult-classic launch of Teddy & The Fox to award-winning small-batch whiskies with names like Aquila Audax and Black Sheep, Bellarine has established itself as more than a distillery - it’s a living, breathing ecosystem where native botanicals, heritage fruit trees, wild weather and even wilder ideas collide.

Why do we love Bellarine Distillery and its whiskies? Because it’s like that friend who shows up to the party unannounced but instantly becomes the life of it - unexpected, full of character, and impossible to forget. Their whiskies don’t just sit prettily on the shelf; they invite you in with a wink, daring you to taste something different, something with soul. There’s a brilliant balance between the meticulous craft - the science and patience - and the playful spirit that refuses to take itself too seriously. Each sip is a delicious reminder that tradition doesn’t have to be stuffy, and rebellion can be refined. Plus, who can resist a dram born from a madcap idea sparked on a foggy Highland night?

Informed by all of the above, we sat down with head distiller Craig Michael in the heart of Bellarine's alchemy - surrounded by barrels, botanicals, and the unmistakable scent of something quietly maturing - to talk about instinct, science, oak as a co-conspirator, and what it means to build a whisky future from the ground up.

1. You often refer to Bellarine as a “living ecosystem.” If your distillery were a biome, what would its keystone species be - and what role do you play within its delicate ecology?

Craig Michael: If Bellarine were a biome, our keystone species would be curiosity - binding every part of our ecosystem, from experiments with yeast, brewing techniques, still operation, grain types to barrel selection and management. Curiosity allows us to test boundaries of flavour and be open-minded, not completely bound by tradition.

My role is multifaceted. As Head Distiller, I oversee the direction and intent of all our current products and new product development of gin, whisky, and liqueurs, including packaging, label creation, recipe development, production, and safety within the distillery. I also act like the mycelium in the soil that supports and connects the entire team with knowledge of our product - from our distillery door and kitchen staff, to our on-the-ground marketing teams, to our production and office staff.

As a director and business owner, along with my wife Nicky and co-owner Russ Watson, it is our responsibility to guide the overall long-term business plan with adaptability and flexibility to survive current economic headwinds.

2. The first spirit emerged not from a business plan but from a dram - an intuitive spark in the Highlands fog. How do you protect that original spontaneity as the distillery matures into legacy?

Craig Michael: We didn’t start with spreadsheets - we started with "why not?" That foggy dram in the Highlands wasn’t planned, it was felt and experienced. To protect that spark, we’ve built processes that allow the complexity and spontaneity of nature to express itself - maturation, brewing and distilling experiments, and of course well-organised and fun tasting events with our diverse and highly engaged community.

Our local community, suppliers, stakeholders, and collaborators that we interact with daily have been a huge support, and these interactions keep the original spontaneity alive and kicking.

Meet the Wizard Behind the Whisky: Bellarine’s Head Distiller and His Liquid Magic.

3. Teddy & The Fox marked your debut - playful in tone, precise in execution. How do you embed story into a spirit without letting narrative overshadow nuance?

Craig Michael: For us, story doesn’t sit on the label - it breathes through the distillate and the people who serve the spirit. Teddy & The Fox wasn’t a brand invention - it was an actual moment, a fox caught out by Teddy, the family dog, leading to a chase of epic proportions across busy roads and bumper-to-bumper traffic.

The story is real and fun and enables our guests to link the creative artwork on the label with the imagery of the story. Once the liquid is on lips, however, the nuance of flavour and sensory experience trigger personal stories and memories, which enhance the story as a whole, in harmony with the original narrative.

4. Your ‘new make’ is described with the reverence typically reserved for aged whisky. Is youthfulness, when crafted deliberately, a kind of rebellious maturity?

Craig Michael: Absolutely. A well-made new make is a manifesto. It’s loud and raw but also rich and complex - an honest reflection of the many careful and thoughtful decisions a distiller must make prior to filling the barrel. No oak to hide behind, no years to soften the edges.

When it sings, it’s because the fermentation, the cut points, the copper, the grain - all were tuned with intent. In a world obsessed with age statements, we’re saying: maturity is not just time, it’s also thoughtful intention. A baby is considered immature, but the millions of years of experimentation by natural selection and evolution to create such an organism in the first place is a miracle and wonder. A lot has happened before the baby even begins to mature. We view our whisky the same way.

5. You’ve said that oak is not a vessel but a collaborator. Can you recall a moment when a barrel changed your mind - or deepened your patience?

Craig Michael: There is an American oak bourbon cask maturing some re-casked spirit previously matured in wine barrels that had become very intensely oaky - dry, woody, astringent, full of tannins. We called the bourbon cask ‘Looks Good in Leather’ - a great song by Cody Chestnut but also a reference to the tannins used to soften leather.

We let the barrel sit. And sit. Five years later, it has bloomed into something deep, rich, and extremely complex. That cask has certainly deepened my patience! It taught me that the barrel is a teacher, not a tool. It reminded me that collaboration means listening and patiently waiting, not directing.

6. Aquila Audax, Black Sheep, Scarlet Honeyeater - each name evokes a creature both native and symbolic. How do these expressions extend the mythology of Bellarine, and what does each say about its terroir, temperament, and intent?

Craig Michael: Each name is a kind of invocation and acts as an avatar for each whisky.

Aquila Audax (Wedge-tailed Eagle) - a symbol of bold defiance and untamed power, often seen wheeling and soaring above the distillery. The spirit embodies a bold richness that glides majestically across the palate.

Black Sheep - our permission slip to break rules. This limited rare release is our first ever single cask whisky bottling and first matured entirely in a single American oak ex-bourbon cask.

Scarlet Honeyeater - a wanderer not by choice but by tempest’s whim, with howling winds and lashing rain bringing this tiny flash of crimson far from home. The uncharred French barrique used was freshly decanted of Pinot Noir from our local winery and had the same crimson colour soaked into the wood, reminiscent of the bird’s feathers.

7. Much has been said of your balance between instinct and science. But in your day-to-day practice, what does failure look like - and how has it refined your craft rather than undermined it?

Craig Michael: I prefer to see these experiences with a growth mindset - as ‘not right yet’ or ‘a stepping stone’ towards something great. These learning moments often show up quietly: a fermentation that doesn’t sing, a barrel that falls flat, a blend that feels forced. But every miss teaches something.

We don’t hide them - we taste them, learn from them, and get better. The craft is refined not by avoiding mistakes, but by listening to them. In fact, you could argue that it is only the mistakes that help improve the craft!

8. The Whiskery is both a tasting room and a kind of spiritual vestibule. What rituals or sensory cues do you design to move visitors from ‘tourist’ to participant in the Bellarine story?

Craig Michael: Sweet-Talking Barrels and Stirring Up Trouble at Bellarine Distillery.

Craig Michael: We slow people down, we chat, we get to know them. We happily drop the thousands of jobs that we call ‘busy-ness’ and talk to everyone who visits us. We guide them to taste, not just drink, by teaching tasting techniques - we call it ‘spirit yoga’ - to enhance the sensory experience.

We encourage guests to notice every detail - from the landscaped gardens to the creative artwork to the friendly staff and inviting aromas from the kitchen and bar. And especially the aroma, taste, and mouthfeel of our spirits. You don’t just visit The Whiskery; you experience it with all your senses.

9. You work with native botanicals, ancient fruit trees, and the memory of land. In a way, your spirits are a kind of archival work - are you preserving something vanishing, or resurrecting something forgotten?

Craig Michael: Yes - our work is a liquid archive, but also a resurrection. Wild coastal saltbush, walnuts from a single old tree, fruit from heritage varieties lost to mainstream agriculture - they were always here but rarely celebrated this way.

We’re not just bottling spirit; we’re bottling time, terroir, and cultural memory. Our spirits are time capsules - but they’re also messages forward.

10. The modern spirits world is noisy - crowded with reinvention and nostalgia. How do you make silence your signature? And how do you ensure that Bellarine’s voice doesn’t echo anyone else’s?

Craig Michael: In a noisy industry, we let the spirit speak first. We make quiet choices. We don’t chase trends. We don’t shout on shelves. Bellarine’s voice comes from a place that doesn’t need to compete - just to express.

Silence isn’t emptiness; it’s space for flavour to unfold, for people to find themselves in the dram. We let the unique distillery door experience quietly speak for itself, which is often louder than the best laid marketing plans and budgets!

11. Looking ahead, what excites you most - a new expression, a method yet untried, or perhaps a shift in how people listen to what you distil?

Craig Michael: Looking ahead, I’m excited by our many previous decisions and experiments finally coming to light through future whisky releases. It is only this year, after seven years of experimentation, that we have stopped tweaking our newmake spirit (unaged whisky prior to barrel maturation).

We’ve been striving for a particular mouthfeel in our spirit which we have now achieved - velvety, silky, weighty, honey-like, oily, sweet, rich, and syrupy. This means it is at least four to five years away from the public seeing the result of our current work. Each year, we have released whiskies that are snapshots of history, moments in time that capture our learnings and experimentation from that time - the best is yet to come!

12. If one could taste Bellarine's future in a single sip - a spirit not yet bottled - what might that sip reveal: a new ingredient, a philosophical shift, or a reckoning with tradition?

Craig Michael: That sip would reveal the embodiment of our whisky-making philosophy through:

The use of organic and sustainably farmed grain - not just to reduce environmental impact, but to elevate flavour.

Science and experimentation - applied thoughtfully to create a whisky with unparalleled mouthfeel.

Oak maturation - not to overpower, but to frame and elevate the spirit, like a picture in its perfect setting.

It would also express one of the three words in our tagline: Savour. Celebrate. Share.

Savour - a mindful awareness of the full sensory experience: aroma, taste, mouthfeel, and the warm, lasting body-glow that only a neat spirit can bring.

Celebrate - for us, the most rewarding use of what we make: seeing our carefully crafted spirits play a role in marking life, death, and the moments that matter.

Share - creating memories with family, friends, and future friends. Because whisky is never just about the liquid; it’s about connection.

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Words and questions by AW.

Answers by Craig Michael.

Photos courtesy of Bellarine Distillery.