Some whiskies exist because of boardroom decisions.
But occasionally a whisky comes to be because two guys decided that making whisky would be more fun than delivering mail or making flagpoles.
That would be The Tin Shed Guys. Ian Schmidt and Vic Orlow. They met while picking up their kids from school. Vic delivered the mail and Ian had a company making flagpoles. They got to talking, and Vic mentioned to Ian that he’d seen someone selling a still and he wanted to make some whisky. Ian already had a still that had belonged to his grandfather, so they gave it a shot.
That first batch wasn’t great. In fact, they’re lucky they didn’t start a fire in the kitchen, but now they had the bug, and that’s how Tin Shed Distillery was born.
Now, neither of them misses their old jobs, and they’ve provided a venue in the Adelaide Hills that provides the local community of Nairne with great food, entertainment, and great whiskies, rum, and gins.
Tin Shed Distillery is a staple for the town of Nairne in the hills above Adelaide, Australia. People drive up the hill from Adelaide for their BBQ, slathered in their own Rum sauce that will rival anything from Texas, and when they’re not serving up food and cocktails, they’re in the back making another batch of whisky.
There is no boardroom. Just a fast-moving bar, a busy kitchen, and a big still cooking away, and they make everything with genuine rainwater.
“The rainwater is as pure as it gets, and it gives our whiskies a gentle smoothness. We get our water from a higher source.” Says Ian.
“When it rains, we pour…”
They joke about it a lot.
But the whisky isn’t kidding. They’ve won gold awards all over the planet with their Australian Rainwater Whisky.
They even figured it takes around 17,500 raindrops to fill a 700 ml bottle.
“17,500 Australian raindrops walk into a bar…”
The bar gets busier.
And they have rum jokes too.
“Our Dark and Stormy comes from actual storms.”
Funny guys.
They tried collecting hail to put in cocktails that they could call a “Family reunion.”
The rolling hills above Adelaide are green and fertile, but all that rain is sad it didn’t get to be whisky.
“We love ambitious raindrops with higher aspirations. To end up in an oak cask for ten years and become something magnificent.”
A worthy ambition for a simple raindrop.
How would it feel to be an ambitious Australian raindrop and end up in the parking lot…
