Robbers Dog Distillery to expand to ambulance depot

Robbers Dog Distillery has been serving up a variety of alcoholic beverages in Mount Pleasant since 2019, and such is the demand they’ve had to take emergency action.

Cath and Rob Davies of Robbers Dog Distillery. Picture: Emma Brasier

There are all too many negative experiences with alcohol and ambulances but one distillery is looking to combine the two in a way which will entice their customers.

Robbers Dog Distillery has been serving up a variety of alcoholic beverages including vodka, gin and rum in Mount Pleasant since 2019 and such is the demand that they have had to expand to the area’s ambulance depot.

Owners Rob, 54, and Cath Davies, 52, said the irony of turning an ambulance station into a distillery is not lost on them as their current site used to be a bank.

“I love the irony of it, same as we bought an old bank that closed because it got robbed three times,” Mr Davies said.

The need to expand was partly due to a lack of space in the couple’s home, which is out the back of their current distillery premises, Mr Davies said.

“Where we are currently located, will stay as our bar and our shop venue, our plan is to move our distilling operation to the old ambulance station and to make the alcohol there and move it to the bar.”

Mrs Davies will be happy to have more space in the house after the move, Mr Davies said.

“As we’ve been growing, things get a little bit out of control and we find we’re surrendering the house to the distillery just with storage and everything else.”

Rob and Cath Davies have plans to expand their distillery to the site of an ambulance depot 150 metres away from their current site in Mount Pleasant, SA. Picture: Emma Brasier

He described his living situation with all the equipment as “condensed”.

And the ambulance crews even still work at the station.

“It is still tenanted by the ambulance station until the end of February so nothing happens before then,” Mr Davies said.

“They still have it as a location and my understanding is they’ve mostly moved out.”

He said the ambulance crews are supportive of the idea.

“I think the council had it envisioned that someone was going to buy that block, bulldoze the building, tear up the bitumen and put in two house blocks,” Mr Davies said.

“I’m guessing the ambulance people are pretty happy to see that it’s going to stay there and they get to keep a bit of their history.”

The distiller plans on keeping some remnants of the previous tenants on display.

“I was thinking about leaving the sign out the front if they wanted to but it depends how much they strip out,” he said.

But Mr Davies will have to wait for a decision by council on whether his plans can go ahead.

“The building is in a residential area and it has to go to public comment and we’re not going to find anything out until the end of February,” he said.

However, he is not concerned about the decision and expects plans to progress smoothly.

“I’m confident that we’ll get to do what we want to do as distilleries don’t make a lot of noise but we’ll see what the council says.”

Mr Davies even has a backup plan if his distillery operation is thwarted.

“We could have a fabulous little Airbnb.”

If his plans pass public scrutiny, Mr Davies expects to be up and running in the second half of the year.

“I can’t see it up and running before middle of this year.”