New whisky distillery to add spirit to fire-ravaged Hills town
A South Australian booze distributor has revealed plans to open a whisky distillery in Cudlee Creek - the first of its kind in the Adelaide Hills.
Adelaide Hills
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A new whisky distillery and brewery will add spirit to a fire-ravished Hills town from early next year.
Steve O’Connor and partner Gerri Milham – owners and founders of beveragesa.com – are in their final months of converting a 1920s cold store in Cudlee Creek into a cellar door for craft beer lovers and whisky connoisseurs.
It will be the first of its kind for the region according to the craft beer enthusiasts who previously operated the Farm Shed in Hahndorf.
“It took us four years to get council approval, so it’s been a long, hard battle but we got it over the line and are really looking forward to opening our doors,” Mr O’Connor said.
“We were aiming to open in October originally but then the fires and COVID happened, but what has really slowed us down as been all of the recent rain which has put us four to six weeks behind.
“So now we’re looking at opening early next year but hoping to have beers out before that.”
To be known as Union Bridge, Mr O’Connor said the plan was to serve and sell six locally brewed beers and its own whisky range.
The cellar door will also serve light meals, including tapas and pizzas.
Long-term plans also include setting up of three bed and breakfast-style cottages, pending council approval.
“It’s a great little location. The Tour Down Under goes past here every year and we also had a traffic study done which shows about 5000 cars go past daily,” Mr O’Connor said.
“We’ll have a licence for 50 people, which is not a bad thing but will also run functions once a month.
“We’ll also aim to be family friendly with lots of room for kids to run around.”
While microbreweries are a growing trend across the region, Mr O’Connor believes establishing the Hills first whisky distillery would help set them apart from the rest.
“Originally, when we had the restaurant in Hahndorf, we were looking around for local SA whisky and couldn’t find any.
So that’s really what pushed us along to wanting to add a whisky distillery, although there are a couple that have come in since, there’s still no one doing this in the Hills.
“There’s a lot of gin around but not whisky, so for us it’s about filling a market gap and one we’re very excited about.”