Great Ocean Road Gin reopens after falling into voluntary administration

The owner of a popular Surf Coast distillery said local support helped bring the business back from voluntary administration.

Great Ocean Road Gin's Ann Houlihan. Picture: Alison Wynd

The owner of a popular Surf Coast distillery says local support helped bring the business back from voluntary administration, which it entered less than two months ago.

Great Ocean Road Gin announced via social media that the company had “successfully emerged from voluntary administration” after creditors had approved its restructure proposal.

Owner Ann Houlihan said getting her business back was a “hard-fought battle.”

“We’re really relieved,” Ms Houlihan said.

“We had another business bidding against us at one point in time, that was really scary, but in the end we got the support of our creditors with the proposal we put forward.”

The restructure that Ms Houlihan put forward to creditors sees its Aireys Inlet Tasting Room and Southeast Asian style kitchen close their doors, while the newer cellar door style bar in Torquay will continue operating as normal.

Great Ocean Road Gin's Ann Houlihan. Picture: Alison Wynd

“We’ve had the most amazing support from (the Aireys Inlet) community, and we continue to,” Ms Houlihan said.

“I started in Aireys with the tasting room in 2018 when I first started, it was the home of the gin and we were really embraced by the community then.

“It’s sad to see it go, but it’s just too tough to have multiple businesses happening and multiple leases.”

The business was able to continue to sell gin throughout the administration period, which not only helped balance the books, but also the mental health of Ms Houlihan and her partner and co-owner Kriss McKie.

“Initially we didn’t have any of our keys to any of the buildings and we thought that was really it for the business,” Ms Houlihan said.

Great Ocean Road Gin bar at Aireys Inlet will be closing its doors.

“We went to the administrators and asked if we could continue to trade and they allowed us to, and so Kriss and I opened the doors and bottled.

“We just didn’t want to be at home feeling miserable about what the next steps are.”

Ms Houlihan said while the support the business received throughout the period helped breathe life back into it, Great Ocean Road Gin wasn’t in the clear.

“Support local businesses,” she said.

“We’re not out of the woods, we’re still paying off our debts as part of the process, and there’s others like that too.

“That’s the moral of the story, support our local producers.”

The content summaries were created with the assistance of AI technology, then edited and approved for publication by an editor.

Originally published as Great Ocean Road Gin reopens after falling into voluntary administration