Prohibition Liquor Co. is inviting its fans to become shareholders, as it preps big Seppeltsfield move

You could soon own a stake in Adelaide’s Prohibition Liquor Co., with the company raising money for a big move to an historic distillery at Seppeltsfield.

Prohibition Liquor Co director Adam Carpenter.

Prohibition Liquor Co. fans will soon be able to own a stake in the gin company, which is looking to raise up to $3m in a crowdfunding campaign to underpin an expansion to an historic 147-year-old distillery at Seppeltsfield.

Prohibition director Adam Carpenter said the company was looking to move to the next level, but rather than selling out to a large multinational to fund the vision, they would prefer to invite their fans to become shareholders and keep the company Australian-owned.

Mr Carpenter said Prohibition had signed a lease with Seppeltsfield to take over the distillery, and now needed to fund some substantial renovations.

“It’s bringing it back to life basically,’’ Mr Carpenter said.

“The investment money will allow us to do some amazing things up there.’’

Prohibition makes distinctly South Australian gins, such as the Chihuly gin launched in collaboration with the Chihuly glass exhibition currently on show at the Adelaide Botanic Garden, an Adelaide Festival gin and a Field Blend Shiraz gin made with South Australian grapes.

Mr Carpenter said the old distillery was adjacent to the Seppeltsfield winery and would allow the company’s cellar door, hospitality and production operations to expand from its current Adelaide headquarters.

“We have pretty much maxxed out our space here in the city,’’ Mr Carpenter said.

“We will keep producing spirits here in the city but there were two things we needed, more bums on seats so to speak in the hospitality capacity but also more production capacity, so we’ll be producing and bottling more out at Seppeltsfield.

“We started in a backyard nine years ago. We had no idea how big and how fast the company was going to grow.

“We have won a lot of awards and have these huge opportunities to grow, like the move to Seppeltsfield, but rather than sell out to a big multinational to be able to afford to do it we want to share it with out loyal customers and new people that want to be part of something exciting as an investment.’’

Mr Carpenter has been a strong critic of Australia’s high excise rates for spirits - the third highest in the world now, he says - and would like to see reform in this area to support the local industry.

“We keep succeeding despite that, but with what we would be able to do with additional export growth and investing back into the company for further growth, some excise relief would be appreciated,’' Mr Carpenter said.

He added that the excise applying to spirits was about double that which applied to beer and that the tax applied to wine had been stagnant for some time, meaning there was a lot of inequity in the tax system for spirits producers.

Prohibition Liquor Co. has won more than 200 awards globally including Australia’s Best Gin three times at the Royal Australian Spirit Awards.

An expressions of interest program has been launched on crowdfunding site OnMarket which is currently live.

Prohibition is offering about 12 per cent of the company in return for the new shares.