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As this is the first Finders Distillery Blog post we would like to introduce ourselves and catch you up on our journey so far. My name is Kyle and I am the head distiller and co-founder here at Finders Distillery. I spent 10 years in the Royal Australian Air Force as an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer and have since worked in engineering for a food machinery company and as a project coordinator for an Audio-Visual Integrator. Georgia is the other half (& my other half) that makes up Finders Distillery. Georgia is a Co-Founder and brings her experience in buying and marketing to the team. She started her career as a Buyer in Women’s Apparel at The Iconic and moved onto a senior buying role in the alcohol industry in 2018. Together we make up the small but enthusiastic Finders Distillery team.
It all started for us in 2016. The combination of studying full time and working full time left us needing a holiday. We sat down to work out where we wanted to go and for how long. The conversation soon turned to “if we sell everything, how long could we travel for?” With a very conscious budget, the number was 2 years.
So, in November 2016 we set off on our two year around the world trip, first stop Nepal. During the adventure we were lucky enough to visit so many amazing places, see unbelievably beautiful scenery and learn a lot about ourselves and different cultures from all over the world.
We left Australia open to the idea we might settle somewhere overseas. Although we didn’t find a new home on the trip, we did find a new interest. We found ourselves visiting wineries, breweries and most of all distilleries everywhere we went. We discovered rice wine in China, sake in Japan, breweries in Portland, bourbon in Kentucky, pisco in South America, and took a self-guided whisk(e)y tour round Ireland and Scotland to name a few. We particularly enjoyed learning about the different distilling processes, the craftsmanship and the stories behind the distilleries we visited. We loved the industry and the craft, we decided we needed to be a part of it.
During our many road trips we spent countless hours throwing ideas back and forth about aspects of the international distilleries that would be amazing to bring to Australia. Most importantly we came up with a unique idea for a distillery and series of products that we loved and wanted to share with others (more on that later).
In August 2018, after a long shift at the bars we were working in, we continued to discuss our idea and work on some of the details. From our small hotel room in Ireland we registered Finders Distillery and celebrated with an Irish Gunpowder Gin & Tonic.
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