3 minute read
Holly’s unwavering spirit carries her to new heights
Bass & Flinders managing director and head distiller Holly Klintworth has been elected the Australian Distillers Association’s first female president. The honour has delighted the Bass & Flinders team, who said they were “so proud of Holly's achievement, which is recognition of all her passion and hard work in the distilling industry”.
Following in the footsteps of her founder father Wayne, Holly decided to move on from her marketing role in the wine industry and join the family business full-time in 2016. One of the few second-generation distillers in the Australian craft spirits industry, Holly is changing the face of spirits production in Australia.
“My dad is my daily inspiration,” she said. “When I first started my journey into wine, he was passionate about carving out a name for Australia as a world-class spirits producer. His passion was infectious and inspired me to quit my day job and start working at Bass & Flinders Distillery."
Passionate about creating small-batch, distinctly Australian spirits with a focus on local provenance and sourcing native botanicals, Holly is shaping the tastes, flavours and future of Australian gins, brandies and liqueurs, blending old-world techniques with modern technologies and flavour profiles. “We wanted to do something different, and at the time no one else was using wine to make spirits in the region.”
Drawing inspiration from the Mornington Peninsula, where the sea meets the wine-growing hinterland, the grape-based eau de vie spirit is handcrafted at the distillery using traditional Charentais distillation methods, modelled on the finest French brandy producers and blended with new-world creativity and technology. These techniques are highly labour-intensive and require an enormous amount of attention to detail, but Holly continues to place importance on quality above all else. “We choose to go the extra mile to create a premium product with complex flavours and a smoother texture and mouthfeel.”
Holly is passionate about the future of the Australian craft spirits industry. Recent figures show that less than 0.5 per cent of spirits consumed in Australia are made locally. Holly hopes an increasing number of Australians begin to choose local over international and support the craft movement in Australia.
As the managing director of a distillery founded on a passion to create fine brandies, and with the popularity of dark spirits on the rise internationally, Holly is seeking to change perceptions of this elegant spirit and prove just how great Australian brandy can be. Time and patience are the keys to producing fine brandy, and there is a beautiful merging of traditions throughout the process with the winemaker, barrel maker and distiller’s skills all coming into play.
On a constant journey of discovery, exploring new flavours and new botanicals with a focus on sustainability and local provenance, Holly’s passion lies in creating the best possible versions of the spirits. Combining traditional knowledge and modern innovation with a constant focus on quality and local inspiration, Holly steers Bass & Flinders on an exciting journey into a promising future while helping to increase global recognition of the Australian craft spirits industry.
