Animus Distillery

Animus was founded in 2015 by a group of Whisky lovers (Luke Jacques, Joel Wilson, Rob Turner and Aaron Robinson), who decided to produce Gin while waiting for their Whisky to mature in barrel. This Kyneton-based distillery initially began working out of a Fitzroy North garage. Thanks to the quality of their early Gin releases, the operation quickly outgrew this space and has now relocated to a bespoke distillery and cellar door in Kyneton.

 The key indicators of quality here include the unique freshness of the botanicals used, the pure, carbon-filtered grain spirit, the 100% vapour-pressed distillation and the overproof bottling at 50% ABV. This is where these distillers find their Gins really hit the sweet spot, showing lifted perfume, pristine flavours, creamy texture and integrated spirit. And this is absolutely what you get in the glass.

It’s hard to appreciate the scale of this artisan Kyneton distiller until you visit the premises. Until very recently, this was a distillery like no other: there seemed hardly room to swing a cat, let alone craft the complex Gins that are the specialty of this house. So, the move to a new purpose-designed site has not come a moment too soon. In what is a refinement of progress rather than simple expansion this sees the previous Piper Street distillery/bar site take on the sole responsibility of cocktail bar, while the new shed just around the corner has room for (amongst other things) a shiny new still.

 Not only does the space allow the now-full-time distilling duo of Luke Jacques and Sarah Wallace to progress their vapour-pressed Gin distilling work (remember, Animus’ botanical baskets are refreshed every two hours), but they are now also free to get their Whisky programme up and running. Then there is a new space for barrel storage (for their barrel-aged Gin, and later for Whisky), and the troops have set about re-establishing their botanical gardens in greenhouses across Sarah, Luke and Rob’s own homes. Despite these changes, Animus proudly remains a boutique operation. All the production is strictly small-batch and crafted with an obsessive, hands-on approach that is more than rare in the industry. The scale allows Animus to subtly moderate their methods with the flux of seasons and the botanicals they provide, meaning the Gins can still be appreciated for both their parallels in quality and differences in nuance—expression and evolution that shows in every drop.

While much has changed (the expansion of digs and semi-retirement of the original tiny 50-litre still in favour of a larger, state-of-the-art model), some things have not changed at all. The last time we visited Kyneton, Luke Jacques greeted us with hands ochre-stained from peeling a small mountain of fresh turmeric for his three core Gins, while Wallace danced in carrying a sack of lemon myrtle freshly picked from the distillery garden. When we talk of the core elements that make these Gins so singular, it’s still the unique quality and freshness of the botanicals that take precedence: growing and sourcing the finest ingredients remains an obsession at Animus. Then there’s the precise and potentially crazy 100% vapour-pressed distillation, where uniquely, the botanical basket is recharged multiple times during the run to capture as much intensity and fresh-picked flavour as possible.