St Duke’s Distillery: Harvey Cheese uses leftover produce to create gin in a first for WA

Harvey Cheese is using the leftover whey from its produce to create a unique line of gin in a WA first and has even opened up its own distillery. Initially a side project for the award-winning cheese producer, St Duke’s Distillery has already sold eight bottles and owner Robert St Duke said the verdict so far has been “unbelievable”. “We got our distillers licence on (May 3 2022) and have been at it for nearly two and a half years to get it up and running,” he said. “My next move is to try and get somebody in behind the bar and someone else who can run it on a regular basis,” he said. A lengthy process, the whey starts as a by-product of cheese production and fermented for a week, it is then boiled, put through a condenser and cooled down. Left with a liquid that is 96 per cent alcohol Mr St Duke said he puts it through a charcoal filter to “take out any nasties” and adds water — lowering the liquids alcohol percentage to 40 per cent. After distilling the alcohol with botanicals from his neighbours garden the gin is finally bottled, Mr St Duke said he is excited to explain this process to the distilleries future visitors. “We’re going to do tastings but by appointment only . . . If I do it on the hour every hour, instead of just one after the other, I can then have a group of people and explain the process of distilling,” he said. “I’m thinking about (how many people it will attract), I’m worried because I may not have a car park big enough.”