Murrurundi's Magpie Distilling has officially opened its cellar door to the public for weekend tastings.
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Named after the 'swoopy bois' that regularly visit the couple's verandah, Magpie Distilling was founded by Nikki and Geoff Drummond in Murrurundi in May 2020, and the Upper Hunter distillery has since won numerous awards for its craft gin products.
Nikki Drummond said it was a relief to finally open the cellar door project after months of delays due to COVID-19 restrictions.
"We had planned to open earlier in the year and with things being closed down it just slowed the build completely," Nikki said.
"Materials were harder to get, everything was made difficult by COVID.
"But we soldiered on, we carried on through it and the online business kept going so that was great and now we're really happy to open."
Magpie Distilling was founded in the midst of the beginning of the COVID-19 in 2020, and Nikki said she was hopeful of looking ahead to a year of business uninterrupted by COVID restrictions.
"We opened during the COVID first round in May of last year right in the thick of it," she said.
"We took a gamble and ultimately we've done really well, and so we just carried on through the year.
"It's been challenging, but we figured if we could weather that storm we could do anything."
Nikki and Geoff moved to Murrurundi from Sydney close to six years ago and Nikki said over time the couple decided they wanted to develop a business they could grow over time and allow them to give back to their new community.
"We wanted to do something creative and totally different to what we were doing before, so we took all the time we needed to get licensed over the course of a few years and then the business has just kind of evolved over time." Nikki said.
"Initially we tossed around the idea of a small brewery, but Geoff had a really keen interest in distilling and after a trip to Scotland where we visited a lot of smaller distillers over there and learned the craft a bit more we then came back to Australia and decided, that's what we really wanted to do."
Magpie Distilling has had an incredibly successful run in its first 18 months of operation, winning multiple medals
The company's flagship 'Murrurundi Dry Gin' won the gold medal at the 2020 Australian Gin Awards and followed that up in 2021 with another silver medal at the same event as well as a silver medal at the 2021 London Spirits Competition.
Other products include the Autumn Harvest Gin (Silver Medal 2021 Australian Gin Awards), the Songbird Gin, (Silver Medal 2021 Australian Gin Awards and 2021 London Spirits Competition) and the newly released Wildfire Gin which also took out a Silver Medal at the 2021 Australian Gin Awards.
Nikki said she and Geoff had been welcomed with open arms by the Australian craft distilling industry since opening Magpie Distilling.
"It's a really collegial industry, people are very helpful," Nikki said.
"There's always healthy competition but different distillers share knowledge and are always in communication."
The Drummonds hope the opening of their cellar door on the outskirts of town will provide a new attraction for visitors to Murrurundi alongside the numerous destination art galleries.
"Murrurundi is a wonderful town, we've been so well supported by the community," Nikki said.
"The beauty of the region is what drew us here but we love that there's a strong local artisan community, and not just artists but creatives of all different kinds.
"There's quite a few destinations around town and we hope Magpie Distilling will encourage even more visitors to Murrurundi."
Magpie Distilling's cellar door is now open on Saturdays and Sundays between 10am and 4pm, located at 84A Glenalvon Road on the outskirts of Murrurundi.
