Hepburn Distillery began with the idea of local and drawing from the mineral-rich soil, and abundant rainfall of Hepburn Shire. Surrounded by forest in cold, spud country, the owners of Hepburn Distillery were inspired to make a product that grew locally, was free of chemicals and low in food miles. They source as many of the raw materials locally, organically and seasonally and grow some of the botanicals for the gin.

Meet Basil and Jane, owners of Hepburn Distillery. They LOVE trees. They love hanging out with trees, they love planting trees and they love how important trees are to life on this planet.

East Otway, VIC | 15 trees | 2025

The native trees, shrubs and grasses were planted at the old Bambra Tip site, located in Bambra Bushland Reserve (managed by Parks Vic.) Gadubanud country. This tip was created after the Ash Wednesday fires for landholders to dispose of burnt fences and damaged property. The tip was capped years ago but was overrun with pasture weed. Members of the East Otway Landcare Group (EOLG) been working to rehabilitate this site since 2020 with the aim to turn it back into the healthy bushland that surrounds it.

Some of the species planted on the day included, Sweet bursaria, Messmate, Narrow leaf peppermint, Hop goodenia, Dogwood, Snowy daisy, Red anther wallaby grass, Pale rush, Black wattle, Blackwood, Scent bark, Swamp gum, Tall sedge and Red fruit saw sedge.

We are incredibly grateful for the support we received. We were able to get plants in the ground this season, the species all grown from seed collected locally and selected to support biodiversity and habitat creation. Having a local business invested in the health of remnant bushland is such a hopeful act and inspires us to keep plugging away. It has been such a lovely exchange for our group and a new way of working, as we are generally reliant on grants through government bodies to help us continue the work we do. We hope to have the opportunity to work in this way again.

Cara Johnson | President | East Otway Landcare Group

At the site, gang gang cockatoos regularly visiting to feed on messmate flowers, there are bandicoots, echidnas, swamp and bush rats, countless birds and powerful owls feed in the reserve. In the past few years, there have been sacred kingfishers nesting in the bushland The tip site seems to be a haven for tiger snakes, which are welcomed, and where there are snakes there are frogs and lizards. Every plant, animal and bird is precious in this area and the group do everything they can to protect them and prioritise habitat.

Tea Tree Creek, VIC | 100 trees | 2024

Working with Geelong Landcare, we organised the planting of 100 native trees along Tea Tree Creek at Barrabool (Wadawurrung Country). This area was once dominated by an Eucalypt and Drooping Sheoak woodlands with a grassy understory. However, over the years, the area has been largely cleared and taken over by introduced pasture grasses. The aim of the planting group is to restore the site to past biomes with the planting of  species such as indigenous Manna Gums, Swamp Gums, narrow-leaf Peppermints, Drooping Sheoaks and Black Wattle.

Enhancing what native vegetation still remains and providing critically important animal habitat, will see an improvement in both the local fauna species such as kangaroos and echidnas, who use this area as a corridor between native reserves. There is a large diversity of fauna in the area, with animals such as Growling Grass-frogs, Rakali and one of our most iconic Australian animals the platypus.

Geelong Landcare Network was so thrilled to be given plants for this project. We thank all our supporters. Our aim is to restore and enhance our natural environment and your contribution has directly contributed to this aim. Thank you once again.

Bronwyn Merritt | Facilitator | Geelong Landcare Network.

Murrayville, VIC | 100 trees | 2024

This winter, the Murrayville Landcare Group planted 100 native trees thanks to the generosity of Basil and Jane. The trees were a mixture of different types of eucalyptus, melaleucas, acacias and hakeas. They were planted on Latji Latji Country in the North West of Victoria. Over time, these trees will provide habitat (shelter and food) for the local native animals.

A big thank you from the Murrayville Landcare Group for the generous funding provided, to allow us to plant 100 trees and shrubs at the local newly developed Murrayville Wetlands. It was a beautiful morning, and the ground was damp with dew prefect for tree planting. Hopefully we can do it all again next year.

Fiona Willersdorf | Facilitator | Murrayville Landcare Group

Campaspe Valley | 500 trees | 2023

The trees were planted at Edgecombe in the Campaspe Shire, Taungurung Country (Northern VIC) by Campaspe Valley Landcare Group. The group comprises of members who have rural properties in a part of the state that’s been extensively & intensively cleared since the 1840s. Members are aiming to re-establish some tree cover using locally indigenous species. They are also work on revegetating public lands, such as roadsides that are currently devoid of, or have very few, trees.

Some of the species planted included; Silver Wattles, Lightwoods, Black Wattles, Blackwoods, Bulokes, Dropping Sheokes, River Bottlebrushes, River Red Gums, Yellow Gums, Grey Boxes, Messmates, Snow Gums, Red Boxes and Manna Gums.

Gardening Australia recently featured this group in a segment on the importance of biolinks between properties, reserves and waterways. In this segment (8 min), Graham speaks to Millie Ross from the ABC show.

Ironbark Gully | 500 trees | 2022

The Ironbark Gully Friends Landcare (IGFL) group initiated their project at the Garden Gully Recreational Reserve. This project is aiming to:

• Slow and treat stormwater from a nearby pipe and create a series of ponds.
• Create habitat and food for frogs, birds, lizards and insects by vegetating frog ponds, planting pollinating shrubs and trees, planting native grasses, and placing mulch, logs and rocks.
• Connect the local community to nature by creating a high-quality example of landscaped garden that celebrates native plants.

IGFL were very appreciative of the support they received from Hepburn Distillery.

Cape Clear | 300 trees | 2022

I would like to extend my pure gratitude to the generous people that made it possible to allow me to begin to reintroduce native habitat back to the land that my partner and I are caretakers for. Being able to attract new life in the form of bees and birds, thanks to the donated saplings is extremely rewarding.

Elen Rees | Director | Wild at Heart Therapy

We love your commitment to sustainability. Was this always an important part of the business for you? What drives your passion for sustainability?

We’ve been involved with sustainability our whole lives. Jane has worked as a social ecologist for almost 30 years beginning at Greenpeace in the early 1990s. We’re passionate about creating a life that is aligned to our values and that is sustainable both personally and professionally. Business and ecology do not have to be at odds with each other. Business can be a force for good in the world and can be used to support regenerative agriculture, forestry and investment in renewable energy and sustainable packaging. We’re passionate about being the change we want to see in the world. We believe people and the planet can both thrive when we make holistic decisions.

Sustainability is at the heart of everything we do, from the packaging we use through to where we source our base products. Local is always the first decision, along with organic, chemical free and seasonal. We compost all our organic waste or feed it to local pigs. We use renewable energy to power our stills and recycle water for cooling. We only use rainwater in our products and unlike most distilleries, we ferment and distill all our base product onsite, rather than importing it in. We choose to sell locally rather than transport stock across the state or the country and even when we post items we make sure the postage kilometres are offset.

What is it about planting trees that appeals as part of reducing your carbon footprint?

We LOVE trees. We love hanging out with trees, we love planting trees and we love how important trees are to life on this planet. Not only are they the lungs of the world but provide incredibly important habitat and other ecosystem services. Trees are life and we need lots more of them! We feel that planting trees is one small way we can give back to the planet, to help replenish the systems that sustain us.

Why gin and vodka? Has spirit-making been in the family, or was it a passion discovered later in life? Hepburn Shire is a beautiful part of the world. How do your products reflect the area in which they are created in?

Basil’s experiments with making vodka began many years ago as an exchange student living in Sweden, where his girlfriend used to make potato vodka on the windowsill of her apartment. Over the years he has experimented with many different types of fermenting – making explosive elderflower champagne and delicious blackberry wine for example. When he decided he was ready to make a change from teaching, fermenting and distilling seemed like a good path to explore. He quickly discovered that he really loved the alchemical process of transforming something as simple as a humble spud into a beautiful, full-flavour, smooth spirit and that he has a real talent for fermenting and distilling.

The vodka we make was an obvious choice because we live in spud country, with rich red volcanic soil. We’re lucky enough to have 5th generation organic farmers working 5 minutes up the road from us. Wombat Forest Organics grow a special variety of potato for us and also supply us with organic strawberries for our Bullarto Strawberry Gin. The gins we make are inspired by our local, seasonal produce and the creative people of the region. We’ve collaborated with our neighbour Annie Smithers, for example, to create a signature gin for her restaurant.This gin has all organic ingredients including organic local juniper sourced from the Garden of St. Erth in Blackwood.  Another neighbour had a crop of sloe berries – so we’ve made a batch of sloe gin from these. Our Organic Potato Saffron Vodka is a collaboration with Trentham Fields Saffron farm.

So for us, creating vodka and gin is all about collaboration, inspiration and making the most of the abundance on our doorstep. Local is important to us because we want as few carbon kilometres as possible and because we love collaborating with local growers, encouraging investment in small local businesses to build a more resilient and abundant community.

Thank you Hepburn Distillery for your passion for the environment, gin skills and the understanding of what is important.