The term “bathtub gin” comes from the US prohibition era of the 1920s, a time of low-quality, underhanded distilling and closed-door dealing. You won’t find any of that at Bathtub Gin Co, but the name is memorable, right?

Owner Wayne Bourke, a retired doctor, started learning to distil in 2019, with Russ Watson of The Whiskery. His first production site was in Brunswick. Now, after moving everything to the old Stevedore’s Association building in Williamstown, he’s sharing his lifelong love of gin and other good drinks with the public.

“I’m a very big wine person, I have 18,000 bottles in my cellar,” he says. “I’ve made wine over the years with mates, this was just the next progression. My first gin and tonic, I say [I was] 18 on the bottle but I was actually about 16. My godfather took me out and I remember those times with great joy.”

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Among the vintage timbers of the bar (some taken from a long-demolished CBD pub) and gleaming copper stills, you can try a wide range of house-made gins. There’s Angry Duck, made in the juniper-heavy, London dry style. Or the more adventurous Best Day Ever, a dark-red number infused with cherries. And for the real aficionados, the barrel-aged, 60 per cent ABV Mighty Apollo – a happy accident, as Bourke tells it.

“I did 100 litres of juniper [gin] about four years ago and I didn’t know where to put it. I had this Pedro Ximenez [sherry] barrel so I stuck it in there with the intention of taking it out the next day. I forgot about it and 18 months later I came back to it and it was so good.”

Bourke also makes other spirits and liqueurs, including limoncello, orangecello and a chardonnay-pinot noir brandy. A couple of whiskies will be released soon.

At Bathtub, all the gins are matched with Long Rays tonics (transparent enough to let the gin do the talking, Bourke reckons) but there’s a healthy cocktail list, too. The Melbourne Negroni is Bathtub’s coffee gin, Campari, Lillet and sweet vermouth held under a cloche and infused with smoke. The Bees Knees blends the Mighty Apollo gin, honey and lemon in a nod to the Prohibition cocktail originally designed to mask the rough edges of bathtub gin (strictly unnecessary here, by the way). Beyond the spirits you’ll find beers by Bell’s Beach brewing (the team behind the “wash” that the spirits are distilled from) and wine from Bourke himself made at Barossa’s Flaxman – a shiraz made to celebrate his 60th birthday.

The food menu is typically simple and drinking-friendly. There are three pizzas – barbeque chicken, margherita and pepperoni – as well as charcuterie and dips from La’ Deli at the Vic Market.

Bathtub Gin Co
25 Aitken Street, Williamstown
0419 651 534

Hours:
Fri 5pm–9pm
Sat 12pm–9pm
Sun 12pm–7pm

bathtubginco.com.au