Our live two-day event in Sydney—A Little Bit Shaken, A Little Bit Stirred—shone a light on some of the incredible women in the Australian craft distilling industry.
Spirits were not only high but generously poured, and cocktails flowed along with the fascinating stories behind each guest’s personal journey.
YCK Laneways, which stands for York, Clarence and Kent Streets and all the small venues in this corner of the city, created the Front & Centre Festival to put women and non binary creatives on centre stage.
They constructed literal stages in the city laneways for a series of special events, which also became a hub for Aussie craft spirits.
Nip of Courage and Women of Australian Distilling were honoured to partner with YCK Laneways to host some of the amazing women in the distilling industry to share their stories.
Running 27th and 28th August, A Little Bit Shaken, A Little Bit Stirred had speakers from all walks of distilling life, and gave the audience a chance to taste the spirits they make and then learn how to make cocktails with them too.
From distillers and blenders to upper-management and venue owners—all of whom are women or identify as women—the guests on stage gave rare insights into what it’s like to work in the distilling industry, which has around 90% male representation.
Speakers over the two days were:
Day 1:
Gemma Duff, Managing Director of Poor Toms and Celia Wynne, Bartender at Naught Distilling, Natalie Ng, brand owner at Tilde~ and owner-operator of Door Knock Bar, and Ash Clinton, Distiller at Grainshaker.
Day 2:
Joey Tai, Distiller at Anther Spirits and Sarah Wallace, Distiller at Animus Distillery, Lisa Truscott, Distiller at Archie Rose Distilling and Carlie Dyer, Blender and Distiller at Starward.
The whole event was brilliantly MC’d by our very own Christina Butcher from Mr & Mrs Romance.
As part of the masterclass, the cocktails attendees made were a Marrickville martini, an Aussie cosmo, a Southside and a boulevardier, and were accompanied by delicious snacks provided by Claire Van Vuuren, owner/chef of Bloodwood restaurant in Newtown.
We’d also like to thank the NSW Government, Bacardi and Time Out for also supporting this event and promoting the small bars of the Sydney CBD.
We look forward to running more in the future, so keep your eyes peeled—or even better, sign up to our regular newsletter and we’ll email you with the details of our next event!
