For the Love of Gin: Poor Tom’s Sydney Dry Gin

Griffin Blumer and Jesse Kennedy are in a committed relationship with gin. What started out as a shared adoration has escalated into a microbrewery in Sydney’s Marrickville, a striking visual identity and a leading charge in championing ‘Sydney Dry Gin.’ We asked Griff a few questions about the rising star that is Poor Tom’s Gin. 

What was the “let’s go for it” moment with Poor Tom’s Gin?

There wasn’t one ‘let’s go for it moment’, rather we did one gin related task each day, and told people about it, and then slowly the project became more and more real. We were both doing pretty boring jobs and we started telling people we were gin distillers, then we couldn’t go back! Jesse had the initial idea, but I pushed it. Having another person makes you accountable. If you tell somebody you’re going to do something, you have to do it. When I am doing a project by myself I’m inclined to let myself off the hook and say, ‘I’ll do this later’.

Starting a business is an enormous challenge, even more so in the highly regulated alcohol industry. How have you gone about setting the business up?

The single most important thing was asking people for help. Jesse and I have entered this industry as outsiders and we are constantly reaching out to people. People who had started businesses before gave us a lot of advice; some of them eventually became partners in Poor Toms Gin. A lot of people have offered their time and support in other ways too: painting the distillery walls, building tables, taking photos, and shooting videos. The biggest challenge was having this unformed abstract idea, a gin distillery, and turning it into something tangible. The process of turning a daydream into something concrete required many people believing in it.

How have you found licensing and distribution processes? 

As you can imagine, the licensing process was mind-numbingly tedious. The scary thing is, you have to invest in making the facility production ready before you’re a granted a licence. We have only recently set up distribution in Sydney and Canberra, with Melbourne to follow. Jesse and I are driving around to bars and giving people a taste of our gin, which is very fun. Because we don’t have a marketing budget, word of mouth will be a powerful tool for us.

Melbourne’s Bad Frankie in Fitzroy ordered a bottle from the crowd-funding campaign.

Where will we be able to buy Poor Tom’s Gin?

We want to see our gin stocked in independent bars, restaurants, and bottleshops. It’s a very small still, 200 litres, and currently we don’t have the capacity to be stocked by the large chains. For Melbourne readers, I know that Sebastian Costello from Bad Frankie in Fitzroy ordered a bottle from our crowd-funding campaign. You can also purchase it online through our website.

How important do you see micro distilleries and craft production contributing to a city?

We make Poor Toms in Marrickville, which is a large suburb on the fringe of inner city Sydney that has a mix of industrial, retail, and residential buildings. It is thrilling to do business here, and to live here. There are a handful of warehouses that are the perfect size for craft industries. Recently, Marrickville has seen a proliferation of breweries, clothing makers, and distilleries like ours. Before we signed the lease, our warehouse was used for storing plastic chandeliers. While I don’t have anything against plastic chandeliers, I think a craft distillery has the potential to bring more magic to people’s lives. I think the more craft industries we see popping up in our cities, the better.

Take us through Poor Tom’s flavour, how do you think it will compete with the better know shelf brands such as Bombay and Tanqueray? 

It isn’t our aim to directly compete with brands such as Tanqueray and Bombay. Our gin is not a conservative London Dry Gin. It is packed with flavour and unusual botanicals, like freshly squeezed green apple juice, chamomile, and strawberry gum leaf. That’s why we’ve called it a Sydney Dry Gin. Our gin is more expensive than these other gins, but a sophisticated consumer knows that a unique and authentic experience costs a little more. Our bottle design, which was a collaboration between Melbourne designer, Amy Donaldson, and Melbourne illustrator, Iara Sayo Inomata, is both beautiful to look at and quite rude. Somebody picking up a bottle of Poor Toms knows, before they have tasted the product, that they are going to have a fun time drinking the stuff.

The bottle design was a collaboration between Melbourne designer, Amy Donaldson, and Melbourne illustrator, Iara Sayo Inomata

Australia’s reputation for wine, beer and now cider is world famous, what’s you take on the domestic spirits market and do you have any global ambitions for Poor Tom’s? 

Australian consumers are now very sophisticated. There is a real thirst for diverse products. Our aim was to make an outrageous product that reflected the irreverent spirit of Sydney and wider Australia. If other markets happen to enjoy our gin, then that would be nice too. But, starting a business like this, from scratch, has been an exercise in breaking down problems into small, bite-sized pieces and staying focused on the task at hand.

What would be your perfect G&T?

The perfect G&T is strong. We recommend one-third Poor Toms Sydney Dry Gin, two-thirds Capi tonic with lots of ice, and garnished with a strawberry.

Griff Blumer, gin mastermind Marcel Thompson and Jesse Kennedy

Poor Tom’s Gin can be purchased from their website here.