Meet the maker: An interview with the founder of Brookie's Gin

What do you get when a dentist and a film producer buy a farm in the Byron Bay Hinterland? Spoiler... NOT a movie about root canals. You get a rejuvenated rainforest, offspring with a deep connection to land and (30 odd years later) one of Australia’s most beloved gins. This is the delightfully charming story of Brookie’s.

Eddie Brook is no stranger to the world of premium spirits. Having spent 10 years of his career working in the industry, he’s what some might call a spirit expert (let’s just say he knows his Armagnacs from his Cognacs). So, it made sense that his next big career move would involve picking up the tools. Luckily for Eddie, he already had the perfect place to set up his new distillery: home.

Eddie grew up in the picturesque Hinterland of Byron Bay on his parent's farm (Pam and Martin Brook, the dentist and film producer). After deciding on a much-needed “tree change” the pair, on somewhat of a whim – they quite literally pointed at a spot on a map and moved there – bought a rundown dairy farm, knowing nothing about agriculture or farming. Taking advice from the local farmers and doing a little research of their own, they decided to restore the “big scrub” rainforest that had once spread across the area.  

“In Australia we have a pretty dark past of destroying certain things and land is one of them,” Eddie tells me. “Our region in the Northern Rivers was once an ancient dense rainforest known as the Big Scrub. 150 years ago, when our area was colonised, the rainforest was destroyed and today only 1% remains. Mum and dad, through learning about farming, got really engulfed in this idea of regeneration and bringing the land back to what it used to be.” 

The couple spent years regenerating the land, planting 40,000 subtropical rainforest trees over the acreage. There, Eddie and his brother Will learnt about agriculture and farming, sparking a love of native flora that would go on to inform the spirits he produces today.

“My brother and I adopted that love when we were younger and even helped regenerate the rainforest and replant trees. We were really lucky that we were brought up learning how to look after the land. That’s been my life’s work.”

The result? A fully regenerated and established rainforest, with an abundance of native birds, incredible bush produce and even a couple of koalas. “I’ve been fortunate enough to grow up here. This is my education and connection to land, but also to native bushfood,” Eddie explains. 

So how did the Brook family go from “hippies of Bryon Bay” (his words not ours) to gin?

Enter Jim McEwan, AKA ‘The Cask Whisperer’.

While the rest of the Brook family were busy growing a successful macadamia farm (Brookfarm is still running, by the way), Eddie followed his own passion into a career in spirits marketing, education and sales. “Through that I was fortunate enough to do a tour with the legendary Jim McEwan and this guy was an absolute idol of mine.”  

Understandable, given Jim is arguably the most well-known figure in Islay whisky – he’s the only distiller in the world to win Master Distiller of the Year three times. Add to that countless other awards and a Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014. In the world of Scotch, Jim is a god.

It’s no surprise then that Eddie set about enticing Jim to our fair shores from his native Scotland, orchestrating a grand tour of Australia (with many sold-out whisky events). While on the road, the two got to talking about the land and what Eddie was passionate about. Specifically, how producing liquor can actually be a way of giving back to the earth, the environment and the community, but also his knowledge of native flavours.

“This is a man who is a master of balancing and distilling flavours and I was telling him about native raspberry and riberry and all these flavours – we were just two kids in a candy shop,” says Eddie. “One day we were on a flight together and he says, ‘Eddie, we were meant to meet, and we’re going to start a distillery together.’ ” 

A companionship and business relationship bloomed and Jim, with almost 60 years of distilling tucked under his belt, agreed to teach and mentor Eddie. “One of the most important things I learnt from Jim was the way he looks at spirit production. It’s not just making a product – you really have to put your heart, your soul, your care and your love into it.” 

This is wonderfully obvious in Brookie’s Byron Dry Gin, which champions the rainforest’s native flavours (of the 25 botanicals in the gin, 17 are from the rainforest), such as aniseed, wild ginger, native raspberry, white aspen and macadamia, to name a few. Jim, with his extensive experience in distilling both gin and whisky, describes Brookie’s as “the most natural gin in the world”. 

This love of the land and rainforest hasn’t just extended to restoration. The team at Brookie’s have gone through painstaking efforts to ensure their practice is sustainable, even earning B Corporation certification earlier this year – something only two distilleries in Australia (Brookie’s being one of them) have ever accomplished. 

If you’re not familiar with B Corp certification, it’s a rigorous and demanding accreditation that evaluates your business and ethics across 350 benchmarks – not just general sustainability, but everything from the way you treat employees, all facets of operations, and community and environmental impact. It is truly the global benchmark; proof that your company is having a positive impact on every area you touch, and acquiring the accreditation is no small feat. 

“It took us three years to get certified,” explains Eddie. “We always had a strong conscience behind our business, but B Corp certification holds us to a really high standard. You need to be able to measure and show transparently that your business is doing the things you’re saying it’s doing, as well as working towards a greater and more positive impact. Sustainability is an ongoing journey. It’s not a place you get to and stay – it’s a daily commitment in every plan we make and goal we set.” And despite the many, many awards Brookie’s have won for the quality of their products, the B Corp badge is by far what Eddie is most proud of.

What are some of the physical measures Brookie’s took to achieve a B Corp certification? Things like on-farm closed loop distillation processes, using whisky wash and botanicals with mulch to reuse on their orchards, diverting waste from landfills with the help of black soldier flies, running hives of native bees to increase pollination, water conservation and energy monitoring systems. In short, they’re doing good stuff. 

How can we, as gin lovers (guilty as charged) and consumers, make better and more sustainable choices in the supermarket aisle? “Consumers have the power to make a change. Support those businesses that are doing good, and ask those businesses that aren’t to do better. Every time you spend a dollar you cast a vote to create the world you want,” Eddie explains. “Scratch the surface of those labels and support local.”