Who we are

Created as a diversion to keep a restless mind and idle hands busy in retirement, A Lot Going On is a niche provider of craft spirits focused on supporting small enterprises in the Oakleigh/Murrumbeena/Carnegie corridor.  Our mission is to provide the highest quality ‘white label’ vodka, rum, gin and other specialty liquors for the discerning drinker who values 'thinking outside the bottle'.

What we can do

Our tiny, tiny distillery (photo above) is limited to a production capacity of one hundred litres a year of full strength product, about two hundred and forty bottles.  This allows us to maintain tight focus on product quality and gives us the space to innovate.  We can tailor flavour profiles to suit clients’ preferences and we enjoy working with clients to create spirits that are unique to them.  We can also create label designs with a touch of class and a hint of humour.

Who we supply

We have a pre-retail liquor licence which means we cannot supply consumers directly, only other liquor licencees.  Our main activity is supplying small, local venues who value thinking outside the bottle, experimentation and the premium quality of our product.

It’s the LAW!

The distillery is licenced by the Australian Taxation Office to produce excisable alcohol, and certified for operation and food security by Monash Council.  We are licenced by the Victorian Government as a seller of alcohol.

If you've read this far...

It all began with a surplus of backyard lemons, and the decision to craft limonetto.  How hard can it be?  While successful, the cost of decent quality vodka for the base spirit made the exercise unsustainable so we explored the options for distilling our own base spirit.  It is a criminal offence to distill vodka, gin and rum without a licence to manufacture excisable products so off we went on a journey through the Australian Tax Office (manufacturing licence), the Victorian government (seller’s licence) and the City of Monash (operating permit and food safety certification).

The decision was made at the outset to be distanced from the big-beardy, good ol' boy moonshine/bootleg scene (I am legal, after all!) and focus on a compact slate of the highest quality ‘white’ spirits; vodka, gin and rum.  And maybe a few specialties every now and then (Christmas pudding gin anybody?).   We take pride in producing the smoothest possible spirit, even if it’s more costly to make and lower yield.  Anyone tasting our products commends it for its smooth cleanliness.

So what are we distilling?  A clear spirit, Ethyl alcohol, that comes off our still at about 90% alcohol by volume (ABV) and is then proofed down to 40% ABV for consumption.  Larger, more powerful stills can produce up to 95% ABV.  Vodka is the generic term for this clear spirit which can be made from any agricultural product, not just potatoes!  After all, vodka was being made long before potatoes arrived into Europe from the New World, about four thousand years archeology informs us.  The word ‘vodka’ shares its etymology with the names of other distilled clear spirits such as whisky, aqua vitae, akvavit, raki, arrak and poitín.  They all mean roughly the same thing; fiery water, hot water, lively water or variations on that theme.  N.B. the colour in whisky and rum comes from the wood barrels in which they’re aged, they start as a clear spirit.  There is a common belief that vodka tastes of nothing but that’s not true.  Vodka is not deliberately flavoured, as a gin would be, but some flavour from the vodka’s ingredients will be present in the final product.  We prefer to use the term 'clear spirit' or ‘vodka method’ rather than vodka because we're not in Eastern Europe.

For consistency of quality and yield our clear spirit is distilled from Australian Sunshine sugar which traceable back to the growers in northern NSW.  Madly, organic sugar isn’t produced in Australia otherwise we’d be using that.  An amount of oats and rye is added to help the ferment, and create a smooth mouth feel.  No cheaty, added glycerine here!  After fermenting the resulting 'wash' is reflux distilled, proofed down and charcoal 'polished'. From the resulting clear spirit we produce our gins and (when we can fit it in!) coffee liqueur and limonetto.  Limonetto is similar to limoncello but far more refined.  Every now and then we produce a full-grain spirit, usually for special orders or experiments such as a redgum matured ‘Irish whisky’.  Our rum is distilled the same way but from organic rapadura (panela), which is 'first boil' crystallised cane juice.

But it’s not all gin and roses.  Distilling is a serious business because you’re literally making poison.  Methanol is a by-product of distilling and is extremely poisonous, often fatally.  Correct distilling practice removes methanol from the finished product, or reduces it to acceptable levels, with a high degree of certainty.  Recent laboratory testing of our vodka and gin indicated methanol presence was below detectable levels.