Swan Valley distiller Old Young's Distillery has received a big boost to its fund raising plans, winning two major global gin awards last night.
Old Young's, founded by James Young, won craft producer of the year and brand Innovator of the year at The Icons of Gin competition in London.
This is understood to be the first time an Australian distillery has won craft producer prize. Victorian distiller Four Pillars won the brand innovator category in 2022.
The win comes after Old Young's started a share offer process this month with crowdfunding group Birchal. The expressions of interest stage is still under way, with about 1,700 people signed up and considered a strong indication of interest.
The business has acquired a new Swan Valley site for a significant hospitality and tourist destination.
The money raised will be used to fund expansion plans including an east coast sales team, building exports and tripling production capacity, including an automatic bottling line that can handle over 250,000 bottles per year.
Old Young’s, which has operated in 2016, said its revenue for the 2022 financial year was $5.3 million revenue from production at around 70,000 bottles per annum.
Mr Young took over a mothballed distillery seven years ago to begin the Old Young's business.
He said he appreciated the company the business was now in following the win, describing brands like Adnams, Citadelle, Four Pillars, Kyoto, Audemus and Warner’s Distillery as the who’s who of gin successes.
“It’s humbling to now be mentioned in the same sentence,” Mr Young said.
He credited the pandemic-driven launch of a new subscription service called the Juniper Society as a key to winning the brand innovator award.
