(Image Source: Australian Whisky Auctions)

Believe it or not, Melbourne, Australia, was once home to the world's second largest whisky operation.

In the late 1800s, the Joshua Brothers were big beneficiaries of Melbourne's 1880s industrial boom. They had established what was known as the Federal Distillery in Port Melbourne, decked with at the time state-of-the-art production equipment, from their own cooperage, malting facilities, as well as 4 pot stills and a Coffey still. The distillery was capable of producing malt and grain whisky, and also produced a successful brandy line.

Federal Distillery's fermentation vats. (Image Source: Australian Whisky Auctions)

To ensure the distillery was well-equipped, the brothers invested some 40mil AUD (in today's terms) to have the distillery built, with distillation kicking off in 1886. The distillery at its peak employed some 50-60 employees year round, with additional men joining during intensive malting periods and coopers were hired as well when barrels arrived.

The distillery operated using barley sourced from the UK, New Zealand and Victoria, and also used Maize for their grain whisky production.

(Image Source: Australian Whisky Auctions)

Yet, the Joshua Brothers were far from solely being whisky producers, they were also famed for being importers and exporters of rum, having founded the Yarraville Sugar Works in 1873 prior to the Federal Distillery's establishment. They had used Queensland cane juice and molasses processed at Yarraville for rum production at the Port Melbourne facility, which was then exported worldwide, with strong ties to Mauritius.

Eventually the Joshua Brothers became involved in producing the Boomerang Brandy in 1890, after the establishment of the Federal Distillery. The brandy was a success, having been produced in the distillery's copper pot stills and were aged for two years before bottling, ensuring a higher quality older and richer brandy versus what was exported from France and Germany.

(Image Source: Australian Whisky Auctions)

This led to Boomerang Brandy gaining several international accolades in key European exhibitions. Its popularity grew and eventually was supplied to the Imperial Army and the UK's House of Commons. At its prime, it was even granted a royal warrant from Queen Victoria and her successor, King Edward the 7th.

Federal Distillery continued to grow immensely for decades, producing some 4 million litres of spirit annually, making it the second largest distillery in the world in the early 1900s. By comparison, Scotch's Glenfarclas only produces 3.5 million litres of spirit annually today. 

Close-ups of a piece of Australia's distilling history. (Image Source: Australian Whisky Auctions)

Despite the distillery's success across whiskies, brandies and rums, the Joshua Brothers were increasingly facing stiff competition both domestically and from abroad. Locally, brands such as Brinds, the Australian Distilling Company and Warrenheip were all in the business of producing high quality fine spirits by the 1920s.

Eventually it was decided that the four companies would merge to form the Federal Distilleries Pty Ltd, thereby creating the brand Old Court whisky. Old Court was a minimally 5 year aged blended whisky that comprised of the four malt whiskies combined. However, even Federal Distilleries was unable to compete with Scotland's Distillers Company Limited (DCL), which is the predecessor to today's Diageo.

Joshua Brothers' pure malt whisky. (Image Source: Australian Whisky Auctions)

In the December 2022 edition of the Australian Whisky Auction, we see two spirits from the Joshua Brothers finally surface - an early 1900s Boomerang Brandy and a Joshua Brothers pure malt whisky.

Both spirits can be traced to back to being some of Australia's oldest spirits, with the whisky being Australia's oldest, offering us a glimpse into Melbourne's distilling heyday.

Kanpai!

88 Bamboo Editorial Team