60 APAC / Australian Enterprise Awards 2022 King Island Distillery, a tourist destination to be immersed in the spirit of the island, The founder Heidi Weitjens has created a friendly local business and developed a range of alcoholic beverages. This boutique distillery is a pillar of its community and has gained notoriety both in its local region and on the mainland. King Island ginwith an intriguing native botanical flavour hand-crafted in-house. Visitors can partake in sampling the growing range of gin, vodka, brandy, limoncello and whisky and get to know the processes behind the liquor beingmade and an understanding of the passionHeidi pours into every bottle. King Island Distillery is the story of a resourceful solopreneur Heidi Weitjens, on an island, determined to establish a product that proudly matches with the existing, high quality brand King Island is renowned for. Island life naturally needs an attitude of waste minimisation, and this underpins many of the choices Heidi makes. Heidi’s vision is to make every person who tastes her products fall obsessively head over heels into a lifelong romance with King Island. Because what do people do when they’re obsessively in love? They can’t stop thinking about it, they will tell anyone who will listen about it, and they’ll do whatever they can to get more time with the subject of their love. An Islander all her life, Heidi is passionate about supporting, showcasing and growing King Island. Heidi’s business is built on a clear purpose and vision to bring artisan, hand crafted spirits made with the finest local ingredients to locals, visitors and people across Australia. Despite being a young business, King Island Distillery has enjoyed huge success and continual growth thanks to Heidi’s unwavering commitment to customer happiness. “Happy Heidi” firmly believes in the circle of happiness: Happy>fuel for creativity>unique, irresistible products that people love>all the good things that come from that>She’s happy. While growth has been good, Heidi is clear there is a cap on the level of growth she wants to experience. She believes true, artisan spirits made with her labour of love cannot be mass produced and the value gets diluted when exceeding around 200 litres per week. Heidi’s brand is firmly focused on quality and exclusivity, as well as getting to know her customers, and creating products that they not only deeply desire, but can’t get anywhere else. She wants to create a collective love and admiration for King Island that extends well beyond a quick visit. Working in collaboration with local suppliers for her ingredients, Heidi’s success means success for other Islanders, as well as raising the profile of King Island across Australia. She feels that every Australian business has a responsibility to provide fuel for the patriotic fire in people’s bellies. The more we feel emotionally attached to local products, the more we will resist foreign competitors and collectively create a more resilient Australia. She will achieve this through beautifully crafted spirits that capture the essence of King Island and make people fall in love with it, again and again. Company: King Island Distillery Contact: Heidi Weitjens Mobile 0488 CHEERS ( 0488 243377 ) Website: kingislanddistillery.com Location: 1 Racecourse Road Currie King Island Tasmania 7256 Best Craft Distillery - Tasmania
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