Brogan Carr on going her own way

Brogan: I’m Brogan Carr. My dad and I set up Brogan’s Way roughly seven years ago, and we’ve been open to the public for five years. My dad left the corporate world during his midlife crisis and decided to start a distillery instead of buying a Corvette.

At the time, I was finishing my undergraduate degree in medical laboratory science. My dad suggested I do my master’s in brewing and distilling, so I applied and got in. About a year into the course, we decided to start the distillery together.

I did my Master’s at Heriot-Watt University in Scotland through correspondence. I had to go over during the Edinburgh Fringe for the practical bit, which was great.

Being young in a traditionally older industry comes with imposter syndrome. I know what I’m doing and I’m proving it by distilling, making stuff that I'm proud of and selling it to people who are enjoying it, which is really great. But I still feel the pressure from others who are older.

We weren’t trying to redefine gin; we aimed to add to the category by considering when people drink gin and designing products around those moments. Like, our Evening Light Gin is perfect for barbecues. It’s lighter, bright with citrus, fruit, and floral flavours, making it approachable for everyone. We always start with the idea of when and how the product will be used, and then develop the flavours and botanicals around that concept.

Batch consistency is crucial. We buy a year’s supply of dried botanicals and process and freeze fresh ones. We blend batches to maintain consistency and always do a taste test before bottling to ensure quality. We try to use the same botanicals for each batch, and we mix previous batches with new ones to even out any variations. This approach helps us ensure that each product maintains its intended flavour profile.

The more knowledge we gain, the whole process gets a lot quicker after the second or third round or, you know, new products are a lot less. I think our first four products took us three years to develop and now our product takes roughly 6 to 8 months.

We’ve just released our Limoncello. We were looking for it to be really bright, really clean—to be a bit different. In December, we launched a 61 North, which is our first ever whiskey.

A few years ago, we made a Passion Fruit gin which was incredibly popular. We're doing the whole distilled cream concept that we use in our Strawberries and Cream gin, but adding that to the Passion Fruit gin so it's Pashlova, or Passion Fruit Pavlova gin. It gives you that sort of idea that it's a Pavlova. I'm really happy with how that's turning out.

We’ve also got our Passion Fruit & Lime vodka. It’s a clear vodka, not sweetened or anything. Perfect for all those exciting cocktails.