Tiny urban farm built on old carpark making boutique booze to rival big liquor brands

With a small but thriving block of land full of fruit and vegetables in Wollongong’s CBD, Ryan Aitchison wondered how he could start putting locally made cocktail staples in bars in place of international products.

As a publican, he knew buying local was worthwhile, but that ultimately businesses were governed by price.

That meant if he wanted to start making alcohol from his fruit, it would need to taste as good as the big-name international products it was competing with and cost the same, or less.

With this in mind, the idea of a passionfruit liqueur was born.

“It’s been very rewarding to watch a gravel car park in the middle of Wollongong go from strength to strength,” Smith Street Distillery’s Mr Aitchison said.

“We’re stoked we’re still here and have found ways to make it commercially viable.”

The hero of the urban farm is a vast and thriving passionfruit crop that forms the basis of a product they hope will muscle in on Passoa, a popular passionfruit liqueur.

“We’ve had 100 kilograms of passionfruit pulp [in the last 18 months] and we harvest that, steep it in 96 per cent ethanol and that draws out the flavour profile into the ethanol, which is made into flavoured vodka,” Mr Aitchison said.

“Being able to grab a piece of land in the CBD and successfully farm it, you wouldn’t call it a commercial scale if you’re selling it as passionfruit, but the fact we use them as the backbone of a liqueur we’re about to release, we have made it commercially viable in that aspect.”

Along with business partner and distiller Jared Smith, Mr Aitchison wanted to make a product he knew the hospitality industry used in large quantities and with fruit he could grow easily.

A hyper-local solution

Their urban farm has a distillery that not only produces the passionfruit liqueur, but also now makes a straight vodka using grain purchased elsewhere, which is being supplied to Illawarra venues.

Mr Aitchison said by collecting, washing and reusing empty vodka bottles and delivering the product in milk crates, his distillery had been able to reduce waste and again compete with international products on price.

“For a new bottle, cork, label and box you’re looking at over $3, so it’s about getting creative in that way to compete in the vodka game, where it’s high volume but the venue can’t afford to pay more money.

“We’ve found a way that employs local people, it’s a better product and we save your waste bill because you’re not filling your bins with empty bottles that only may get recycled.

“It’s a brand-new bottle every time from a cleanliness standpoint, but we haven’t had to fork out $3 or more for a bottle that you’re just going to throw in the bin.”

Hospitality waste processed on farm

When Mr Aitchison and Mr Smith started their urban farm, they also gave 50-litre bins to Wollongong hospitality venues to collect their organic waste.

Each week, they collect the bins and swap them for empty ones and the waste is used to create compost for their farm and to feed their chickens.

“We’ve got a good relationship with the venues around here and they’re all like-minded people, so it’s rewarding to be able to create a circular food system and without too much effort,” Mr Aitchison said.

“The biggest outcome we’ve had was winning a sustainability award through the Illawarra Business Awards — that really pumped our tyres to know that what we’re doing really matters.”