Forêt Distilling

Date: 5 June 2025

We chatted recently with Nathan Strathmore Malcolm from Castlemaine-based Forêt Distilling to find out more about this local business.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself and the journey that led to starting Forêt Distilling?

 Another producer brought me to the area almost a decade ago to distil for them and I decided this was home. Around the time I finished working with that producer, Charles-Andre Lemire and I had the idea of starting something extremely small to see how far past Hargraves Street we could take it. Turns out Perth and Hamilton Island so far, which is well beyond what we anticipated.

Local collaboration is key in a place like Mount Alexander shire. Can you share any ways you’ve worked with other local businesses, creatives or growers?

 Forêt and Daylesford Cider are releasing something very special, but apart from that there’s also a plum liqueur we haven’t bottled. The plums were excess from The Orchard Keepers at Harcourt. Cabosse and Feve have also made something really cool. I promise there’s whisky, apple brandy and other products you’ve never heard of (because neither have we). We’re at the point where what we did a few years ago is what you’re about to taste. No gin, sorry.

What have been some of your biggest challenges or learning curves as a small-scale producer and entrepreneur in regional Victoria?

It's not important to be the biggest, just do what you can to be amongst the best. Quality is everything. But also put yourself in a position where you can say yes to the unexpected.

The craft spirits industry is very competitive - what’s your approach to standing out in a crowded market?

I’m in a unique position where my day job is making a lot of mainstream spirits for a lot of other people, so with Forêt everything is driven by what I actually love doing. Forêt forces me to spend A LOT of time in the garden year-round while listening to MAINfm, which is what I love. I like to think that shows in the result.