The Story
Corio Distillery is one of Australia’s most influential but misunderstood whisky distilleries. From the time it was built in 1928 to its closure in the early 1980s, it divided opinion. To some, it was seen as a positive acknowledgement of the strength and future prosperity of the Australian whisky industry. To others, Corio, and the company who built it, Distillers Company Limited (DCL), represented another faceless international conglomerate monopolising a proud local industry. The reality lies somewhere in between.
Corio’s conflicted legacy is partly due to the complexity of the operation and DCL’s infamous lack of transparency in their business dealings. To fully unearth the story, two separate streams of distilling heritage have to be examined: the history of DCL, and the development of the Victorian whisky industry.
Distillers Company Limited was founded in Edinburgh in 1877 with the amalgamation of six Lowland grain distilleries. The strategy driving the amalgamation was to develop self-regulation among patent (column) distilleries and set fixed prices for grain spirits, which were slowly becoming the dominant article in increasingly popular blended Scotch whiskies.
The Advance Australian, 1898
After a successful early period, the company was listed on the London stock exchange in 1894. At the time, the Scotch whisky industry was booming, with grain distillers and blenders pushing the growth of the industry to unprecedented levels. Enormous quantities of whisky were produced, far exceeding demand.
The bubble burst when Pattison, Elder & Company of Leith went into liquidation in 1898, largely due to dodgy accounting practices and their over-valuation of stocks, assets and property. The ‘Pattison’ crash that followed marked the start of a turbulent period for the Scotch whisky industry that would last until the end of the Second World War.
But it proved the making of DCL. The company went on a shrewd but aggressive acquisition trail, picking up numerous malt and grain distilleries as they were set loose by liquidators. By 1914, DCL claimed to be the largest whisky producing company in the world.
But the firm, along with the entire whisky industry, was under attack by David Lloyd George, the Liberal Chancellor of the Exchequer. Lloyd George was a renowned teetotaler from a temperance family, and he significantly raised duties to pay for his ‘People’s Budget’ – effectively the emergence of the welfare state in Britain. When Lloyd George then became Prime Minister at the height of the First World War in 1916, he continued his assault on distilleries, eventually doubling duties and even forbidding exports between 1918-19.
Most of these developments aided the Australian whisky industry. The Scots had long paid close attention to the thirsty island continent. Australia was the leading export market for Scotch whisky in the world up until World War II, and when Australian duties on imported whisky were steadily increased throughout the 1920s, DCL and other large spirits companies like Gilbey’s sniffed an opportunity.
At the time, conditions for distilling in Australia were much more favourable than in Britain or the United States (Prohibition was at its height in the latter). The booming success of brands like Old Court – an all malt whisky blend from Victoria’s four major distilleries – showed DCL the potential for growth in the Australian market (they had an office in Melbourne since the 1890s).
Representatives were dispatched to Australia in 1927 to look into the viability of constructing a distillery Down Under. Distillations on Victorian barley had already been undertaken in Scotland, and when tests on water quality around Melbourne turned up positive results, DCL formally announced they would build a distillery near Melbourne for the manufacture of whisky and gin.
Morning Bulletin, June 1928
Two years prior, DCL had confirmed its rank as the largest distilling company in the world after it gobbled up and amalgamated Buchanan-Dewar, John Walker & Sons and John Haig & Co. At the time, DCL’s only competition in Australia was Federal Distilleries Company (producers of Old Court), a company which was also the result of an amalgamation of Victoria’s four largest malt whisky distilleries.
Some of the managers and directors of Federal, like Lloyd Brind, had links to Victoria’s formative years of whisky production stretching back to the late 1860s. Their response to DCL’s plans were stoic.
In a rousing address to shareholders in 1928, just after news of DCL’s plans broke, Mr C. King, chairman of Federal Distilleries, regarded the advent of this ‘Scotch company’ in the Australian market as a triumph to the protectionist policies of the government. He also saw the construction of an Australian distillery by DCL as a ‘complement to the pioneers of Australian whisky production’, especially as representatives from DCL had publicly declared years before that the Australian climate was not suited to the manufacture of whisky. He also assured shareholders that:
‘Should the erection of the distillery [Corio] be contemplated merely with a view to stemming the tide of progress of the Australian whisky industry in the interests of the imported product, shareholders can rest assured that the directors would have no hesitation in taking the proper precautions to safeguard their interests.’
The Age, 1928
Despite the proclamations, Federal would’ve undoubtedly been intimidated by what was, at the time, the largest distilling enterprise the world had seen.
Construction on Corio Distillery began in earnest in 1928, and by the start of 1929, the facility was ready to begin production. The first spirit was filled into cask on March 28, 1929, and William H Ross, DCL’s managing director, was there to oversee the occasion.
Like the majority of our present-day whisky producers, gin was the first product to be released from the distillery – Burnett’s Dry Gin, an Australian rendering of an established UK brand. Corio then laid down 500,000 gallons of spirit (1.9 million litres) in its first two years using both pot and column stills, but whisky stocks wouldn’t be ready for another five years. DCL were wary of the lag, particularly as their imported Scotch whisky brands continued to suffer thanks to high import duties.
For a company like DCL, the solution was simple enough. In July 1930, 16 months after Corio started distilling, and two years after Mr King’s defiant address to shareholders, Corio Distilleries Ltd merged with Federal Distilleries. DCL took a controlling share of Federal and the merger resulted in the formation of a new company, United Distillers Pty Ltd, which would preside over the entire business.
The path was cleared for Corio to develop its own brand of Australian whisky. It achieved this in 1934, when United Distillers released its first Corio whisky, Treble ‘A’, a blend of grain and malt whisky. From here, Corio whisky brands became the face of United Distillers (it was even fast-tracked for export to the United States following the end of Prohibition). Meanwhile, Federal’s heritage malt whisky brands like Old Court and Brinds were quietly pushed to the sidelines.
Original Corio Treble ‘A’ bottlings and other later Corio whiskies
Profits increased for United Distillers throughout World War II, as Australian whisky sold well domestically and was also exported to Australian and American troops in the Pacific. After the war, United Distillers released Corio Special Old Whisky in 1950, emphasizing its five year age statement as the ultimate definition of quality. They stepped things up a notch in 1956 with the release of Corio 5 Star Whisky, which was accompanied by an enormous marketing campaign – ‘The Finest Whisky ever made in Australia’, the slogans proclaimed.
It worked. Corio 5 Star sold a staggering 8.5 million bottles in Australia and abroad in its first four years on the market. It was later joined by Corio Black Gold, an older, more expensive expression designed for the export market (where it ultimately failed), and even though the future was looking promising for Corio, problems lie ahead. From a peak in 1961, when over 1.5 million litres of Australian whisky were sold annually, a series of moves by the Australian government would ultimately cripple the Australian whisky industry.
The Argus, 1956
Firstly, high tariffs on imported whisky and spirits were gradually removed in the early 1960s. Excise duty on Australian-made spirits were then increased significantly in 1965. Suddenly, United Distillers, along with their only remaining local competition, Gilbey’s Distillery, had no reason to continue producing quality Australian whisky – their large portfolio of Scottish whiskies and English gins could easily trump local brands.
Even though the writing was on the wall, Corio continued to produce whisky throughout the 1970s, but in greatly reduced quantities. By then, the encroachment of oil refineries around the distillery that had started in the 1950s began to change the face of the once pristine Corio Bay. The earliest reports of contamination in the bay occurred in the 1970s – mussels were found containing dangerous levels of cadmium and lead, which was eventually traced to effluent released from refineries.
The quality of Corio whisky slid during this time (illustrated in our review of old Corio whiskies). DCL had little interest in producing quality, flavourful Australian whisky from the now industrial suburb of Corio (around this time, Corio 5 Star whisky developed its derisive ‘COR-10’ moniker after a local petrol brand). The company had more pressing concerns, with sales of its various brands languishing internationally, and its directors under fire for mismanagement.
The last distillations at Corio were carried out in 1979/80, and the distillery was closed in the years following, with much of the remaining equipment sold off in 1987. DCL subsequently accepted a takeover bid from Guinness PLC in 1986 – the modern descendant of the two is Diageo, the world’s largest spirits company.
Looking back now, Corio stands as a complicated symbol of a different epoch in Australian whisky. For the new generation of Australian whisky distillers that emerged in the 1990s (Bill Lark, Patrick Maguire and David Baker), Corio represented the antithesis of the small-scale, flavourful malt whiskies they wanted to create (David Baker curses any mention of Corio whisky).
Of course, it’s tempting to speculate on parallel histories. Had DCL not entered the Australian market with Corio, would Federal Distilleries have survived? Take away DCL’s formidable reputation, and might other Australian whisky distilleries have emerged? Tantalizing thoughts. Irrespective of Corio’s complicated legacy, there’s no doubt the distillery irrevocably changed the Australian whisky landscape.
