COUNTRY SPIRIT
JAKE AND TESSA EAGLESHAM, FOUNDERS OF RIVERINA GIN, KNOW THE POWER OF HARD WORK AND THE BUSH TELEGRAPH.
Jack and Tessa Eaglesham are making Riverina Gin from a love of the land.
JAKE EAGLESHAM ISN’T BUILT FOR HOT WEATHER. Born and bred in the Scottish Highlands to a family of crofters and publicans, he’s more accustomed to icy winds and gloomy skies. But while the Scottish air may chill you, the people and their stories warm you up again. (As does the whisky.)
“I always loved the history around whisky and the storytelling that came with that,” Jake explains. “It’s such a strong part of Scottish culture, and it’s how we keep our stories alive.”
Unlike Jake, his wife, Tessa, is built for life beneath blue skies – her family being fifth-generation Merino farmers in the NSW Riverina. She met Jake at her local pub in Wagga Wagga soon after he arrived in Australia in June 2013, and the pair now have a 15-month-old daughter, Rosie. In 2017, they moved to Scotland for a year, where they noticed the gin industry was growing rapidly. They studied it and loved sampling all the different varieties.
When they returned to Australia, they discovered that the gin industry Down Under was booming, too. And so their studies continued.
“We loved going on distillery tours, learning the story behind the product and seeing how passionate people were about what they were doing – it was so similar to the whisky culture back home,” Jake says. “That’s when the seed was first planted.”
So in December 2020, they launched their first batch of Riverina Gin via social media. Word soon spread and, within seven days, they had sold out.
“That was 140 bottles of Riverina Gin. We delivered the last bottle on Christmas Eve,” Jake says. “We are so grateful for everyone’s support. That early success is entirely down to our community. We’ve received great feedback – people are coming back to buy their second, third or fifth bottle, and 10 bars and restaurants stock us. >
“That’s the kind of country spirit we are so proud to be a part of in the Riverina. It’s even written on the label: Riverina Gin – Country Spirit.”
Riverina Gin’s success is also down to hard work and research, of course. “I started building up my knowledge base – there are some incredible resources out there,” Jake says. One is the Provenance Toolkit, developed by Agrifutures Australia, which represents farmers as well as rural communities. It emphasises that rural businesses can stand out from the crowd by telling their stories – an approach that resonated with Jake.
“The biggest thing that came out of it for me is how much people value honesty in a brand,” he says. “When you’re in a rural area and you know a lot of the community personally, it’s crucial to be honest about where you and your product come from – Agrifutures Australia helped to pull that story out of me.”
The couple share their story on social media, their website and face-to-face events, including the Riverina Gin Club.
“Every single word we write is genuine – it comes from the heart,” Jake says. “And that begins with our mission: to make bloody great gin, bring people together and create exceptional experiences for rural communities.” Their first event, a Scottish ceilidh, is planned for the middle of the year. They hope it will prove that living in rural Australia is not a hindrance to launching a brand, but a benefit.
“We would never have been able to do this without the support of the community,” Jake says. “There’s a real opportunity in regional Australia to build something with heart, to build it from the ground up and showcase the land on which you live. That’s why we love gin so much, too, because the botanicals we use reflect the region where it was created, and that’s a beautiful thing.”
For more information, visit riverinagin.com
“There’s a real opportunity in regional Australia to build something with heart and showcase the land on which you live.”