Agribusiness, Food & Trade

Producer profile: Whipper Snapper Distillery chief distiller, James McKeown

Many thanks to Whipper Snapper Distillery in East Perth and Wilson Brewing Company in Albany for being such generous hosts and opening up your wonderful venues for the launch of the Premium Agrifood Market Opportunity report.

Guests in attendance were fortunate to hear the inspiring business stories of our Perth and regionally based event hosts.

Below, Whipper Snapper chief distiller James (Jimmy) McKeown shares his business journey and passion for craft whiskey distilling.

Whipper Snapper Distillery chief distiller and event host James McKeown, shares his inspiring business story with guests at the Premium Agrifood Market Opportunity report launch
  • How did Whipper Snapper Distillery begin?

Whipper Snapper Distillery was established in 2013 by me, my brother-in-law Alasdair and many other kind-hearted people. I grew up on a farm in Narrogin and learnt many farming lessons during those foundation years.

Our business journey started where most great Australian stories do, with camaraderie. An Australian and US pilot shared two great loves in WWII – their love of bombers and whiskey. The war ended and they were separated by oceans and time, but their recipe lived on. The Australian pilot just happened to be Alasdair’s neighbour, Vic.

Fifty years after the recipe reached Aussie shores, veteran Vic continued to distil whiskey and moonshine in his back shed in Scarborough. Young Al was helping Vic write his memoirs, but more importantly, shared his neighbour’s love of whiskey. The shed became their escape and Vic passed on his recipe to his new comrade Al, and Al then shared it with me.

Whipper Snapper whiskey barrel with logo

Al and I made our way to Colorado, tracking down a relative of Vic’s fellow WWII pilot. We found Coop who shared his love of whiskey and had refined the same recipe from WWII over time. Coop’s life was whiskey and he had recently sold his acclaimed distillery to settle down and retire – until he heard a story shared in a small shed across the world in Scarborough.

Al and Jimmy took their love of whiskey across the world to Scotland, where Frank, a man who had been distilling for more than 50 years, helped them refine their recipe. Frank was the rock star our recipe needed! With the determination of two young Aussie men, and a recipe refined from one side of the world to the other, Whipper Snapper was born.

  • How did Whipper Snapper get its name?

“What makes you young little guys think you can take on the big names of whiskey?” Our answer – “We may be young Whipper Snappers, but this is our obsession and we were meant to share this recipe".

  • What does Whipper Snapper produce?

Our Upshot Whiskey is a corn-based whiskey and we source the corn from Kununurra. We also make a wheat whiskey unique to us, using wheat from Narrogin. Perhaps most interestingly, we produce a quinoa whiskey sourced from our friends at 3 Farmers Quinoa in Narrogin. 

Upshot has won two prestigious awards for Best Australian Corn Whiskey in London at the World Whiskey Awards and in America, the home of bourbon, winning Best International Corn Whiskey. Cameron Syme at Limeburners in Albany and Margaret River, has also been placing this state on a global stage for years for whiskey production.

Whipper Snapper whiskey bottles on shelf

  • What is the state of the Australian whiskey industry and what global trends are you seeing?

The Australian craft spirits movement is now gaining some serious traction. There are now about 200 micro-craft distilleries in the country, about 60 of them focused on whiskey. Craft distilling, although still in its infancy in WA, offers plenty of opportunity. With help from the government through projects like Food Industry Innovation, we could really see micro-distilleries like us expand to the point of being able to sustain a healthy export market. 

  • How do you see the future of the premium food and beverage sector in WA?

Value-adding opportunities for the agriculture sector in terms of whiskey production are out there, as well as planting high-value crops and specialty malting grains for the production of whiskey and beer. As a craft producer, we thrive in a collaborative environment. Industry collaboration is essential to share our business learnings and experiences.