Their experience in hospitality, Tim as a bartender and Pia as a chef, showed them there were so many better options than throwing food away.
“Pia was working at farm to table restaurants and using cuts of meat, nose to tail and vegetables root to stem, and I was working with bartenders doing similar things, using up odds and ends, fermenting in the kitchen and distilling vodka with botanicals,” Tim says.
“All alcohol was created out of waste originally; the problem is over time it has become more of a luxury item rather than something to use up excess.”
So the couple decided to “get unwasted”, rescue unwanted produce, and apply modern techniques to that traditional practice.
Damaged Goods Distilling Co. was founded two years ago on the premise that “spirits made with imperfect ingredients don’t have to be anything less than perfect”.
The Swan Valley-based distillery sources “damaged goods” from other Western Australian producers to infuse their spirits with real flavour. These include apple pulp from Funk Drinks Co, citrus husks from Pressed Earth and bananas from Sweeter Banana.
“We wanted to have a core range of products, which meant finding waste streams that were available more or less year around,” Tim says. “I basically googled to find like-minded people in a similar industry.”
Back to nature
He certainly found a like-minded soul in Martin Michael, one of the brothers behind Funk Drinks Co., which makes ciders, juice, soda and beer from the best local produce.
“I don’t get up in the morning to mix some sugary drink with imported concentrate,” Martin says. “We only make drinks from produce we grow ourselves or we know the growers who grow it, and we handle the process here from the soil all the way to the final product.”
When Tim contacted Funk about using some of their waste from fruit processing, it was a natural fit for the Swan Valley neighbours.
“We’re trying to get back to nature as much as we can with every single process, not just the products,” Martin says. “We make our own essential oils out of waste products to keep fruit flies and insects away and we’re playing around with orange peel waste, which we used to feed to cattle, and now we’re making our own cleaning products.”
Tim may only be taking a small portion of Funk’s fruit waste but as the innovative distiller finds new markets, he hopes to put more “damaged goods” to good use.
“The economics get very slim very quickly, once you factor in taxes and the like, so it is very much a volume game,” he says.
Making connections
Tim took the Damaged Goods range – which includes the Final Squeeze Citrus Gin, Smashed Apple Aperitivo and Gone Bananas Vodka, as well as limited edition gins – to his first Meet the Buyer™ on October 21.
While he hopes the annual trade show that puts WA producers in front of chefs, retailers and other buyers will open some doors, he was also struck by the connections made with other stall holders.
“It was great connecting with more like-minded people – meeting the growers and people who have similar philosophies,” he says. “I think more collaborations will come out of it.”
While using food waste might give the impression the spirits are cheaper to make, it’s a very labour-intensive business.
“We have different processes for every waste stream so that we can maximise the flavour yield,” he says. “The way we treat citrus peels is completely different from the way we treat bananas – it requires different equipment, different skillsets and lots of time.”
Damaged Goods is also helping Funk Cider refine one of their products. “They’re doing a different extraction for us out of ginger peel, which we’ve already crushed and pressed and taken the juice out of,” Martin says. “So it’s a waste product but they are helping make a stronger more complex ginger extract for an alcoholic ginger product we want to do.”
This kind of cross-pollination is one of the reasons the Funk team have been regular exhibitors at Meet the Buyer™ . Like Tim discovered on his first foray, Martin says the event fosters connection and relationship building not just with potential buyers but with like-minded businesses.
“We’re all a band of brothers at the end of the day,” Martin says. “The more we can collaborate and cross-promote, the better off everyone will be.”