The dearly departed Raymond ‘Spike’ Dessert The Third is remembered as the industry’s True Believer, yarn spinner and heart and soul of the Australian Distillers Association.
In 1972, Spike landed near Kununurra in the remote Kimberly outback to develop his seed business. After falling in love with the area, he decided to make it his home.
In 1995, inspiration struck and Spike built Western Australia’s oldest continuously operating – and legal still.
Hoochery Distillery was born, and Spike joined the ranks of Australia’s first craft distillers.
As one of the four founders of the Australian Distillers Association, Spike was adamant about good governance, treating people with respect, and creating a great and viable Australian distilling industry.
For a long time, nothing really happened with the association, but Spike just kept paying his fees, confident that good things were coming.
Even when others wanted to fold it, Spike knew the association would be integral one day, and after the historic ruling last year that provides eligible distillers a full rebate of any excise paid up to $350,000 – along with countless other achievements along the way – it seems Spike was right.
His proud daughter, Kalyn Fletcher, reliably informs us that Spike would have tipped his hat with a smile at all the great achievements of this wonderful industry
Since Spike’s passing in 2017, Kalyn has continued his legacy and taken over the reins at Hoochery Distillery.
To this day, they use Spike’s still to make their world class rum, gin and liqueurs.