Mel Davies from The Loch Brewery and Distillery

Mel Davies from The Loch Brewery and Distillery talks to RBC's Jayne Cuddihy.

Mel and her partner Craig Johnson were living the corporate high life in Melbourne's inner city, but after a chance encounter with a single malt whiskey it all changed.

"We realised we wanted something more creative," says Mel.

"We didn't set out for the big business life."

So, they sold their house, left their jobs and bought a huge, old red brick bank building in the tiny village of Loch in Victoria's southern Gippsland.

Making 'real ale' and utilising the most of what the local community had to offer became the heart of their operation. Their brewery and distillery is handcrafted by local steelmakers (who were far more used to fitting out dairies), with a few essentials bought in from overseas (but all handcrafted and made to order).

Now, the pair have formed wonderful relationships with other local artisans, ensuring that nothing is wasted and everyone has full stomachs- including the cattle! Mel and Craig use beautiful aromatics grown by a local bush food expert in their gins, their dark ale is used by a local cheesemaker in a wash rind variety, a local chilli grower supplies chillies for one of their ales, and a local baker sometimes calls for some spent grain from the brewery for some delicious loaves of pumpernickel bread. They also have a mutually beneficial deal with a local farmer which means their spent grain gets fed to his cattle, which in turn fertilises his hops crop, some of which is given back to the brewery to make delicious ales! Everyone wins!