July 3, 2025 • 11 mins
This isn’t your average bourbon origin story. It starts with a house swap — and ends with a bottle of Fernhill Station on the shelf in Australia.
In the second ep with James from HP Bowlo, we hear how a simple home exchange led to a deep dive into American whiskey, inspired a brand name, and sparked a whole new obsession. We talk through the journey of building a label from scratch, balancing work and passion, and finding a flavour profile that felt like them.
It’s real, it’s hilarious, and it’s exactly why we love indie bourbon.
⏱ Chapters:00:00 – Intro & house swap that changed everything 01:00 – First time tasting real American bourbon 02:00 – From "what is this?" to "how do we make this?" 03:30 – Sharing bottles, chasing flavour 04:30 – Naming the brand and getting serious 06:00 – Full-time jobs vs bourbon dream 07:30 – How they 'made the cut' 08:30 – Earthy, warming, and beautifully drinkable 09:30 – People care about people
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Incredible flavours, even better stories.
(00:05):
One pour, 10 minutes.
Aussie bourbon lovers sharingbourbon with Australia.
That's such a good caught pop.
I'm so excited, Hedges.
We got James Summerland back fromthe Mount Pleasant Whisky Club project
with the Fern Hill Station bottle.
It's a single cask, straight bourbonwhiskey, which is coming out of DC.
(00:28):
We spoke about this a little ago.
It's such a cool project that we've got.
What is probably the first truly Aussie,but still- It's like an Aussie bourbon.
Absolutely a bourbon.But it's a bourbon.
But it's like an Aussie bourbon.
Very fascinating thatwe're able to get to this.
So congratulations on the project, James.So good.
Thank you.
Last time, we spoke a lot aboutthe dram itself, but we didn't talk too
(00:50):
much about the story, which isjust a cracker.
Tell us, how did this project come to be?
What happened that led you to the point ofhaving this delicious bourbon in a glass?
So my wife and I obviously have a house.
It's our biggest asset.
And a long time ago, she thought, well,how do we get the most out of this?
Well, let's swap houses on holidays.
(01:14):
So she joined a website called PeopleLike Us, and we wanted to go to DC.
I've always wanted to go DC.
And she found a swap.
So Troy and his partner, Tony,they wanted to come to Australia.
We hooked it up.
We're about to fly out, and Tony messagesto say, Hi, I've realised
(01:38):
James owns a bar.
Well, Troy has a bourbon business,so he's left you some samples.
We got there.
I arrived in DC, like 36 hours.
Yeah, it's a long flight.
We went the long way as well.
Then I tasted it.
(02:00):
I'd never been into it.
I tasted this and I thought, Hang on,just throw the Scotch whiskies out.
I can relate.
That was it.
We spent time in Mount PleasantI guess why this exists, Mount Pleasant
(02:21):
Club Whisky, it's made through Troy andJohn's company called Reboot Beverages.
They basically took the old label of MountPleasant
because they actually found a bottle inthe house during a renovation, an
old bottle from pre Prohibition.
That's incredible.
And you can actually see it on the book.There you go.
(02:42):
Yeah.Amazing.
And they thought, Let's bring this back.
So they selected their barrelsand they brought it back.
They called it Mount Pleasant Club Whisky.
They've honoured all thestreets of their suburb.
What was important wasactually quite funny.
(03:03):
We got locked out of their house one day.Oh, no.
We came back.
The electric door wasn't working.
We're trying to contact them in Australia.
Different time zones.Yes.
We waited in the park awhile, but it was no stress.
Eventually, they said, We're going to sendJohn, who's my business partner in Reboot,
(03:25):
he'll come around and help get you in,which was break the window.
And it was just chattingto him once we got in.
We had a quick beer together, a littlebourbon, and I just said,
Why don't I have this in Australia?
Why am I…?
And there's a price point, right?
(03:46):
I look at your top level of yourgin beans or your wild turkeys.
In the gifting range, in the restaurantrange, you start cap
out 140 a at all, 150.
But then you want to go and findsomething else really special.
(04:06):
You got to jump a long way to $600.
There's big price tags.Right.
And I thought, we need a premiumproduct in Australia, independent Kraft.
And I thought, well, let's do it.
Yes.So good.
(04:27):
I'll go and get a licence.
I I thought I had the paperwork.
Because even when you do the house swap,so you have a little bar in Sydney.
In Hudson Park.In Hulson Park.
And he had an alreadyexisting bourbon business.
But then there's so many more themes thatrun through this story because
(04:49):
they love celebrating the local streets.
That's how they name their whiskies.
And you, as such a locallyfocused venue at HP Bolo.
Yes, we live in Hulson Park.
We have our business in Hulston Park.
My business partner,I went to school with.
He owns a cafe next door.
He lives in Hulston Park.
(05:09):
We went to Holston Ag High Schoolin Western Sydney.
So we love the community.
And I thought, Well, let'scelebrate Hilton Park.
Dimitri is a Ukrainian artist who came toAustralia 20, 30 years ago,
and he got us the Artwork for it.
(05:31):
Stunning artwork.
It's a beautiful bottle, too.
I love the wide sides.
Yeah.
And the New South Walesand DC flag on the tag.
The fun of it was selecting everything.
Do you want a wood top?
What colour foil do you want?
Yeah, all the little details.
(05:51):
Writing the story, selecting the artwork,scaling the artwork, what to call it.
Pick a name.
Who got the final say of theliquid that went in the bottle?
I picked the barrel.
Through six samples that got sent here,we selected one blind.
(06:17):
We all agreed on the same one.
Then they sent me some moresamples of that barrel.
We cut it down, different ABVs,selected blind, the same 50.
7.
So there were all decisionswe had to go through.
It was time.
It was little samples turningup in the mail called olive oil.
(06:42):
Love it.
Yeah, or you could just confuse it forolive oil until you put it in a glass.
Actually, speaking of that, the moretime this spends in a glass,
getting a bit of air on it.
I'm getting these lovelyChristmas spicy notes, a bit of almost
Christmas pudding-y notes from it.
But before we started recording, you toldus that you got some interesting notes the
(07:04):
more you sit with it that link backto when you were a bit younger.
Yeah, well, smell is your strongest sense.
I was sitting down one night and,hang on, shearing shed.
But the memory was shearingshed, but the oil was lanolin.
Yeah, it's that oiliness thatgives it that really smooth finish.
(07:26):
Beautiful smooth finish.
It's got quite a bit ofhard red winter wheat.
So make his mark bang on about this softred winter wheat, but this is a hard red
winter wheat, so adifferent variety of that.
I agree with you that there is a lovelybit of wheatiness that comes through both
on the nose and thenon the palate as well.
I feel like it's a cross between.
It's like myfarm where I grew up was sheep and wheat,
(07:49):
and I feel like it's this in a glass.
Since you've said the lanylin thing, nowall I can think about is what it
smells like at your family farm.
Now you've said this, it'sgoing to stick with me.
There's a very earthy, warming.
I think this is a big hug.
I just love the beautiful smooth finish.
That's what I got from the first bottle Itasted, the Brown Street Bourbon,
(08:15):
my all-time favourite still.
This is a very similar blend in the mash,four grains, some different percentages.
But when they gave me thisone, I was like, this is it.
This is a good one.This was the winner.
Tell us-We picked a good one.
As the three of us love bourbon, we're allAussies, we talk about this idea of what
(08:38):
the Australian attitudetowards bourbon is.
We've spoken about this a little bitearlier about that idea of there's a bit
of a Scotch focus and all that thing.
And because you're at HP Bolo and you seewhat people are buying and how people are
drinking things, what doyou think the attitude...
Do you think there is a shift towardsbourbon in Australia
with the Aussie drinkers?
(08:58):
There's a shift broadlyIt's really towards quality.
So it doesn't matter what you're drinking.
People want experiences.
They want quality drink.
They want to enjoy two or three, not 10.
When I wrote my paper to get my licence,I said, I want people to
drink less but drink better.
(09:22):
Well, the reason I never was a bourbondrinker was because I grew up
in the old bourbon and Coke days.
That It was it.I was a Johnny Walker and Kate growing up.
Yeah, I was bourbon and Coke for sure.Yeah.
I put off for me.
It wasn't until recently,my mate brought back a bottle from Texas,
(09:46):
and he forced it on me one time.
But I thought, hang on,this is not bourbon.
This is not what I remember.
So there's good stuff out there.
Let me go and find it.
But our bar, we We focuson independent craft.
We don't do the RGO, the big ones.
(10:06):
I had to find it.And then it was for.
It was just a house swap.
It's an incredible story.
The house swap, the websiteis called People Like Us.
I love it.
It's actually People Like Us.
Like, literally.
You're like some an ad for them.Well done.
Well, hey, thanks so much for bringingquality bourbon that we can
(10:29):
enjoy in the right quantities.
And there are limitedquantities, 132 bottles.
Where can people get their hands on them?
It's released on the10th of July at the bar.
I'm going to have itin a local bottle shop.
But I want to push most of it intorestaurants and high-end bars, hotel lobby
bars, like your Intercontinental Capella.
I want them to have a better offering.
(10:52):
It's going to retailaround that 265 a bottle.
On the launch night, 245 a bottle.
But I don't have a retail licence,so I can only sell wholesale.
So it's not publicly available,but the local bottle shop will
carry it, and the Green Poria.Great.
(11:13):
Quick trip to Sydney.
Yeah, quick trip to Sydney, head out toHilton Park, head over to the HP Bar.
I'm pretty sure there'll be somethingbehind the bar for you to try.
It will be behind the bar.
And what we think is probably the firstAustralian-labeled bourbon that's truly
Australian-labeled,not just a barrel pick.
So congratulations on the project.
Thanks for coming on to join us and tellus the super cool story
of Fernhill Station.
(11:34):
For everyone who can get their hands onit, good luck to you
because it's a cracker.Might be the first of many.
Indeed.Absolutely.
Tell us about the next project.We want to hear about that one, too.
Thanks, guys.Thanks, James.
Cheers.Thanks.
Cheers..
Thanks for listening.
Make sure you're connected with us onTikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, and stay
connected with us by clicking subscribeon your favourite podcast app.
Incredible flavours, even better stories.
(00:05):
One pour, 10 minutes.
Aussie bourbon lovers sharingbourbon with Australia.
That's such a good caught pop.
I'm so excited, Hedges.
We got James Summerland back fromthe Mount Pleasant Whisky Club project
with the Fern Hill Station bottle.
It's a single cask, straight bourbonwhiskey, which is coming out of DC.
(00:28):
We spoke about this a little ago.
It's such a cool project that we've got.
What is probably the first truly Aussie,but still- It's like an Aussie bourbon.
Absolutely a bourbon.But it's a bourbon.
But it's like an Aussie bourbon.
Very fascinating thatwe're able to get to this.
So congratulations on the project, James.So good.
Thank you.
Last time, we spoke a lot aboutthe dram itself, but we didn't talk too
(00:50):
much about the story, which isjust a cracker.
Tell us, how did this project come to be?
What happened that led you to the point ofhaving this delicious bourbon in a glass?
So my wife and I obviously have a house.
It's our biggest asset.
And a long time ago, she thought, well,how do we get the most out of this?
Well, let's swap houses on holidays.
(01:14):
So she joined a website called PeopleLike Us, and we wanted to go to DC.
I've always wanted to go DC.
And she found a swap.
So Troy and his partner, Tony,they wanted to come to Australia.
We hooked it up.
We're about to fly out, and Tony messagesto say, Hi, I've realised
(01:38):
James owns a bar.
Well, Troy has a bourbon business,so he's left you some samples.
We got there.
I arrived in DC, like 36 hours.
Yeah, it's a long flight.
We went the long way as well.
Then I tasted it.
(02:00):
I'd never been into it.
I tasted this and I thought, Hang on,just throw the Scotch whiskies out.
I can relate.
That was it.
We spent time in Mount PleasantI guess why this exists, Mount Pleasant
(02:21):
Club Whisky, it's made through Troy andJohn's company called Reboot Beverages.
They basically took the old label of MountPleasant
because they actually found a bottle inthe house during a renovation, an
old bottle from pre Prohibition.
That's incredible.
And you can actually see it on the book.There you go.
(02:42):
Yeah.Amazing.
And they thought, Let's bring this back.
So they selected their barrelsand they brought it back.
They called it Mount Pleasant Club Whisky.
They've honoured all thestreets of their suburb.
What was important wasactually quite funny.
(03:03):
We got locked out of their house one day.Oh, no.
We came back.
The electric door wasn't working.
We're trying to contact them in Australia.
Different time zones.Yes.
We waited in the park awhile, but it was no stress.
Eventually, they said, We're going to sendJohn, who's my business partner in Reboot,
(03:25):
he'll come around and help get you in,which was break the window.
And it was just chattingto him once we got in.
We had a quick beer together, a littlebourbon, and I just said,
Why don't I have this in Australia?
Why am I…?
And there's a price point, right?
(03:46):
I look at your top level of yourgin beans or your wild turkeys.
In the gifting range, in the restaurantrange, you start cap
out 140 a at all, 150.
But then you want to go and findsomething else really special.
(04:06):
You got to jump a long way to $600.
There's big price tags.Right.
And I thought, we need a premiumproduct in Australia, independent Kraft.
And I thought, well, let's do it.
Yes.So good.
(04:27):
I'll go and get a licence.
I I thought I had the paperwork.
Because even when you do the house swap,so you have a little bar in Sydney.
In Hudson Park.In Hulson Park.
And he had an alreadyexisting bourbon business.
But then there's so many more themes thatrun through this story because
(04:49):
they love celebrating the local streets.
That's how they name their whiskies.
And you, as such a locallyfocused venue at HP Bolo.
Yes, we live in Hulson Park.
We have our business in Hulston Park.
My business partner,I went to school with.
He owns a cafe next door.
He lives in Hulston Park.
(05:09):
We went to Holston Ag High Schoolin Western Sydney.
So we love the community.
And I thought, Well, let'scelebrate Hilton Park.
Dimitri is a Ukrainian artist who came toAustralia 20, 30 years ago,
and he got us the Artwork for it.
(05:31):
Stunning artwork.
It's a beautiful bottle, too.
I love the wide sides.
Yeah.
And the New South Walesand DC flag on the tag.
The fun of it was selecting everything.
Do you want a wood top?
What colour foil do you want?
Yeah, all the little details.
(05:51):
Writing the story, selecting the artwork,scaling the artwork, what to call it.
Pick a name.
Who got the final say of theliquid that went in the bottle?
I picked the barrel.
Through six samples that got sent here,we selected one blind.
(06:17):
We all agreed on the same one.
Then they sent me some moresamples of that barrel.
We cut it down, different ABVs,selected blind, the same 50.
7.
So there were all decisionswe had to go through.
It was time.
It was little samples turningup in the mail called olive oil.
(06:42):
Love it.
Yeah, or you could just confuse it forolive oil until you put it in a glass.
Actually, speaking of that, the moretime this spends in a glass,
getting a bit of air on it.
I'm getting these lovelyChristmas spicy notes, a bit of almost
Christmas pudding-y notes from it.
But before we started recording, you toldus that you got some interesting notes the
(07:04):
more you sit with it that link backto when you were a bit younger.
Yeah, well, smell is your strongest sense.
I was sitting down one night and,hang on, shearing shed.
But the memory was shearingshed, but the oil was lanolin.
Yeah, it's that oiliness thatgives it that really smooth finish.
(07:26):
Beautiful smooth finish.
It's got quite a bit ofhard red winter wheat.
So make his mark bang on about this softred winter wheat, but this is a hard red
winter wheat, so adifferent variety of that.
I agree with you that there is a lovelybit of wheatiness that comes through both
on the nose and thenon the palate as well.
I feel like it's a cross between.
It's like myfarm where I grew up was sheep and wheat,
(07:49):
and I feel like it's this in a glass.
Since you've said the lanylin thing, nowall I can think about is what it
smells like at your family farm.
Now you've said this, it'sgoing to stick with me.
There's a very earthy, warming.
I think this is a big hug.
I just love the beautiful smooth finish.
That's what I got from the first bottle Itasted, the Brown Street Bourbon,
(08:15):
my all-time favourite still.
This is a very similar blend in the mash,four grains, some different percentages.
But when they gave me thisone, I was like, this is it.
This is a good one.This was the winner.
Tell us-We picked a good one.
As the three of us love bourbon, we're allAussies, we talk about this idea of what
(08:38):
the Australian attitudetowards bourbon is.
We've spoken about this a little bitearlier about that idea of there's a bit
of a Scotch focus and all that thing.
And because you're at HP Bolo and you seewhat people are buying and how people are
drinking things, what doyou think the attitude...
Do you think there is a shift towardsbourbon in Australia
with the Aussie drinkers?
(08:58):
There's a shift broadlyIt's really towards quality.
So it doesn't matter what you're drinking.
People want experiences.
They want quality drink.
They want to enjoy two or three, not 10.
When I wrote my paper to get my licence,I said, I want people to
drink less but drink better.
(09:22):
Well, the reason I never was a bourbondrinker was because I grew up
in the old bourbon and Coke days.
That It was it.I was a Johnny Walker and Kate growing up.
Yeah, I was bourbon and Coke for sure.Yeah.
I put off for me.
It wasn't until recently,my mate brought back a bottle from Texas,
(09:46):
and he forced it on me one time.
But I thought, hang on,this is not bourbon.
This is not what I remember.
So there's good stuff out there.
Let me go and find it.
But our bar, we We focuson independent craft.
We don't do the RGO, the big ones.
(10:06):
I had to find it.And then it was for.
It was just a house swap.
It's an incredible story.
The house swap, the websiteis called People Like Us.
I love it.
It's actually People Like Us.
Like, literally.
You're like some an ad for them.Well done.
Well, hey, thanks so much for bringingquality bourbon that we can
(10:29):
enjoy in the right quantities.
And there are limitedquantities, 132 bottles.
Where can people get their hands on them?
It's released on the10th of July at the bar.
I'm going to have itin a local bottle shop.
But I want to push most of it intorestaurants and high-end bars, hotel lobby
bars, like your Intercontinental Capella.
I want them to have a better offering.
(10:52):
It's going to retailaround that 265 a bottle.
On the launch night, 245 a bottle.
But I don't have a retail licence,so I can only sell wholesale.
So it's not publicly available,but the local bottle shop will
carry it, and the Green Poria.Great.
(11:13):
Quick trip to Sydney.
Yeah, quick trip to Sydney, head out toHilton Park, head over to the HP Bar.
I'm pretty sure there'll be somethingbehind the bar for you to try.
It will be behind the bar.
And what we think is probably the firstAustralian-labeled bourbon that's truly
Australian-labeled,not just a barrel pick.
So congratulations on the project.
Thanks for coming on to join us and tellus the super cool story
of Fernhill Station.
(11:34):
For everyone who can get their hands onit, good luck to you
because it's a cracker.Might be the first of many.
Indeed.Absolutely.
Tell us about the next project.We want to hear about that one, too.
Thanks, guys.Thanks, James.
Cheers.Thanks.
Cheers..
Thanks for listening.
Make sure you're connected with us onTikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, and stay
connected with us by clicking subscribeon your favourite podcast app.
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