The Australian Chamber of Commerce (AustCham) Macau held its final Power Hour of the year at the Sheraton Grand Macao’s The Conservatory last night, during which Daniel McAulay and his wife, Rebeca Fellini, shared their journey in creating Macao’s first craft gin, Owl Man.
The brand’s name is a play on the anglicised pronunciation of the word Macao in Putonghua – Aomen.
“It’s been an interesting road with many lessons learnt but it’s been a joy and, so far, the end product is worth it,” said the 37-year-old kiwi, who has been in Macao since 2010 and is a professional pilot.
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit in early 2020, McAulay, who had been making craft beer for a long time, suddenly had a lot of free time at home as flights were disrupted due to travel restrictions. “I was working maybe one day per month,” he said.
“My wife doesn’t drink beer, so we started experimenting to make some gins and some other things,” he added.
Fellini said that the pandemic helped them learn more about gins. “Everything turned online so we could study and talk with a lot of distilleries from around the world.”
McAulay pointed out: “Then we decided, ‘why don’t we see if there’s a business opportunity in this and if it was possible to do in Macao’ and to try starting something new for Macao.
“What we’ve done, I guess, is not your normal industry in Macao. I think we’re probably the first craft distillery in Macao.”
To start with, people told them they could not do it. “It’s impossible, [because of] Macao law, and so on. But I’m stubborn by nature so I didn’t really accept that,” he underlined.
The couple then contacted Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute, who helped them establish their business. After about two years, Owl Man finally bottled its first commercial batch of gin on 1 October this year.
Over 40 guests attending last night’s Power Hour, titled Macau in A Bottle, tasted the Owl Man gins, while Sheraton Grand Macao’s The Conservatory sponsored the venue, drink mixers and snacks.
“It’s very fitting for AustCham to stage this event at the end of the year and to celebrate Owl Man’s success,” AustCham Macau Chair Janet McNab said. “Let’s celebrate. As I always say, we celebrate our friendship, our camaraderie, and now we celebrate something that’s very new to Macao.”
