An Interview with Sean Baxter, Brand Director of Never Never Distilling Co.

An Interview with Sean Baxter, Brand Director of Never Never Distilling Co.

We sat down with Sean to talk about his journey and how he got to be Brand Director of Never Never Distilling Co.

Sean's background begins after a long and expensive private school education, where he started bartending at the turn of the century while on a gap year in the UK after lying to his employers and stating he had experience.

"Apparently being Australian was enough to be considered ‘experienced’. When I got home I finished a journalism and communication degree and promptly ignored it so I could go and work in the best nightclubs in Brisbane. Mainly so they would finally let me in. That led to a largely spontaneous trip to Melbourne where I fell in love with the city, its culture but more importantly, its hospitality sector. I also fell in love with a girl which set a course towards her home town of Adelaide in between a stint on reality television and a national ambassador role with Diageo in Sydney. I landed in Adelaide with the ambition of opening a bar but instead decided to start Australia’s most exciting gin distillery with a few mates and no money."

How did your entrepreneurial journey begin?

"I’ve never really considered myself an entrepreneur so I’m not really sure when it might have started? I guess maybe when I made the conscious decision to not do what my parents expected me to do and start pursuing parts of my life that I really enjoyed. Perhaps it was when I didn't take the opportunity to work a really safe media job and instead interviewed bands and movie stars for no money at a music magazine in Fortitude Valley so I could get free tickets to my favourite music festivals. I think it was similar to my attitude towards leaving a safe job for a massive brand and start out on my own. I’ve always wanted to tell my own stories, not other peoples."

Introduce your product and give us your elevator pitch!

"Traditionally untraditional, Never Never deliver both on classic flavour and innovative technique. Our Triple Juniper Process allows us to create gins with more concentrated flavour that makes the very best mixed drinks and classic cocktails. It’s for this reason it’s recommended and celebrated by bartenders all across the world, winning countless awards for quality and being Australia’s most highly awarded gin."

What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced?

"Attracting people's attention for longer than 30 seconds is probably the most exhausting thing about starting a distillery. We are in an age where it doesn’t matter how much a person enjoys the spirit you make, or the cocktails it produces, there is always something else to try. Brand loyalty is slowly transforming into category loyalty. I fear in the end the constant need to continue creating will result in an industry that collapses under the weight of its own desire for point of difference."

What was one of the most interesting (or useful) things you learned this year?

"I learned that not all spaghetti is born equal, and if you want to make truly spectacular cacio e pepe you need to use spaghetti coated in starch powder in a packet from a providore that requires translation (and is only slightly more expensive). Cheesy spaghetti is so much more exciting and mentally rewarding than beans on toast and it costs about the same. And if you want to start a distillery in Australia with no money and an aggressive strategy of reinvesting every cent into growth you will need to eat a lot of cheesy spaghetti."

What advice would you give to someone trying to follow your footsteps?

"It's easier to make decisions about your survival when you go all in on something. When your only option is to keep moving forward, you tend to find the mental fortitude to do so, mainly because the alternative isn’t really worth considering."

Something you do weekly that you love

"I love cooking for my wife and making her feel that our weekly food budget is simply “Mediterranean” instead of meagre. I love the fact my job allows me the freedom to spend time with my kids when I want to, and support my wife with a delicious, well-made Negroni when it all becomes a bit hard."

What’s next for your project?

"On the subject of delicious, well-made cocktails, we have only just released our pre bottled cocktail and look forward to seeing how they evolve in 2023."

Click here to seek more flavour and discover more about Never Never Distillery Co.