Chief's Son Distillery, food and drink tasting teacher

Chief's Son Distillery

Chief's Son Distillery

location_on Somerville, Melbourne

local_activity experiences: Whisky TastingFood and Drink Tasting

4.9 (25)
Instagram followers3k

The concept for Chief’s Son Distillery was born through a combination of opportunity and passion, yet it was ultimately built on a captivatingly true and powerful story of chance, risk and passion... but also history, love and family.

The distillery was established in 2013 by Stuart and Naomi McIntosh, and after three years of testbed success, the first commercial batch of single malt whisky was distilled at the current Somerville location.

Whisky is a powerful spirit that forges deeper connections between people, families and generations. In our family whisky has been a common thread throughout the ages. For the past 500 years of our family’s long history, whisky has been at the epicentre of love and laughter, life and death, tears and triumphs.

Our ancestors transformed exactly the same ingredients, utilised the same ancient craft and derived the same level of enjoyment as we do today. Going forward, whisky reaches so far forward past our futures, connecting through the generations.

Our surname, McIntosh, or Mhic an Tòisich in Scottish Gaelic actually means ‘Son of the Chief’. This battle honour was awarded to our family 900 years ago for ongoing loyalty to the Chiefs of Alba (Kings of Scotland).

We are passionate about loyalty, the intergenerational meaning of our name and passing on the love of whisky from generation to generation.






Experiences






Gallery





Reviews

(25)


Lavinia Di Benedetto Mar 2024


We really enjoyed the experience and the host was entertaining and engaging.
The take home whisky was a special surprise.

Paul Cairns Feb 2024


Was very informative, received gift for my 60th birthday, was impressed with the tour. The host was fantastic, was great fun and would recommend to anyone.

Jamie Randall Jan 2024


Very enjoyable day out with the family! Great tasting, very knowledgeable and great value for money.

Samantha Holmes Jan 2024


This was a fantastic and informative tour. Very enjoyable. Will enjoy my new bottle of whiskey

Renata Ware Sep 2023


This was a fun and interesting talk about the distillery and its history. The tastings and cheese platter were generous, and we got a lovely little bottle of very strong whisky to take away with us, which is a nice souvenir. My particular areas of interest are history and geography, so I most enjoyed the talk about the effects of different regions' geography on the whisky. I would particularly have enjoyed a little more on the history of whisky and its cultural importance and differences between Irish/Scottish/American/Japanese/Australian/NZ whiskies.

Anna Xia Sep 2023

107 ClassBento workshops attended • 105 reviews


Chief’s son distillery is run by the Macintosh family who originated from Scotland and drew inspiration from winning a memorable whisky holiday back to their homeland from Pernod Ricard the makers of Chivas Regal. Their love for whisky transcends through generations as the owner’s grandmother used to sit back on the couch surrounded by family and enjoy whisky as a “medicinal remedy” for her cough. Very informational presentation with lots of stories interwoven. Beautiful drops of whisky, you get quite a few tastings and cheeseboard to match. The only let down was that they didn’t realise there was 3 of us coming and we squished in a 2 seater table with a cheeseboard that was a bit insufficient. You leave with a small bottle of whisky that you pour straight from the barrel using a tool called a thief.

Whisky Distillery Tour, Tasting and Cheese review by Anna Xia - Melbourne

Luke Lowry May 2023


We had a good time, just would like to maybe have a video to see the process of the malt etc

Rob Hodge Apr 2023

2 ClassBento workshops attended


Great informative day. And of course Great Whiskey. Super friendly people and just a great afternoon.

Bek Keating-Pask Mar 2023


Fantastic tour and fantastic whiskeys! A perfect gift for a whiskey lover
We will be back!

Sau Hu Mar 2023


Amazing tour! So educational and an inspiring backstory to an Australian whiskey distillery. Highly recommended!

Michael Walsh Feb 2023


A really interesting presentation with no snobbery. Suitable for those with knowledge of whiskey making and for those like me with next to none.

Geoff Adams Feb 2023


Incredibly knowledgeable and gave a great, very engaged talk through their whiskey and process. Would highly recommend!

Nathan Carter Jan 2023

2 ClassBento workshops attended


So good. Tour was really interesting and the host was very dynamic and easy to listen to. A great gift and experience.

Tim Fatekhov Jan 2023


Very informative and enjoyable tour! Whiskey tasting was great, were impressed by high quality of the product and unique approach of the distillery

Sue Storey Jan 2023


A relaxed and engaging tour by the owner. It’s lovely to support local and learn about how the company started. Would highly recommend!

Anthony Mortimer Dec 2022


Good presentation of how to make whiskey. Good offering of taste test and cheese platter is nice touch.

Zara Mavroyeni Oct 2022

5 ClassBento workshops attended


Fantastic tour that was very informative, fun and enjoyable.
Insightful getting to know the owners story and importantly - enjoyable whisky.

Jonny Westwood Sep 2022


Really enjoyed the tasting and tour. The hosts were informative and interesting. Recommended for people of all levels of interest.

Brittney Reid Sep 2022


Amazing ! Learned so much and was a great experience for our anniversary. Will recommend to everyone

Daniel Jul 2022


Very educational and informative on whisky in general not just the distillery itself.

Love taking home a 100ml bottle filled straight from the barrel.

Svetlana McNab Jul 2022

3 ClassBento workshops attended • 3 reviews


Our teacher was super enthusiastic about his whiskey and was really interesting to listen to. We had a great time and if in the area again, we will be back! :)

Mike Stonehouse Jul 2022


Very informative, the presenter was very knowledgeable about whisky and it’s distilling process, I recommended the experience

Food and Drink Tasting experience review by Mike Stonehouse - Melbourne

Carolyn Utberg Jun 2022


I booked this trip for my husband and I because my husband enjoys whiskey. We both loved the tasting our experience and have a new appreciation of Australian made whiskey.

Rob Young May 2022


Lesson in Making Single Malt Whiskey Very interesting host was very Knowledgeable the Cheese and Fruit complemented the Whiskey Tasting

Emma Morris Dec 2021

116 ClassBento workshops attended • 83 reviews


Wow! This was such an informative class, I wasn’t expecting to learn so much! Definitely somewhere I want to revisit

Food and Drink Tasting experience review by Emma Morris - Melbourne

V48I01Z33L 34c052b7f77f35dccea660a6ce51910d production Melbourne VIC AU melbourne