The Bignells of Bream Creek bring us the best of Tasmania
From humble beginnings 70 years ago, Bream Creek Dairy now produces milk, cheese, whisky and wine as three generations of the Bignell family look to the future. Read on to find out more about this true Tasmanian success story.
Bream Creek Dairy is a true Tasmanian success story and a family business which we are extremely proud to support. Today with a diversified offering of milk, cheese, whisky and wine, the Bignell family has grown from traditional farming roots to a modern agricultural enterprise embracing all the best things about Tasmania.
The family business was established in the 1950s by John Bignell on Stroud Farm, 70 acres of land at Bream Creek with a herd of 12 dairy cows. Today the family brings four varieties of fine artisan cheese and premium quality milk to the Tasmanian community under the Bream Creek Dairy brand which came into being in 2018.
The cornerstone of their production is Bream Creek Dairy milk – Full cream, Light and Cream-on-Top, and it’s the milk which supplies our 18-litre kegs in our southern stores for our Milk-on-tap stations, offering customers a refillable glass milk bottle system, and saving thousands of plastic milk bottles from going into the environment.
Bream Creek at our Producers’ Night at our West Hobart store
The Bignell’s most recent ventures have been into wine and whisky – the Stroud by Bream Creek Dairy fine wines range now boasts a pinot and a riesling, and their new pride and joy, their Single Malt Whisky aged in Port Cask American Oak barrels for eight years.
We caught up with Caroline and Meg Bignell recently at our Producers’ Night at our West Hobart store and asked them a few questions about what makes Bream Creek Dairy tick and how it’s become such an enduring Tasmanian brand.
What is special about your business?
We have been dairy farming at Bream Creek on Tasmania’s east coast for almost seventy years and we now have three generations of the Bignell family working on the farm. Our 800-strong Friesian herd has been carefully grown from the 12 cows John Bignell bought in the late 50s. All our branded milk comes directly from that single herd, and our cheese is crafted from that milk. Our milk is very minimally processed, so it retains a real dairy milk flavour. Our exclusive cheese recipes have been developed by British master cheesemaker Mike Reeves and perfected by local Tasmanian cheesemakers. So we think they’re pretty special - they’re certainly delicious!
What is your personal favourite product and why? How do you like to eat it?
The family all have different personal favourites, but our Black Ash Brie probably wins the day. It’s a triple cream brie layered with charred grape vine leaves which gives the cheese an extra smooth texture and a subtle smoky flavour. It matches brilliantly with a glass of Bream Creek Dairy pinot or even a little Bream Creek Dairy whisky!
How did you first come to work with Hill Street?
We’ve been honoured to work with Hill Street since we began bottling our own milk. I think our values and boutique production practices align well with Hill Street. It’s been great to work alongside another Tasmanian family business who knows and respects our people and our operations.
What do you like most about being a producer in Tasmania?
It’s a small market and we have a wide local network of Tasmanians who really want to support local family business. We’ve had ups and downs but ultimately our fellow Tasmanians want to see our business do well and are really loyal. Also, we have always been primary producers and just wouldn’t consider anything else. We live and work in a place that we love, we prefer country life to the city, and we have a vibrant local community here in the Bream Creek - Dunalley district. We feel very lucky.
What are the challenges?
Milking the cows twice a day, every day without fail! Those early starts are a challenge sometimes, especially in winter. Also being at the mercy of the weather, vulnerable to drought or fire or flood is a persistent concern. And producing a product that is so sensitive to global commodity fluctuations. That’s ultimately why we formed our own brand - to win back a bit of the control and provide a secure future for our growing family.
What has been your hardest time in business? How did you overcome it?
The drought around 2008 was a huge challenge. It was a time when milk prices were falling, the world economy was unstable and there hadn't been any rain in our area for years. Lots of dairy farmers walked away at that time, you either had to double down on your investment or get out. We faced having to sell our herd. But instead, we held on, built a new, more efficient dairy and a bigger dam and just hoped for the best. When it finally rained in June 2009, the new damn filled up in a couple of days. It was only a couple of years after that, the major supermarkets dropped the milk price to $1 a litre which gave us a different kind of struggle. So those years were tough.
What’s the future of your business?
We hope to continue to grow slowly and steadily. Retail and cheese production is something we as a family have had to learn together, so we never wanted anything to happen too fast. But we’d like to launch some new cheeses in the next few years, and down the track maybe open a farm shop. In general we’d like to sustain a really solid reputation and continue to provide Tasmanians with quality produce they can be proud of.
Bream Creek Dairy milk is sold in all our Southern stores. Bream Creek Dairy Cheese is sold across all Hill Street Stores. Stroud wine and whisky are now available at Hill Street West Hobart.
