Western Australia's apple capital of Donnybrook now has a cidery in town with the opening of Shag Brewing Company in the well-known Dimasi family's shed. It is being run by Lee-ann Dimasi, who is passionate about using and value-adding to seconds and misshapen fruit that would otherwise be wasted. Ms Dimasi has been able to use a range of fruits in the cidery, which was officially opened at the Donnybrook Apple Festival in March.
She is a third generation Dimasi and comes from an orchard, vegetable and cattle farming background. Her brother Gary runs the well-known Paradise Beef enterprise and the family runs cattle and grows rockmelons, honeydew melons, watermelons, pumpkins, apples, a range of stonefruit and pears. "I have always been interested in cider and I am sick of the beautiful fruit that we grow being wasted if it falls outside of market specifications," Ms Dimasi said.
"We can't just keep supplying mainstream markets because there is no future for us as farmers if we don't start to value-add to our products. "Supermarkets keep changing their minds on what they want and this just leads to more food wastage." Ms Dimasi started experimenting with cider making about three years ago, when she infused an apple base with apricots to produce a drink with eight per cent alcohol.
This received a big tick of approval from her mum, who until that point did not drink alcohol, and other friends and family who loved it. Through the family business, Ms Dimasi has worked with whole.