With a recipe passed down through generations, cousins Monique Sutevski and James Projcevski created DNA Distillery. Pippa Haupt speaks to the co-founders of Sydney’s first rakija distillery about its homage to culture, tradition, and legacy.
Monique Sutevski had just been admitted as a solicitor and was working at a law firm, when the pandemic saw her stood down from her role. The unexpected end of her young career became a crossroads in Sutevski’s life.
While studying law, Sutevski had been mulling over the idea of creating a rakija brand, which could now be a reality.
While out for simultaneous celebration and commiseration drinks, her cousin James Projcevski asked her a question: “so what’s next?”
“Out of nowhere she said, I want to make rakija.”
“She said, ‘I really have a passion for it, and I’ve been thinking about it for a while’, and that was the first time she vocalised it,” says Projcevski.
Steeped in history
Distilled from fermented fruit, rakija (pronounced ra-ki-ya) is popular in the Balkan and Slavic regions of Eastern Europe, and has been made by the pair’s family for five generations.
Their grandfather’s recipe was so famous that people would travel long distances for the chance to taste it.
When the family moved to Australia, they brought the beloved drink with them.
“I’d been thinking about making it for months. I always knew that I wanted to have a brand that reflected us and our heritage. It’s what we’ve lived and breathed our whole lives,” says Sutevski.
Projcevski, who had been working in property and finance, says he didn’t want the idea to become something they would just talk about.
“We had to put action to it. We had that brief conversation on Saturday night and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I rang Monique on Monday and said, we have to have a meeting about this,” says Projcevski.
The pair met and planned late into the night when they agreed on the brand: DNA Distillery.
“Rakija is a part of our DNA and our heritage, and it’s our story to tell. But everyone has their own derivative of it. If you are Lebanese, it’s arak, if you’re Greek, it’s ouzo, if you’re Italian, it’s grappa; if you are from western cultures, it’s moonshine.
“Everyone has this same tradition with making something from the leftover grapes at the end of the wine season,” says Sutevski.
Time to learn
After deciding on the brand, they got to work. Having never worked in the industry before, the first thing the cousins did was ask the professionals.
“We did distillery tours and paid close attention to how facilities were organised and what sort of equipment was used. We got into the nitty gritty of the industry,” says Projcevski.
“The Australian industry is very much about banding together. When we went to people and said we wanted to make rakija, they were excited because nobody else was doing it,” says Sutevski.
Projcevski says, “Originally we learned how to distil from our grandparents who made home-made rakija – that’s where the recipe and our basic knowledge came from.
“Once we developed a base understanding of what we were doing we went to the experts and started hiring consultants.
“We also went into distilleries and almost began interning in a way, by just being there and gaining knowledge.”
DNA launched in 2021, and sold out in less than three months. Last year, the brand won Double Gold for its Classic Rakija and Gold Rakija at the World Spirits Competition.
Tradition Innovation
Recently, it launched a ready-to-drink (RTD) Rakija & Tonic – a world first, made with DNA’s self-crafted tonic, and in collaboration with the brand’s first stockists, Baba’s Place, in Marrickville, Sydney.
“Like all good decisions that James and I come to, deciding on the Rakija & Tonic was an instantaneous thing, and doing it with a brand that was already so aligned with ours has worked really, really well,” says Sutevski.
In its first batch of 5000 cans, the Rakija & Tonic sold out in only a few weeks.
“The cans were very much something that we had on the radar; a four pack or a case is nice and accessible, and the RTD format is something that consumers are familiar with.
“Everyone loves a gin and tonic, so why not try a rajika and tonic,” says Projevski.
For DNA, the future holds more flavours and growth.
The current range includes Classic Rakija, Gold Rakija and Pear Rakija.
Projcevski says he hopes to add a Plum Rakija to DNA’s offering, which would be a ‘natural extension’ of the range, as well as evolving the canned range.
Sutevski adds, “We want to make sure we can walk before we can run, and that DNA expands as a family.”
For the pair, the decision they made at that Covid-induced career crossroads is working out very well.
