GINBIZ ISSUE 01
NEW GIN ALERT BASS & FLINDERS WINTER GIN
WINTER ‘22 EDITION
MIXER CHAT LONG RAYS TONIC
AT THE CELLAR DOOR PROHIBITION LIQUOR CO.
HOTTEST 100 AUSSIE GINS OF 2021 GINUARY FESTIVAL 2022
Australi ’s Mo t Unique Gin Subscript on
#14
#18
WINTER EDITION #1
TABLE OF CONTENTS: 6 - 8 G I N A C R O S S T H E G LO B E
WITH SLIABH LIAG DISTILLERY’S MASTER DISTILLER, MOIRA DOHERTY
10-11 10 MINUTES WITH CUBA KRZYZANOWSKI
C O - F O U N D E R A N D O W N E R O F G I N B I Z , C O V E N T G A R D E N , G I N U A R Y & C G G I N C O.
12-13 MEET THE DISTILLER
INTRODUCING WOLF LANE’S SAM KENNIS
14-15 AT THE CELLAR DOOR
W I T H T H E T E A M A T P R O H I B I T I O N L I Q U O R C O.
16-17 SUSTAINABILITY IN DISTILLING W I T H M A N LY S P I R I T S C O.
18-19 MIXER CHAT
W I T H LO N G R AY S F O U N D E R , S H I V R E D D Y
20-21 BAR CHAT
W I T H G I N PA L A C E V E N U E M A N A G E R , S A M WA L L A C E
CONTENTS. #22
#24
22-23 WINER COCKTAILS
WITH DR. GIMLETTE’S STEPH KIM
24-25 WINTER GARNISHES 26-27 NEW GIN ALERT 28-29 WHAT’S ON
FESTIVALS & EVENTS
30-31 INDUSTRY NEWS 3 4 - 3 5 F O R G I V E Y O U R Y O U N G E R S E L F, B E L I E V E I N Y O U R C U R R E N T S E L F, C R E A T E Y O U R F U T U R E S E L F B Y A N G E L I M A R I E 36-37 THE 5 STAGES OF BUSINESS GRIEF
SHAW
BY KYM KREY
3 8 N O S I G N E D L E A S E ? L A N D LO R D S A R E LO C K I N G T E N A N T S I N T O N E W L E A S E S W I T H A N I M P L I E D L E A S E ? H O W ? B Y K E L LY C U N N I N G H A M 40-68 2022 GINUARY FESTIVAL: T O P 1 0 0 H OT T E S T O F 2 0 2 1
GINBIZ PUBLISHER Cuba Krzyzanowski cuba@ginbiz.com.au ART DIRECTOR Kellie Woodhead kellie@ginbiz.com.au EDITOR Charlie Stone editor@ginbiz.com.au CONTRIBUTORS Charlie Stone Cuba Krzyzanowski Steph Kim Angeli Marie Shaw Kym Krey Kelly Cunningham ADVERTISING ENQUIRES info@ginbiz.com.au OFFICE PO BOX 252 Helensvale Plaza Qld 4212 DISTRIBUTION Australia Post - Print Post 100005498 PRINTING Printcraft PUBLISHED BY mocha group www.ginbiz.com.au instagram @ginbiz.au facebook ginbiz.au
GINBIZ is published four times a year by mocha group ABN 65 091 846 189 No Part of the publication may be reproduced in any manner or form without written permission. GINBIZ does not accept responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, transparencies, original artwork or other material. The views expressed in GINBIZ are not necessarily those of the publisher. No responsibility will be accepted if the publication is delayed or prevented by factors beyond the control of the publisher. No responsibility will be accepted for errors in copy, or for any loss arising from the failure of an advertisement or any part thereof to appear. © 2022 mocha group All rights reserved.
EDITOR’S LETTER.
GINBIZ is a letter of love to the Australian gin industry and all its moving parts. As lovers and sellers of gin, our goal is always to find out what passionate and innovative entrepreneurs of the trade are excited about and how we can all help to create a more unified and open industry – allowing us to highlight and promote the individuality of the Australian gin industry as a whole. Our initial love for the industry started in 2017 with Covent Garden in West End, Brisbane. Now one of Australia’s largest gin bars (hosting over 400 Aussie gins), we have a great appreciation for everything that makes each gin unique and the full force of the team behind each one – from the distiller, to the brand ambassador, to the bartender serving it. Using our industry resources, we expanded into the online gin trade with CG Gin Co. and the CG Gin Club – allowing us to promote and work closely with independent distilleries across the country, helping to deliver unique drinking experiences straight to consumers’ doors. We also founded Ginuary Festival and the Hottest 100 Aussie Gins, an annual celebration of Australia’s favourite gins, and as our business grows, we’re always looking for new ways to advocate for what the Australian gin industry has achieved. In this, our first issue, we share stories from some of the industry’s best distillers, bartenders, founders and more. Whether it’s about sustainable practices, inspiring stories or tricks of the trade, some of the biggest names in distilling have shared their experience, advice and opinions on everything gin. As a quarterly publication, we want to highlight something that has a large presence in gin distilling - seasonal changes. Gin, being defined not by its base spirit but by its botanicals, can be heavily influenced by each season; it can be a source of inspiration or frustration as botanicals become abundant or scarce. To discuss some of the opportunities Winter presents, we spoke to industry professionals about their innovation and creative solutions when garnishing, creating cocktails and the use of seasonal botanicals in distilling during the colder months of the year. This issue is also a celebration of the 2021 Hottest 100 Aussie Gins, revealed at Ginuary Festival 2022 earlier this year. With some surprise gins cracking the Top 100, and some of Australia’s best making the Top 5, this year proved to be the largest and most exciting so far! With a few hiccups along the way (a particularly big one being the largest flood Brisbane has seen since 2011), the day didn’t happen quite as expected, but we had plenty of gin, and great company, that we didn’t let go to waste. And you can bet we started planning Ginuary Festival 2023 from that moment! The endless support and continued resilience of the close-knit community that is the Australian gin industry has given us so much and we believe it is time to give back. GINBIZ is our thanks to our peers, our belief in the industry and our love of what ties us all together. So happy drinking, and as always, smile, there is gin.
Charlie Stone
Editor, GINBIZ Magazine.
Want to contribute? Email me at editor@ginbiz.com.au
GIN ACROSS THE GLOBE
WITH SLIABH LIAG DISTILLERY’S MASTER DISTILLER, MOIRA DOHERTY Australia has its own unique botanicals, climate and identity that define and inspire many of its distilleries; this divergence has created a wealth of eccentric and distinct gins, each taking aspects of this individuality combined with passion, resulting in a thriving gin industry. The same inspired love that Australian distillers have for the uniqueness and individuality of their products can be seen all over the world – all the way to Ireland, where Sliabh Liag Distillery is located. Moira Doherty
of using seaweed as a botanical in gin and with that she could capture draiocht na farraige - the magic of the sea – in An Dúlamán Irish Maritime Gin, a love letter from the Donegal coast. James and Moira set about learning about all the jewels that grow on the shore and understanding how they taste and distil – fresh, frozen and dried. On their little test still, named Lola, 22 different varieties of seaweed were experimented with and five made it into the final recipe.
Sliabh Liag Distillery is heavily inspired by its location, harnessing the natural resources and history around Donegal, Ireland. Donegal’s pride is its people, once scattered to the corners of the globe looking for opportunity, and co-founder James’ family were no different. His mother, Rose, was one of 13 siblings. Like many of her siblings, she left Donegal in the 1960’s to look for employment and opportunities. In 2014, now two scatterlings, James and Moira Doherty returned to Donegal with the aim of establishing its lost distilling heritage. James (the grandson of not one but two illicit distillers) and Moira (a midwife) were shocked to find that – for a county that in 1815 had four times more illegal stills seized than any other county in Ireland – it had no legitimate distilling presence.
In 2016, they built the An Dúlamán Gin Distillery and brought distilling back to Donegal for the first time in 175 years – followed by the 3600 barrel Ardara Whiskey Distillery in 2021. Sliabh Liag creates soft drinking, hard spirits that celebrate Donegal and reflect the warmth of the Donegal welcome, the untamed wild Atlantic location, and the distinctive contrarian attitude of its resilient people.
When James and Moira (who has become a very deft gin distiller) returned in 2014, the Sliabh Liag Distillers were founded and, in doing so, created opportunity in an area that had been historically disadvantaged. The story begins some years earlier, with James having an itch to step out of the corporate world and Moira finding a moment of inspiration while picking Dulse (a type of edible seaweed) along the shore. Dulse has the crisp taste of the sea when fresh but, when dried, has an aroma and tastes like a vegetarian jerky, almost like smoky bacon. Moira pondered on the idea
We spoke to Moria, co-founder of Sliabh Liag Distillers and Master Distiller of An Dúlamán Gin, to talk about their coastline distillery and their growing company as they expand their reach over the globe, all while keeping their home at the forefront of their products. A passionate and skilled distiller, Moira has shared the incredible journey of their distillery: 7
GINBIZ WINTER 22
cont’d over page
Disitllers, Moira and James
cont’d from page 09 FOUNDATION The Sliabh Liag Distillery was founded by me, my husband James (Jim), James Keith (a family friend), and two of Jim’s industry colleagues from SABMiller – Domenic De Lorenzo and John Davidson. We were going to move to Melbourne with CUB (Fosters) when Jim was running their international business, but with the SABMiller acquisition we went instead to Hong Kong for a couple of years, as Jim was opening up Peroni in Asia. By 2014, we had decided that our days in the corporate world and travelling were done and that we would head “home” to Donegal, the land of Jim’s parents, to start our distilling journey. Ireland is an interesting paradox where it is at once both the oldest and the youngest distilling country in the world. Until the 80’s there were only two distilleries on the island, so the industry was super consolidated, but the last decade has seen that increase to 40. What’s interesting is that the new distilleries are increasingly rural (like us) and Ireland is moving back to the depth and diversity of before. Our distillery makes drinks that really could only come from Donegal. My Jim is a distribution and branding guy, but as an engineer he was always close to the distillers when we worked for William Grant & Sons, which is when I had this idea for an Irish Maritime Gin – a gin of the sea, if you like. It really excited him and so we got to work on it and his passion for smoky whiskey. We both have a passion for soft-drinking, hard spirits and we distil and blend to achieve this. The rich, illicit distilling heritage of Donegal got us thinking that all the ideas we had discussed over years all seemed to coalesce and create a really compelling vision that excited and scared us in equal measure – so you have to do it, right?
OPENING Ultimately, we set out to create opportunity in a previously disadvantaged area (an area Jim’s mum had to leave to look for new possibilities) and we knew that distilleries in Scotland create long term employment and economic opportunity. We started in the parish of Glencolmcille in a temporary building where we made gin for four years and that is where our bottling operation still is, but the original whiskey distillery was blocked by some small-time local politicians. So we moved the site a few kilometers and now have the beautiful Ardara Distillery in full production of An Dúlamán Gin and Ardara smoky Irish whiskey. The village of Ardara, where the distillery is, is a festival town with great hospitality and a festival every month through the summer. We do everything as locally as possible and, like all the distilling communities, made and still make sanitiser for local hospitals. The local authorities have worked with us at every stage, though I would say that my experience is that these things take twice as long and cost twice as much as you think initially, but what I know for sure is that you need to dream big, start small and it all comes down to action now. Currently, it’s going pretty well, though not perhaps quite as I imagined. I did think we would be walking on the beach more but the reality is the business has grown rapidly under the Covid period. From an initially scary start, we have opened up new markets; the whiskey has grown explosively while the gin, which is much more on trade play, has grown consistently at 35% year on year and the shape of the business is strong. We have built our team over the lockdown and have grown from nine to nearly 30. Most are in bottling as we are completely hand bottled. The distilling team is six now, with the whiskey on two shifts, but I distil the gin most of the time. I enjoy the contradiction between alchemy and precision and love the satisfaction that comes from making each batch.
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“I THINK THAT GINS THAT HAVE A STRONG IDENTITY AND A GENUINE PROVENANCE WILL ALWAYS HAVE A CHANCE IF THEY FIND A DISTRIBUTION PARTNER WHO BELIEVES IN WHAT THEY BELIEVE AND CAN TARGET THE GROUPS BUYING INTO THEIR BRANDS.” - MOIRA DOHERTY
DISTILLING My gin is An Dúlamán Irish Maritime Gin – it’s a London Dry Single Shot process. We also have a barrel aged Armada Strength release called Santa Ana. We have a single 500L copper pot still, named Meabh, which was designed by Jim and made by Forsyths of Scotland. It has a very long neck, is heated using a water bain marie and has a flavour basket set into the lyne arm. We have now moved it to the Ardara Distillery site. Before Covid and the move of Meabh to Ardara, we operated a limited tour where people would spend over an hour hearing about distilling in Donegal, and our processes and ingredients. We are very transparent about what we do, perhaps too much so. The botanical mix is six conventional botanicals: juniper, coriander, angelica, cassia, sweet orange peel, and lemon peel, and five seaweeds: sugar kelp, dulse, dulaman (channel wrack), carrageen moss and pepper dulse (the truffle of the sea). Ten of the botanicals are macerated in the large still, with carrageen moss being simultaneously vapour infused in a flavour basket in the lyne arm. The seaweeds are difficult to distil because I wanted to create a gin of the sea and not a seaweed gin; I want the savoury freshness of the sea and that wonderful salty umami kick but not any fishy earthiness that seaweed can give you. So I distill in a very narrow band, quite slow and take a very narrow cut. We end up with less than 175L of gin at 75%, which we mature for 10 days or so, as we find the flavour changes quite profoundly and the few days in the tanks really marries and integrates the spirit. Our gins all have a savoury umami kick and all the whiskeys are smoky. The Ardara Distillery is the only distillery in Ireland dedicated to peated whiskeys. Everything we do is distinctive and my gin is no different; it’s rich and savoury in a gin world that has moved to be very sweet and frivolous. For us, all our drinks really could only come from here. My gin is a gin of the Donegal coast – my love letter from it.
GROWING “What do you see the next few years looking like for you?” That’s a great question and I’m not sure how to answer it really. I know what we plan to do, but things seem to be happening at a relentless pace at the moment. We are fundraising to expand the capacity of the whiskey distillery and extend the visitor capacity in Ardara. The UK is a hugely competitive gin market and the days of an easy win are long gone. Like a few mature Gin markets, the trade is a bit bored with gin and its proliferation, but that said the consumer is still excited by the potential of the category and previously boutique botanicals and brands will cross into wider recognition. I think that gins that have a strong identity and a genuine provenance will always have a chance if they find a distribution partner who believes in what they believe and can target the groups buying into their brands. To be honest, we export to 40 countries already, which makes the business quite complex so I don’t think we need to grow much more geographically, but a couple of the more scalable international markets of Latin America would be good. We are about to launch the Silkie Irish Whiskey’s through Dan Murphy’s. Jim believes it’s really important to have our voice at the table of the Irish Whiskey Association (IWA) and to champion some of his thinking on category development and influencing the technical file that controls the GI. He will be Chairman of the IWA next year, as the Chairmanship alternates between the larger players and the craft guys. We think being geographically and taste distinct and maintaining our signature softness is the way we will grow what we have. I have been working on a gin from the hills of Donegal inspired by a waterfall called Assaranca. At the same time, Jim’s got a few finishes for Silkie going on while we lay down the Ardara whiskeys which are all peated and grains in and taste lovely. And I am developing a couple of new An Dúlamáns that express our time in Asia and my childhood growing up in Zimbabwe and they promise to be exciting.
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10 MINUTES WITH…
Cuba Krzyzanowski
Meet Cuba, owner of renowned Brisbane gin bar, Covent Garden, and co-founder, along with his partner Kellie, of multiple other gin-oriented businesses & projects — Ginuary Festival, Hottest 100 Aussie Gins, CG Gin Co. and now also…the GINBIZ magazine! From growing up in a small town of Poland, to running nightclubs on the Spanish riviera, Cuba shares how his love of travel & adventure set the course for his future in Australia, and how he became so invested in our homegrown gin industry. Living most of his early life up to his early teens in a small Polish town close to the border of Germany, Cuba’s aspirations rarely left the realm of just enjoying the most of what’s around. That was until his growing love of basketball had him imagining himself as a future NBA star. A huge reach for a not-so-tall kid from Poland, which unsurprisingly never came to fruition, but one that speaks volumes about his personality – never afraid to dream, as no dreams are impossible, you just need to find a way to reach them. When the time was right, he left Poland for the much warmer climate of southern Spain (if you know him well, you will also know the one thing he genuinely hates is cold weather), where he completed his Master’s Degree in International Commerce & Brand Management… only to become a bouncer at a local nightclub. Because why work 9-5 in a well-paid corporate job, if you can instead deal with drunk teens & tourists on a wild night out, right?! But, some people are just not made that way, and being in his early twenties with a love for adventure and always keen to meet new people from all over the world, he never thought twice. All those years at university didn’t go to waste though, as he soon found himself managing one of the busiest clubs in Alicante, and his love for the hospitality industry began. Spain is also where he first tried gin, although not in the way you’d think. With its piney notes & very affordable cost (just remember this is early 2000’s Spain, and not Australia in 2022), gin was actually very commonly used in bars as a table cleaning disinfectant! As all good things must come to an end, so did his ‘wild times’ in Spain. What’s fun for a fresh university graduate was not as fun for someone nearing his thirties, wanting to settle down somewhere a little bit less dangerous (plenty of stories there to tell, but you’d have to ask him about those yourself). So, he was on the move again, another fresh start, but this time 17,000km away from home, and more importantly — somewhere even warmer!
CUBA KRZYZANOWSKI
CO-FOUNDER AND OWNER OF GINBIZ, COVENT GARDEN, GINUARY AND CG GIN CO.
Covent Garden West End
There’s nothing more gratifying than doing something you love and making it your everyday job, especially one that can provide a stable family income. But for some, that’s still not enough. Some want it to have a greater meaning. It may be helping other young entrepreneurs reach their own goals and potential, supporting the local community, or maybe just putting a little smile on other people’s faces. Opening Covent Garden was always about Cuba following his passions – for hospitality, for gin, for good food and good ol’ customer service. Interestingly enough, it is also one of only a selected few coeliac safe restaurants in Australia, serving fully gluten free food along with hundreds of gins. Why? Because why not! Why not do something that will actually mean the world to thousands of people who otherwise struggle to dine out without a risk of having a life-threatening allergic reaction?
Cuba & Kellie
Looking 10 years back in hindsight, settling in Brisbane was just the right choice. It’s the place he now proudly calls home and it’s where his love of gin has come to fruition. Travelling the country from far north to deep south, from Sydney to Perth, there were two things that would always blow his mind — how genuine & helpful people could be, and how dedicated they were to following their passions. Many of those trips involved a stop (or a few) at a small local bar, winery and distillery, and that’s where he decided it was about time to get back into the game of the hospitality industry — but this time, doing it his own way and for all the right reasons.
The same principles apply to all the other projects he has been involved in ever since – doing something that he can be proud of, all whilst giving others a chance to benefit from it, too. And so, there was the Ginuary Festival – launched back in 2019 – a celebration of the local gin community, bringing together local distillers, gin drinkers, and everyone else with gin always on their mind. Following that there was CG Gin Co. — Covent Garden’s online expansion — which launched soon after covid forced the venue to close. It not only gave Cuba and Kellie (the other half of the CG family) something to keep their minds busy, but more importantly it made quarantine a lot more bearable for many local gin fans and kept the gin flowing. And, because life is never busy enough with a two-year-old and a newborn just around the corner, Cuba and Kellie thought it would be a great idea to share their collective knowledge and skills with more people from the gin industry. How? By throwing themselves into yet another project — that’s how GINBIZ was born. Luckily, this time they’ve got help…or so he says jokingly!
Cuba & Shiv Reddy
FAST FAVES DESTINATION: TUSCANY DRINK: NEGRONI FOOD: SQUID LINGUINE BOOK: DA VINCI CODE MOVIE: DEADPOOL MUSIC: NEO SOUL ANIMAL: DOLPHIN HAPPY PLACE: HOME
MEET THE DISTILLER
INTRODUCING WOLF LANE’S SAM KENNIS Nestled in the Cairns CBD, down a red brick laneway in a refurbished early 1900’s horse stable, lies Cairns’ first gin distillery - Wolf Lane. Founded in 2019 by the team behind award-winning small bars, such as Three Wolves (located just next door), the distillery has a heavy focus on locally sourced botanicals, taking inspiration from their location in Far North Queensland. Their Tropical Gin, a double gold medal-winning dry, is vapour infused with mango, grapefruit, orange and finger lime, truly reflecting the tropical paradise of the surrounding area. Sam Kennis
Accompanying the Tropical Gin in Wolf Lane’s core range is a highly awarded Navy Strength (which heroes juniper and macadamia), the Davidson Plum Gin (a tropical take on a traditional sloe), along with The Barista – a coffee liqueur made with locally grown coffee beans and Daintree vanilla. Expanding into RTDs and bottled cocktails, the distillery has established their range as approachable and as vibrant as their location.
Who’s your biggest inspiration/motivation when it comes to gin making and/or opening the distillery? I’m really inspired by every distillery in Australia. It’s great to see so many people getting into the industry to really make Australia a major player in the gin scene. Obvious credit goes out to the gents from Four Pillars for what they have been able to create, and really put Australia on the map.
To learn more about the beginnings and future of this already accomplished distillery, we spoke to co-founder and distiller Sam Kennis:
How close do you work with other gin distillers: is there collaboration within the industry or does everyone keep to themselves? We do a lot of events with other distilleries in our local area as well as collaborating with local and national brands to bring products to life. I find it to be a very supportive and collaborative industry. It’s in everyone’s interest to help each other out and promote Australia’s industry.
Why Wolf Lane Distillery? Why gin? Wolf Lane Distillery was created as a gin distillery due the amazing local botanicals found in Far North QLD. We operate numerous bars in the Cairns region. At the time one of our venues was a gin bar, we learnt more and more about gin and fell in love with the spirit. From here we decided to jump into all things gin and create Cairns’ first gin distillery. Have you had any experience distilling gin prior to launching the distillery? Darren and I had no previous experience in distilling. We had an idea of the style and taste of gin we wanted to create, so we headed down to Tasmania and learnt all we could from a bunch of distilleries down there and completed a course in distilling.
Does the amount of competition help the industry (and your own growth), or is it a challenge you have to constantly adjust to? It’s great to see so many distilleries opening, I believe that it will only continue this path. Obviously, it makes it harder to get products into bottle shops and bars. Venues are getting approached numerous times a day with gin products. It keeps pushing and driving us to continue to adapt to market trends and constantly create better products in order to stand out.
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How did you go about coming up with the botanicals used in your gins? Was it a lot of trial and error or did you always have those specific flavours in mind? We wanted to showcase the produce from Cairns and Far North QLD. We had an idea of what the botanical list was going to be and from there it was a trial-and-error process with what amounts to use. We use a lot of fresh fruit in our distillation process, so these volumes are forever changing depending on the produce we receive. How often do you experiment with new flavours and will they eventually lead to any new gins from Wolf Lane? We are constantly playing around with new ideas and flavours, while perfecting our current range. We have some new products launching very soon – three new gins and a grapefruit aperitif. Jump online and follow Wolf Lane Distillery across all socials to find out release dates.
Is gin always your go-to drink, or do you prefer not to mix “work with pleasure” and enjoy something different when you’re at home? Great question! It depends on the mood I’m in. I love a dirty gin martini, but can’t have too many of those. I’m a big scotch and Irish whiskey fan as well! But sometimes a beer does the trick. Any advice for those wanting to start a distillery today? Any wisdom from your own successes or failures? If you want to do it, don’t think too much about it and just make it happen. It’s a tough industry but super rewarding and supportive. I have had a lot of failures – more than I can probably mention here. What’s next in store for you personally? World domination!!
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AT THE CELLAR DOOR
WITH THE TEAM AT PROHIBITION LIQUOR CO. Cellar doors are an essential way to allow consumers to experience spirits how the creator intends: full of the story, flavour and character that makes a gin unique. With many things to consider – from the building itself, to decoration, bar operation, tours and more – there are great challenges and opportunities that come with shaping a distinctive space that suits individual requirements. While the space may need to serve multiple practical purposes, a good cellar door is also a strong representation of the individuality, ethos and perspective of the distillery as a whole. Crafting a cellar door that perfectly encapsulates the spirit of a distillery is a lengthy, ongoing process, requiring vision, creativity and practicality. To give some insight into one of Australia’s most unique cellar doors, we spoke to the team at Prohibition Liquor Co., who gave us details on their 1920’s inspired distillery and bar. BEGINNING Based in the heart of the Adelaide CBD, just streets away from historic locations and surrounded by parkland, Prohibition Liquor Co. is nestled along bustling Gilbert Street, just off the tramline. The distillery was founded by Adam Carpenter and Wes Heddles in 2015, taking inspiration from the 1920’s prohibition and the bootleg spirit makers of that time. Their cellar door is a reflection of this inspiration, creating a vintage, industrial feel in the space. 14 GINBIZ WINTER 22
“When embarking on the build of the Prohibition distillery and bar, we knew we had to work with the bones of the building. Starting with what was an old mechanic’s workshop with a few retrofitted interiors, we stripped the building back to its bare bones, removing any ceilings, claddings and unnecessary walls,” says co-founder and Creative Director of the brand, Adam Carpenter. “Building up from there, it was a matter of doing as little as possible and retaining the imperfect and industrial nature of the shell, whilst adding elements of polish and value where they would serve the maximum impact.” THE SPACE When you walk into the Tasting Room, the general reaction from people is… “wow’. There’s a balance between the heavy industrial structure and the artistic elements, such as the clawfoot bath atop the main bar. The bathtub, a nod to the distillation vessel of bootleggers during prohibition, has been transformed (by a plumber
and a steampunk artist) into a ‘mock still’, with an elaborate array of copper pipes and antique dials, following the concept of Creative Director Adam. The entire space straddles between an industrial bootlegger rustic charm and modern-meets-Art Deco glamour, which very much reflects the aesthetic and philosophy of the brand.
Adam Carpenter and Wes Heddles
The experience for guests at Prohibition Distillery is one centred around education. Guests have the opportunity to see the operating 900L copper pot still, named ‘Mary’ after Wes’ dearly departed stepmum (who inspired the boys to start a distillery in the first place). The still is operated daily by the head-distiller, Hugh, where guests will have the opportunity to witness some of the gin making process. Whilst chatting about distilling with the highly educated and engaging team, visitors can enjoy a guided gin flight, tasting or cocktail masterclass, an in-depth gin blending class, or simply kick back for a craft cocktail made with quality local ingredients. Speaking of local, the food offering doesn’t get any more local; with the world-class Adelaide Central Markets on a few streets away, the ‘Market Platters’ are a foodies’ treat with quality cheeses, charcuterie and crudites. Or there is always the simple, yet incredibly tasty, tapas menu, which has something for everyone – again using strictly local ingredients and prepared in-house.
Adam’s design studio also sits right in the middle of the distillery building (tucked behind Bootleg Coffee Co. – an extension of the Prohibition brand), which is a sign of the growth of the site and reflects how important the design and marketing of the brand is to its continued success. “It adds to the collective-nature of the space,” comments Adam. “It feels like a hive of creativity all round.”
GROWING When creating a cellar door, it can be challenging enough to fulfil immediate requirements, let alone to predict future growth and needs. Flexibility and creativity are key to expanding into an established space and working with the existing surroundings and limitations; ideally not just working around the obstacles, but incorporating them so that they become another functional, essential aspect of the cellar door.
Another favourite spot in the ‘collaborative space’ that is the Prohibition Distillery complex, is the more polished, adjacent cocktail bar – aptly called Next Door. “It came about when we took over the space just next door,” says Wes. “It was an opportunity to take our showcase of craft spirits from all over Australia and turn it into a more up-scale cocktail bar, with a cosier and more glamorous feel,” he comments. The bar, which opened in 2019, just pre-COVID, has a cocktail offering that consists of modern takes on prohibition era classics and the feel of the space reflects a slightly more speakeasy-esque vibe.
“The only frustration now is that we have expanded the site from only 350sqm to occupying the full site of 800sqm, by adding a section at a time to our leasehold. If we’d have known (or afforded it) from the start, the layout would have been very different,” Wes Heddles (the other co-founder and now CEO of the booming distillery) notes. “But we have organically grown the space with the business, meaning that we have three distinct customer spaces, along with a series of ‘back of house’ spaces, which change function every few months as we continually grow,” Wes says. “The segmentation makes our spaces super flexible though. We will often have a cocktail masterclass, corporate function and a full Tasting Room all at once and it just works!” He says happily.
Starting with its inception in 2015, Prohibition Liquor Co. has grown and adapted – beginning with a simple distillery and cellar door and expanding into multiple connected venues. Developing the space over time, not just into one larger distillery but forming a collective hive of businesses, is evidence of their ability to take advantage of what may, at first, have seemed like limitations and obstacles, and turn them into an opportunity to further their brand. From specialty brew at Bootleg Coffee Co. at 7am, lunch and a gin flight in the Prohibition Tasting Room, a wander through the distillery and partaking in a masterclass, then finishing with cocktails at Next Door as the night gets late, there truly is something for everyone, any time at Prohibition Liquor Co.
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SUSTAINABILITY IN DISTILLING WITH MANLY SPIRITS CO.
Distilling and selling spirits can use a lot of resources, from the sourcing of botanicals, water usage, bottling and packaging, shipping, and disposing of excess waste from the distilling process. There are many sustainable practices already in place in distilleries to help reduce waste and maintain the land that offers so many resources to gin distilling, but the endless innovation of Australian distillers shows there is always more to offer in the efforts to create sustainable distilleries. Manly Spirits Co., from the northern beaches of Sydney, have many sustainable practices in place at their coastal distillery, and they’ve shared their story and green efforts with us: THE DISTILLERY Capturing the harmony between carefree beach life and urban sophistication, for which Manly is renowned, our founders David and Vanessa and the Manly Spirits Co. team create Australian Gins, Botanical Vodkas and Whiskies that rival the best in the world – taking much of their inspiration from the stunning surrounding marine environment of the New South Wales coastline. Driving through the hills of Tasmania in late 2015, David and Vanessa first discussed the possibility of one day owning their own distillery. Following intensive research, exploring distilleries in the USA, Europe, UK and Scotland, the pair committed to their plan and sought hands-on training from a leading distillery in Tasmania. Fast forward 18 months, and their dreams came true with the Manly Spirits Co. Distillery launching April 2017. Our range of Australian premium spirits are created using artisanal methods in our distillery based in Sydney’s Northern Beaches, using the four beautiful copper stills aptly named after David & Vanessa’s four children. We may make it look easy, but spirit creation is a complex undertaking that requires an in-depth understanding of the intricate distilling processes, native and traditional gin botanicals, chemistry, equipment and timing that our team pulls together to create [our] products. As innovative Aussies, the Manly Spirits Co. team strive to keep things interesting and are always experimenting with new flavours, equipment and techniques to ensure we craft a distinctly Australian premium spirit. The inclusion of marine botanicals and Australian natives ensures that the spirits we are producing celebrates the uniqueness of these ingredients and showcases what Australian spirits are all about. We are committed to being as sustainable and environmentally conscious with our practices as we can be. Our collaboration with renowned forager and chef, Elijah Holland, to sustainably source local marine botanicals for distillation in our white spirits is one example of this. Some of our other sustainable practices include upcycling & adaptive reuse, reducing waste, reusing botanicals and saving energy in production. UPCYCLING & ADAPTIVE REUSE Our signature bespoke bottles don’t go to waste. The bottles are cut down to be reused for glassware, perfect for G&Ts/Cocktails as well as being used for candles. We also encourage people to bring their used bottles back to us to be refilled by Juno, our large custom made Recycle Fish sculpture. This comes with a $10 discount and is one of our cellar door exclusive only offers.
REDUCING WASTE & REUSING BOTANICALS After we have completed the raspberry infusion, which gives our Lilly Pilly Pink Gin that gorgeous pink colour, the raspberries have this incredible gin botanical flavour. First, we strain the excess gin and juices from the raspberries to get what we call ‘Lilly Pilly Tails’. Then the raspberries, which still have tonnes of flavour in the berry, get donated to a local baker to be made into Raspberry Gin Jam. Local baker, Kiki from Luscious Kiki Cakes in Brookvale, has recently gotten creative with our gin-soaked vanilla pods from our Amber Spiced Gin cascara and vanilla infusion. She creates a special Chai Tea, Amber Spiced cakes and more. If you’re heading to NSW or the distillery, be sure to swing by to try some of the creations! We give the spent barley that we use to make our Single Malt Whisky to some of our local Aussie farmers for their cows and chickens to enjoy. They absolutely love it, and the chickens produce eggs that are double the size because of the highprotein content of the spent grain. We only use lemon peels for our Zesty Limoncello, and the rest of the lemon gets used by a local juicing company to make fresh lemon juice. SOURCING BOTANICALS SUSTAINABLY When foraging, we don’t want to disrupt the balance of the ecosystem, so we only take what we need and carefully forage sustainably. E.g. Sea lettuce is the only legally foragable seaweed in Australia which grows on the rock shelf, as well as growing in abundance. [Using] beach cast kelp: as kelp should not be taken from the ocean, kelp that has washed up on the beach after a storm is allowed to be foraged. Another important point is sourcing from Sustainable Growers. We are quite selective when it comes to sourcing our botanicals, thoughtfully sourcing many of our Australian native botanicals from Indigenous growers and local farmers around Australia. ENERGY SAVING IN PRODUCTION We’ve put in a heat exchanger to our whisky stills which recycles waste heat and essentially means we are using significantly less energy to run the stills now. We’ve also invested in solar panels which have saved 32 tonnes of greenhouse gases, that’s CO2 that hasn’t gone out. We’re now only using 1/3 of the power that we had previously. Here at Manly Spirits, we’re always looking for new ways to adapt and make changes to our processes to further our sustainability and to make greater environmentally conscious decisions. We’re sure as we continue to grow, and further improve on our practices that the Australian Gin industry will continue to do so as well. Every bit no matter how insignificant it may seem always helps.
MIXER CHAT
WITH LONG RAYS FOUNDER SHIV REDDY.
A huge component to creating a well rounded drinking experience is not just considering the spirit, but what accompanies it. When speaking of gin, tonic is never far behind in the conversation. We spoke to founder of Long Rays, Shiv Reddy, about his journey in creating one of Australia’s fastest growing mixer brands. HOW IT STARTED… Long Rays came into existence as a concept in July 2018. For me, a lot of the special moments in my life have happened when friends or family were coming together, sharing drinks and often at that time of day when the long rays of the sun were shining through in the late afternoon. I wanted to create something worthy of being a part of those moments, and to help people to celebrate. I’m a great lover of craft Australian spirits but had found that the mixer space was lagging behind the boom in premium offerings, so that’s where the idea for Long Rays was born. It took around 12 months from that point to produce the first product, which involved creating the flavour, finding a factory, doing the branding, setting up the company structure and all of the legal requirements behind it. The first product – initially called Australian Native Tonic and now renamed our Original Tonic – was launched almost exactly a year later in July 2019. I produced 40,000 thousand bottles to see if it would work in the market and sold out within three months! THE IMPORTANCE OF A GOOD MIXER… The concept of premiumisation is very much here to stay - people are drinking less but better. This goes in both the craft spirit and craft mixer spaces. We know that the growth of the craft spirit market is occurring at a faster rate than the wine and beer markets, and within this market
we know that the acceleration of growth in the premium category is higher than the non-premium category. We also know that the majority of premium craft spirits are still being mixed - between 70-90%, depending on the type. The market is already telling us that people are wanting healthier, better quality options and that will only continue. Traditionally, a household tonic brand would be around 40-50 calories per serve, just for the mixer component. For Long Rays, we have 14-17 calories per serve in our tonics, and without any artificial sugars or flavourings. Consumer tastes are evolving and maturing, and people are paying more attention to what they’re consuming. They understand more about their craft spirit and they recognise when it’s been laden with a heavy tonic versus some of the premium tonics on the market, like Long Rays, that allow the nuances of the spirit to come through. Good venues are really driving that push for premiumisation and are recognising the need for premium mixers to serve their clientele, who are now more discerning in their spirit consumption. Selling someone a nip of a beautiful, local craft spirit and then drowning it in post-mix doesn’t cut it anymore. Consumers want their mixers to be as high-end and equal quality as their spirits. CHALLENGES ALONG THE WAY… The biggest challenges revolved around manufacturing. I needed to create a product that could be replicable at a massive scale, which means that 18 GINBIZ WINTER 22
Shiv Reddy
the end-to-end process of sourcing all of the flavours and the raw and printed materials had to be scalable and sustainable, so that if the business took off we had a supply chain in place that supported that growth. It’s an adjustment in thinking from creating just a few thousand bottles of tonic, as an initial proof of concept, to creating something that could be scaled very quickly in the event it was successful. It was also a challenge to find a factory that had a belief in the concept. I contacted 19 factories across Australia and only one was willing to give us a shot. Most factories, understandably, don’t want to shut down their highly efficient product lines to insert a new unproven product. There are very high setup costs involved for the factory, and it’s a huge risk for them, as the likelihood of that product taking off and being successful enough to have a strong payback to the factory is very low for new brands. Another challenge with a start-up is that you might start small, but you still have to activate all of the various elements of a business and have them up and running to a high standard from day one. And in my case, I was a sole founder so I was doing everything myself. Everything from product development, to finding a factory, learning how production at a factory works so that you can apply the highest possible standards that we choose to employ, all of the accounting, marketing, branding… even deliveries initially. Everything has to be done to a high standard because the market doesn’t care if you’re a small start-up or a large corporation, there’s still the expectation – not just that the product looks and tastes the part – but that invoicing is seamless, distribution flows well. Everything has to work and it has to be achieved with very limited resources in the beginning. BREAKING INTO THE MARKET… Entering a market that already has strong players in it is challenging. The fortunate thing about the Australian mixer market in 2018 was there were only three major players in the craft mixer space, supporting a booming craft spirits wave, so it wasn’t a saturated market. And because some of the other players had been around for over 8-10 years, their brands and market presence were more aligned with an older business model. With Long Rays we had
the opportunity to use a blank canvas approach and identify what the market wanted at that point in time, and that allowed us to tailor our products and business strategy to closely align with current demand. We used numerous focus groups (distillers, venues and consumers) to discern that there were a few specific things that the market was looking for. We were then able to launch a product suite and brand which aligned to not just my personal values, but the values of the modern spirit/mixer market in Australia – things like Australian provenance, supporting local, preferences for lower sugar and healthier ingredients, addressing the rising cost of mixers per serve, and most importantly being a support act to the spirit so that you can taste it through the mixer, rather than overpowering it with sugar and flavours. PARTNERING AND CREATING RELATIONSHIPS… We have a rising tides philosophy, where we’re trying to create products that are designed to elevate the industry as a whole. We believe that by partnering with businesses within the craft spirit space and contributing to their growth, Long Rays’ growth will naturally be tied to that and we will all grow together. That not only helps individual businesses but the sector as a whole. We work very closely with a lot of Queensland and Victorian distilleries (due to us launching in QLD and doing most of our manufacturing in VIC) so those relationships occurred naturally due to proximity. We try to support as many distillers as possible and we also work with a lot of independent bottle shops and venues, where there are many like-minded entrepreneurs doing exciting things, so we feel there’s a lot of synergy there. We feel that if we can really connect with an independent bar and support them to grow in numerous ways, we can have long-lasting relationships rather than just commercial transactions. We’ve been fortunate enough to have some major sponsorship deals this year where we can really support the craft spirit market large-scale. We’re the official mixer sponsor of the Australian Distillers Association conference, as well as the seven Gin Distillers Association Gin Festivals around Australia, which saw approximately 30,000 people come through the doors. 19 GINBIZ WINTER 22
WHAT’S TO COME… The growth of the brand is closely tied in with market direction, and I think the market is looking for growth in two areas. First – the concept of less is better. Our focus is on letting the spirit shine through and we do that by keeping our mixers simple. Keeping them low sugar, having local ingredients and familiar flavours within the products, but less dominance of flavour so it doesn’t overpower. The second element is that there’s a real drive towards innovation in mixers. For example, in the dark spirit mixer space we haven’t seen any real innovation for rum and whisky mixers, it’s all been a slight tweak of colas and ginger beers/ales and we know that the market uses those by default and out of necessity rather than because it’s really ideal. For Long Rays, it’s about supporting craft spirits with purposefully designed, innovative mixers, and we’ve focused on dark spirits with the launch of our Dark Soda. We’ve got numerous projects on the horizon and we’re looking to bring the same level of innovation to new mixers for other craft spirits in Australia, but we never want to release a new product until we’re 100% happy with it!
BAR CHAT WITH
SAM WALLACE
VENUE MANAGER OF GIN PALACE, MELBOURNE Bars are an important part of the spirit ecosystem – they can serve as an introduction to something new or a way to enhance the familiar. A good relationship between a bar and distillery can create wonderful opportunities for both, with many delicious, bespoke spirits and cocktails coming from fruitful partnerships.
Gin Palace is perhaps Australia’s most well established gin bar, having been opened well before the gin industry in Australia took off. Located in the heart of Melbourne, this bar has a speakeasy feel and an air of old world elegance. With almost two and a half decades of history and some impressive accolades, the bar has continued to thrive and grow throughout the years. To discuss the intricate history and inner workings of Gin Palace, Sam Wallace speaks about his experience as Venue Manager: Gin Palace was founded in 1997 by Vernon Chalker. His vision was always to create a decadent & luxurious haven focusing on Gin and Champagne. At the time gin wasn’t very ‘in’, I think he chose it purposely as it represented more debaucherous & wild drinking. In the early days of Gin Palace, the gin scene in Australia was practically non-existent. I was a toddler at the time so can’t speak from much experience, but I would say loyal G&T drinkers were few and far between, with a London Dry & Schweppes being their drink of choice (or lack thereof). The original focus of the bar was to offer a sultry basement lounge escape in the city. Martini drinkers, champagne lovers, cigar smokers... a safe space for everyone to indulge and imbibe until the early hours of the morning. In almost 25 years, our ethos hasn’t really shifted too dramatically. We still operate until 3am seven days a week, serve very generously sized martinis and pour champagne all night long. Of course, with smoking laws and RSA it may not be as wild as it once was, but it’s still a party every night of the week. One of the most rewarding parts of work is having old regulars come in and make comments on how it feels like nothing has changed in 20+ years, despite constantly but subtly evolving. It makes me feel incredibly proud and lucky that I am a part of it. It certainly helped to kickstart the cocktail scene in Melbourne and hopefully inspired other people in the industry to create some amazing venues. Our team is incredibly strong at the moment, a beautiful mix of industry veterans & younger but outstanding individuals. We have built a healthy, happy work environment which of course spills directly onto the patron’s experience. Gin Palace has always been a safe place for everyone and our customer base hasn’t shifted a huge amount since we opened. It’s generally a slightly older crowd, lots of pre-theatre and post-dinner and of course many people choose it as a date spot. I think the main thing that has happened to change who walks through the door is that the general public have a much better understanding and appreciation for gin, cocktails and alcohol in general. These days with the plethora of incredible Australian spirits, boutique bottle shops and award-winning bars, it’s much easier for the average person to develop a love for a particular brand or spirit, and not feel intimidated walking into a ‘fancy’ venue. Our reputation also makes us proud. People always seem to have good things to say about the venue, whether coming in for the first time or returning for the twentieth year in a row. Gin Palace was the first bar I was made aware of when I came to Melbourne, and it is
mentioned fondly often by industry folk and otherwise. I think I’m mostly proud that we have been consistently recognised as an important part of Melbourne’s cocktail scene, and haven’t unnecessarily changed anything in our long lifespan, we’ve kept our ethos and service the same and will continue to do so for years to come. I briefly experienced Gin Palace before Covid and to be honest we’ve come out the other end as strong if not stronger than before. The lockdown was hard and we did some takeaway cocktails to keep the cogs turning and to stay relevant, but of course it was difficult. Coming out the other side it was a blessing in disguise, allowing us to fine-tune our service while dealing with limited numbers. The slow increase to ‘regular’ capacity numbers meant we were exceptionally prepared and could offer better drinks and service than ever before while slowly pushing patron numbers up. It was a rough time for the industry, but making the best of a bad situation, we used the slow times to rethink and improve our service to now offer a better product than we were before the pandemic. We work closely with Fever-Tree as we always have, Trish (the ex-venue manager of Gin Palace and now their brand ambassador) has looked after us well. We would be promoting their products regardless but having a close relationship is great for everyone. In terms of spirits, we are lucky to be able to pick and choose who we work closely with, allowing us to showcase the brands we truly love instead of pushing something purely for a discount. There are countless brands that we adore and work well with, so it’s really a matter of choosing what is best for each menu, as we change our list seasonally. Every distillery is incredibly helpful in giving us incentives and deals so we have a great choice whenever we swap our menus over. Of course, it’s a two sided thing but we have the privilege of picking out star gins for the season — the benefits are of course bottom line COGS but also allowing us to honestly push cocktails/products that mean something to us and our patrons. Winning Australia’s Best Gin Bar was truly awesome for the whole team, we’d been hoping for one for a while and honestly thought it would never happen! We really should do more [with it] in the way of marketing campaigns, but honestly with foot traffic and word of mouth we don’t spend much time on socials. As much as we are stoked with it, I don’t think it changed our direction too much, we will always strive to be better regardless of accolades so to get one along the way is such an incredible thing. We do like to brag about the award now and again, but it is safely locked away in our cage of rare gins and Cognacs. There is a lot in the pipeline for GP, but a lot I can’t elude to right now. We are collaborating with a local Brewery to make a companion beer for gin, we are looking at distilling our own gins to serve & have multiple events/ launches in the works for the rest of the year. Also with the influx of incredible gins in the country, we are hoping to redesign the backbar to accomodate a fair few more! At the moment my bottles are literally falling off the shelves, so we’re planning to add a lot more backbar space to allow for everyone to have a spot! In terms of the future, we will be opening our outdoor pop-up again as soon as the weather permits, but it will be business as usual inside. Get ready for some exciting launches and parties this year...
WINTER COCKTAILS WITH DR. GIMLETTE’S STEPH KIM
When winter comes around, there’s an important question that needs to be answered: what to drink when it’s too cold for G&Ts?
Whether it’s something to make at home, a new addition at the cellar door or a monthly special in bars, seasonal cocktails are an essential part of making gin accessible and appealing all year round. The right syrup, liqueur or fresh citrus can make all the difference in separating winter and summer cocktails and maintaining brand awareness in the colder months. Every gin is unique, and requires a different approach to make sure it shines in multiple settings. Looking at various styles of cocktails, seasonal flavours and strengthening distilled botanicals with fresh ones to highlight the right notes for the season is important to make a gin stand out in a sea of classic cocktails. To give some winter inspiration, we spoke to Steph Kim, one of the most gin-knowledgeable bartenders in Brisbane. Currently found at Dr. Gimlette – a new CBD cocktail bar from the same group as Cobbler and Death and Taxes – Steph is the go-to member of the team for gin recommendations: “I like gin because it’s versatile; there’s something for everyone, even your hard whiskey drinkers. I don’t always think of hot drinks in winter, I’m the kind of person who will drink an iced coffee in the middle of July. When I’m making winter cocktails, I look at what’s seasonal and anything with warm citrus and teas that will make you feel cozy.”
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SWEATER WEATHER 45ml Four Pillars Navy Strength Gin 20ml Orange and Ginger Syrup 90ml Hot Water Add all the ingredients into a blazer mug. Using a blowtorch, heat the bottom of the mug and swirl the liquid until lightly steaming. Pour into a tea cup and serve with dehydrated orange and candied ginger. Sweater Weather is a twist on a Hot Toddy, using Orange and Ginger Syrup in place of lemon and honey to amplify the warm botanicals in the Four Pillars Navy and bring the gin forward, perfect for colder evenings.
EVERGREEN 60ml 23rd Street Violet Gin 15ml Chamomile and Honey Syrup 20ml Lemon Juice Top Pear Soda Add the gin, syrup and lemon juice to a tin and shake vigorously. Strain into a highball and top with pear soda. Garnish with a pear fan. A more citrus forward winter cocktail, the Evergreen uses in season lemons and pears and combines them with chamomile tea and honey for a warming spritz, complemented by the pepperberry and wattleseed notes from the 23rd Street Violet.
FROSTBITE 50ml Wolf Lane Tropical Gin 10ml White Crème De Cacao 20ml Pineapple Coco Lopez 15ml Lime Juice Add all ingredients to a tin, dry and then wet shake and double strain into a Nick and Nora. Garnish with lime zest. Creamy and chocolatey, but with a distinct tropical punch, this cocktail brings the spirit of ice cream to winter. Capitalising on the use of coconut, which simultaneously has both an association with winter and summer flavours, the Frostbite uses tropical flavours with a wintery twist. 23 GINBIZ WINTER 22
Gin and tonics are often associated with warm weather, sunshine and summer, with many people making the switch over to cocktails or neat spirits in the colder months of the year. So how does one adjust a G&T to make it more appealing for the winter?
Garnishes are an essential part of the gin experience - highlighting botanicals, complementing flavours and elevating a good drink to a great drink. There’s an art to garnishing, taking in all the aspects of what makes a gin unique and doing it justice through the look and aroma of fresh botanicals. In winter, it’s important to look at what’s in season, which flavours are associated with warmth and what individual botanicals are used in a gin that can be amplified through garnishing. Generally for the cooler months, stone fruits can be used over berries, colder climate herbs are more readily available and there’s opportunity to stray away from tropical citrus to warmer, less acidic flavours. Perhaps the desire is to make something eyecatching at the bar or to complement the ingredients in a cocktail; but the first step is to look at what’s readily available. FRUITS The temperate Australian climate means that a lot of fruits are in season nearly year round. Basic citruses (like lemons, oranges, grapefruits and limes) are almost always readily available and don’t need to be limited to a season. Although it’s an option to just use fruits that are specific to winter, there’s always the opportunity to find different ways to incorporate year round citrus to create more warmth. Dehydrating citrus is a great way to add a little flare to a cocktail, introduce a refined flavour and add a warmer, sweeter aroma and taste to otherwise quite tart fruits. Most common fruits are able to be dehydrated and can serve as simple but elegant garnishes on top of cocktails, G&Ts or even just a gin on the rocks. If fresh fruit is preferred, there’s still an array that are in season in the colder months, that can add a light citrus taste without being too tart, and pair well with other wintery botanicals. Winter fruits: Apple | Peach | Plum | Figs | Mandarin | Dehydrated citrus SPICES The obvious garnish choice in winter is spice. Naturally warming, whether it’s a sweet cinnamon spice or hot chili; spices are versatile and plentiful, and tie in nicely with gin. When garnishing it’s necessary to take into consideration the botanicals the gin in question has been distilled with. Since most gins will have some form of spice (whether it’s cassia, star anise, ginger, etc.), winter is a great time to lean into those botanicals. Consider swapping out a lemon wheel for a slice of fresh ginger, adding a star anise pod on top of a negroni or using a cassia and coconut sugar rim for sweeter style cocktails. Winter spices: Chili | Star Anise | Ginger | Clove | Cardamom | Cassia and Coconut Sugar Rim HERBS A great looking addition to a G&T is herbs - adding colour, contrast and a beautiful aroma. In summer it’s common to rely on mint and lemon myrtle, and winter is a great time to dig into earthier herbs. It’s also an opportunity to start experimenting with sweet and savoury combinations; fig and thyme, mandarin and bay, ginger and kaffir lime leaf. Winter herbs: Rosemary | Thyme | Sage | Basil | Bay | Kaffir Lime Leaf NATIVE AUSTRALIAN Of course, there are the native ingredients that thrive in Australian winter or bring unique warming flavours. With a range of fruits, nuts, herbs and more, there’s always something to be used from the land around us. As garnishes, botanicals like pepperberry and cinnamon myrtle can offer multiple flavours and aromas that other traditional ingredients can’t. And while these botanicals might not always be easy to find fresh, there’s a variety of ways to use dehydrated, powdered or frozen ingredients in things like sugar and salt rims, dusts and syrups. Native winter botanicals: Wattleseed | Kakadu Plum | Pepperberry | Cinnamon Myrtle | Macadamia | Sunrise Lime
Check out the CG GIN CO. range of Winter Garnishes at www.cgginco.com.au
NEW GIN ALERT
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BASS & FLINDERS WINTER GIN. The Bass & Flinders Winter Gin is a unique combination of two finely distilled spirits; a hint of apple brandy blended with a triple distilled grape-based gin. Combining juniper berries with winter fruits of apples and oranges, the Winter Gin is a triple distilled grape based gin that has been distilled from Shiraz grapes offering a bold fruity palate. The grape-based spirit or ‘eau de vie’ forms the basis of this gin and underpins the silky smooth character and depth this spirit displays. This grape spirit is then blended with a hand-crafted aged spirit made from an apple cider which sat on its lees for 12 months before being distilled twice and then aged for two years in old French Oak barrels. The gin is enriched by warming botanicals reminiscent of Christmas pudding including cinnamon, star anise and nutmeg, further enhanced by a subtle chilli finish. Combining apple brandy with these warming botanicals and spices adds a subtle Granny Smith sweetness and gives Winter Gin its golden hue. The presence of apples in this spirit is also a nod to the provenance and history of the region. Local apple orchards - some dating back to the 1880s - maintain their significance to the Mornington Peninsula’s agricultural history and were the original inspiration for the Winter Gin. “We wanted to produce a gin that showcased a sense of place and provenance, inspired by local apple orchards farmed for generations on the picturesque Mornington Peninsula,” Head Distiller Holly Klintworth, of family owned and operated Bass & Flinders Distillery, says. Bass & Flinders Distillery showcases seasonal flavours through their small batch limited edition spirits and their Winter Gin is no exception. With its divine melding of winter fruits and spices, Christmas in July has never looked brighter with this festive spirit. Want to get your hands on a bottle? This gin is available as a quirky Winter Gin Gift Box at CG Gin Co. (www.cgginco.com.au). Paired with two 275ml bottles of Long-Rays Original Tonic & Dark Soda, three tailored garnishes (including a CASSIA & COCONUT SUGAR SPICED APPLE), a handy recipe book (with serving suggestions), and LAVENDER GIN SCENTED BATH SALTS, as well as a limited release travel sized WINTER GIN SCENTED CANDLE.
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WHAT’S ON? NT.
Western Australia Perth Good Food & Wine Show What: From wine to whiskey, cheese to gin, there is something for everyone to try and buy. Support local producers from across Australia at this year’s show. When: 22nd-24th July Where: Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre
WA. SA.
Whiskey Live Perth What: Perth’s premium whisky sampling event, featuring high quality whiskies and spirits, all open under one roof. When: 5th-6th August Where: Pan Pacific Hotel, Perth Perth Gin & Food Fest What: 50 of the best visiting and local gin distillers are at your service, pouring your G&Ts and sharing their stories! When: 26th-28th August Where: Robinson Pavilion, Claremont
South Australia
Tasmania
A Little More Barossa ... Food and Wine Festival What: Serving up a series of enticing events with everything from long lunches, degustation picnics, masterclasses and workshops, mystery picnics and self-discovery food journeys at wineries, cellar doors, restaurants, cafes and dedicated workshop hubs. When: 1st-31st August Where: Multiple locations, Barossa Valley
Tasmanian Wine Festival: Winter Edition What: Introducing the Tasmanian Wine Festival – Winter Edition, an exciting evolution to Tasmania’s premier wine discovery experience. When: 19th-21st August Where: Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens, Hobart Festivale What: Festivale is Tasmania’s premium summer event. A three day celebration serving you food, beer, wine, spirits, cider and entertainment. When: 2nd-5th Feb 2023 Where: City Park, Launceston
Handpicked Festival What: Music, food, wine and great vibes festival held in one of South Australia’s untouched and beautiful wine regions, Langhorne Creek. When: 12th November Where: Lake Breeze Wines, Langhorne Creek
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FESTIVALS & EVENTS.
Queensland
Brisbane Festival What: Each September, Brisbane Festival lights up the city in a blaze of colour and arts performances and experiences that celebrate the city. When: 2nd-24th September Where: Multiple locations, Brisbane Good Food and Wine Show What: The Good Food & Wine Show, presented by Citi, is the perfect day out for food and wine lovers. When: 21st-23rd October Where: Brisbane Convention Centre
New South Wales
QLD.
Junipalooza Sydney What: Bringing together dozens of gin makers in one room, sharing their love for the spirit and serving up samples to enjoy. When: 27th-28th August Where: Carriageworks, Eveleigh Indie Spirits Tasting Sydney What: Spend an afternoon sampling more than 200 gins, whiskys, rums, vodkas and tequilas — and vermouths, mezcals and more. When: 4th September Where: Potts Point Hotel, Potts Point
NSW.
Hunter Valley Gin and Jazz Festival What: The return of swinging sounds of all-day live Jazz filling Hope Estate’s amphitheatre surrounded by tasting tents. When: 10th-11th September Where: Hope Estate, Hunter Valley
ACT. VIC.
Sydney Gin Festival What: Presented by the Australian Gin Distillers Association and bringing you 50 of the very best craft gin companies in the country. When: 28th-30th October Where: Royal Randwick Racecourse, Randwick Hunter Valley XMAS Gin Festival What: Gin-gle all the way to the Crown Plaza in the stunning Hunter Valley for the Christmas Gin Festival. When: 19th November Where: Crowne Plaza, Hunter Valley
Victoria
TAS.
30 Under 30 What: The Melbourne Food & Wine Festival is marking its 30th anniversary with a gala dinner led by 30 of Victoria’s best chefs under 30 years of age. When: 28th July - 17th August Where: Multiple locations, Melbourne
Australian Capital Territory
Canberra Gin Festival What: We will be back for more gin and more Christmas fun this year! Same venue and a few more distillers! When: 16th-18th December Where: National Convention Centre, Canberra 29 GINBIZ WINTER 22
Junipalooza Melbourne What: A meet the maker festival, with over 200 Australian Gins represented by the distilleries who make them. When: 21st-23rd October Where: The Timber Yard, Port Melbourne
INDUSTRY NEWS. FOUR PILLARS CARBON NEUTRAL DISTILLERY Friends, we’ve hit a big milestone here at Four Pillars. We are officially carbon neutral! We’re so very proud to share the news and announce that we are the first gin distillery in Australia to achieve carbon neutrality across all our gins bottled onsite (product certification), as well as the entire Four Pillars business (organisation certification). It was a complex (but very important) process to go through and our team had lots of questions about what it all actually means and how we got here. So chances are a few of you have the same questions. Here’s our best crack at answering them. First up, what are carbon emissions and what does it mean to be carbon neutral? In our gin-making world, carbon emissions include electricity, gas, water, raw materials such as raw spirit and botanicals, plus packaging and freight. And to be certified as carbon neutral, you need to bring all of these emissions down to zero. You achieve this by taking measures to reduce or remove emissions, as well as purchasing offset units to offset the remaining emissions. Both our products and our organisation have been certified as being carbon neutral – aka having zero emissions thanks to proactive measures or offsets – by Climate Active. What’s the difference between product certification and organisation certification? Product certification is all about our individual bottles of gin. We’ve been working with the teams at Climate Active and Ndevr Environmental for over a year now and they’ve helped us to track every part of our gin-making process and the emissions that come with it. This includes what goes into our gin, to how it is made, and to where it goes beyond the distillery door, and we can happily say that every bottle of gin we make at our distillery is certified carbon neutral. Organisation certification is awarded to businesses who reduce and/or offset emissions. And we have been awarded this certification thanks to our partnership with Lion who achieved certification in 2020 and do a lot of fantastic work in taking measures to reduce and offset emissions.
What are we doing to reduce our day-to-day emissions? Sustainability has always been a big focus of ours and never more so than with our design and build of Healesville 2.0. Here are some of the exciting new things we have going on: - Our new site runs on 100% renewable electricity, and we’ve increased our solar system with plans to increase this even more in the future - We’ve used recycled and upcycled concrete and bricks for the build of the new space - We’ve planted local natives and botanicals, some of which will be used in gin distillations - Gin will be piped directly into the main bar through copper pipes so we’re not using an unnecessary amount of glass. Our tonic will also go into kegs and these two initiatives are going to saved 29 tonnes of glass per year - Our whole Healesville Distillery will be enclosed by a copper ‘veil’ which will work as a natural heat exchange to reduce energy consumption. In summary, the extremely hot and unusable water from our distillations will travel through the tubing of the copper veil to cool it down so it can be re-used Go well, Cam, Stu, Matt and the Four Pillars team.
Courtesy of: www.fourpillarsgin.com/journal/thanks/were-officially-carbon-neutral
NEW NOSFERATU CAFE Years in the making, Nosferatu Cafe is everyone’s whimsical dream. Set inside a romantic, industrial-inspired shed surrounded by beautiful hanging garden beds and our picturesque gin distillery, our cafe is a perfect spot for a delicious coffee and a light lunch. With the sun streaming in and the space memorializing an accord of artistry, the cafe has divine energy that lures any coffee lover. As our director, Rory, would say, the interior is “a home away from home”. After spending months sourcing ladders for the interior from every possible backyard-sale and driving far and wide to source the suitable timber wood for a bench table, our lovely coffee hub nested in a soon-to-be-open cellar door/ gin bar is now officially open for business. Customers can now take a seat in the cozy light-filled interior and enjoy an ethically sourced and well-brewed coffee and a delicious brunch from rotational food trucks worldwide. Alongside baked goods, including pastries, croissants and brownies, Nosferatu Cafe offers excellently soft, tangy, and chewy breakfast options for too-busy days. Options featuring gluten-free flour or almond meal are also available at the counter. So why wait? The bright, airy, all-inclusive, dog-friendly café, in all sense, is a sanctuary for coffee lovers (and dogs, of course!). Or, after something different? You can contact us to book our caravan café/moving gin bar to provide your guests with delicious, barista-made coffee or gin experience or hire our distillery space at Bowen Hills as the perfect backdrop to host your next event! 30 GINBIZ WINTER 22
INDUSTRY NEWS. 2022 BARTENDER MAGAZINE’S AUSTRALIAN BAR AWARDS FINALISTS
Society Salamanca, Hobart
Bartender Magazine has revealed the finalists for the 2022 Australian Bar Awards, with one of the most impressive lists to date. With 12 outstanding gin bars around Australia in for Gin Bar of the Year and 10 of the 12 finalists for Best Distillery Bar producing some masterful gin, it’s looking to be a great year for the gin industry. Congratulations to all finalists!
Gin Lane, Sydney
Gin Bar of the Year Proudly sponsored by Hendrick’s Gin Bar Torino, Adelaide, SA Barber Shop, Sydney, NSW Covent Garden, Brisbane, QLD Frank Mac’s, Sydney, NSW Frisk Small Bar, Perth, WA Gin Lane, Chippendale, NSW Gin Palace, Melbourne, VIC Hains & Co, Adelaide, SA Malt & Juniper, Adelaide, SA Moya’s Juniper Lounge, Redfern, NSW Society Salamanca, Hobart, TAS The Koutetsu, Newcastle, NSW
Best Distillery Bar Proudly sponsored by Fever-Tree Anther Distillery, Geelong, VIC Archie Rose, Rosebery, NSW Brix Distillery, Surry Hills, NSW Four Pillars Distillery, Healesville, VIC Hickson House Distilling Co, Sydney, NSW Imperial Measures Distilling Ounce Bar, Thebarton, SA Never Never Distilling Co, McLaren Vale, SA Poor Toms Gin Hall, Marrickville, NSW Prohibition Bar, Adelaide, SA Republic of Fremantle, Fremantle, WA Starward, Port Melbourne, VIC Wolf Lane Distillery, Cairns, QLD
Covent Garden, Brisbane
For the full list of categories and finalists, visit australianbartender.com.au
ANTHER CHERRY GIN 2022 IS HERE, GIN FRIEND! Hey Anther Fam! The long-awaited, perfectly macerated, deliciously fascinated Anther Cherry Gin 2022 is finally here – and you can get your bottle right now! This year’s harvest is lighter in colour with a distinct juniper and cherry earthy nose. The dark cherry fruit flavour is smooth and melts in your mouth! It has a subtly sweet flavour with a little citrus kick on the finish. It’s an Anther Cherry Gin Celebration and you can get your hands on all kinds of sumptuous cherry flavoured goodness! Anther’s Cherry Gin is an annual release and sells out every year. It is made by macerating hand-pitted black cherries from Spreyton Fresh Farms in Northern Tasmania in Anther Australian Dry Gin. This year’s harvest is lighter in colour with a distinct juniper and cherry earthy nose. The dark cherry fruit flavour is smooth and melts in your mouth! It has a subtly sweet flavour with a little citrus kick on the finish. Anther Cherry Gin. Why do we love it? Anther Distillery co-owner/distiller, Dervilla McGowan said, “This is a labour of love. We adore cherries and the process to create this delicious drop! It would not be possible without friends, family and a team of volunteers who helped us pit the 700 kilos of cherries from Spreyton Fresh Farms in Northern Tassie”. Every year, we gather with our friends, family and volunteers to hand pit hundreds of kilos of cherries. It usually takes us two days to finish the pitting. The days are spent in laughter, eating cherries and drinking cocktails – you can see why it’s the Anther team’s favourite few days of the year!
Want to let everyone know what you’ve got going on? Email us at: editor@ginbiz.com.au or tag us on Instagram @ginbiz.au! 31 GINBIZ WINTER 22
Want to stock Long Rays? To get pricing and ordering information, head too
www.long-rays.com.au/stockists
FORGIVE YOUR YOUNGER SELF, BELIEVE IN YOUR CURRENT SELF, CREATE YOUR FUTURE SELF By Angeli Marie Shaw
For most of us, we already have a clearly defined vision of our lives, but like the past few years has shown us, things can change dramatically, and that clarity can get skewed as we find ourselves getting caught up in the past, experiencing current self-doubt and uncertainty and not knowing what lies ahead or what to do next. The good news? The future isn’t set and what you do today will contribute to the future that you’re wanting to create.
The process of reinvention will often begin with a sense of dissatisfaction. We realise we’re not happy with where we’re at, and our minds both consciously and unconsciously start exploring those thoughts, pulling us into different states of past, present and future thinking. Whilst reflection is a great tool in which we can learn from our pasts, being hard on yourself or holding onto regret for what you may have done serves you absolutely no purpose at all in creating your future self. One thing I’ve come to realise is that the past has a pushy way of occupying a lot of space in your head, but serves you no purpose dwelling on it. As the past is ‘done’ I consider most of these thoughts ‘freeloaders’, meaning they bring nothing to the table, unless of course you’re recognising what you can learn from them, which in that case once learnt, they’re no longer freeloaders, instead turning into wisdom you can apply as life goes on. Annoyingly, 34 GINBIZ WINTER 22
low points seem to be particularly good at creeping into our thoughts, and we find ourselves asking ‘why’, ‘what if’ and ‘if only’ but the truth of it is the past is done and cannot be changed. Sure, your current self could bestow a tonne of wisdom on your past self, but honestly, your younger self probably wasn’t ready to hear it, and I remind myself constantly that everyone does the best they can with the resources they have at the time. I myself, did what I believed was my best in my younger years, and although I may not have always got it right, I forgive my younger self and all its experiences. Holding onto negative feelings about the past only teethers me to my past and letting go actually allows me to free myself and removes the negative feelings I have on past actions and decisions. Through the practice of forgiveness, I give myself permission to release the past and move forward, something you should practice doing too! Again, why forgive yourself? Because for every failure, you were trying to do the right thing. Forgive, release and go forth!
“HOLDING ONTO NEGATIVE FEELINGS ABOUT THE PAST ONLY TEETHERS ME TO MY PAST AND LETTING GO ACTUALLY ALLOWS ME TO FREE MYSELF AND REMOVES THE NEGATIVE FEELINGS I HAVE ON PAST ACTIONS AND DECISIONS.” - ANGELI MARIE SHAW
This brings me to your current self. An obvious, but well known fact is that if you want to succeed, you must belief in yourself. Our inner faith is what will create our outer results. Unfortunately, people lose faith in themselves when encountering setbacks, fear and failure. We make mistakes, we are challenged and we make poor decisions, but these are not the end, we must get back up again. Accept your current situation and start believing in yourself again. Talk with yourself; after all, we are the ones who create who we will become. And what we become is done every day by our selftalk and beliefs. Self- belief influences behaviour, behaviour influences your actions, and actions influence your outcomes. Remember, your current self is a crucial building block to your future self. Take care of your current self to make it easier on your future self. Adopt new habits and skills which will help create and shape your future self. And remember, you can’t create the future self you want if you don’t believe in the current self that you are. Now for your future self. What your future self look’s like will depend on your current self and the habits you adapt. Visualise your future self and all its aspects; physical, professional, financial, social, spiritual etc. If we believe in our current selves, then we can certainly take control of our future self and what it will look like. Bring into your awareness where you want to go so your subconscious begins to pick up ways to help you achieve your goals. Generally speaking, we all have this romantic, idealistic vision of our future, but what do we easily forget? That our future self is actually…. us, only tomorrow. Therefore we must support ourselves now, to support ourselves tomorrow. Our future selves are built in THIS. VERY. MOMENT and thinking this way will help you in your decisions, choices and actions you take now. Just like a tree, the seeds you plant today will sprout in your future. Start planting, nourishing and cultivating those seeds NOW! And remember, with every action you take, you’re building your future self today. Your past self, current self and future self are all connected. If you don’t learn to forgive your past self, your current and future self will suffer, and your desired success? Put simply it cannot be achieved. Your future self is your navigation. It gives you a sense of direction making it clearer when deciding the steps you need to take to get there. Its about creating the life you want and taking inspired action as you do so. Don’t put limits on yourself by thinking small, think BIG and use your future self as a guide for where you are going and where you want to be. There’s never a wrong time to start giving yourself what you need. Right here, right now, the current moment is yours, and yours to choose what to do with it. FORGIVE – BELIEVE – CREATE, whatever your life is in this moment, it’s yours to claim, so claim it! Love & Bliss, Angeli xxoo Angeli is a Holistic Empowerment Coach, Mindset Mentor and founder of The Bliss Coach. To work with me in 2022, get in touch by visiting www.theblisscoach.com.au or follow us on our socials @theblisscoach to find out more. 35 GINBIZ WINTER 22
THE 5 STAGES OF BUSINESS GRIEF ACCEPTING THE UNACCEPTABLE By Kym Krey
We usually relate stages of grief to dealing with the devastating loss of someone dear, or maybe a serious and unexpected diagnosis or injury, however after experiencing the last 2 years I’m sure we can all relate to the sense of grief and loss in business.
We usually relate stages of grief to dealing with the devastating loss of someone dear, or maybe a serious and unexpected diagnosis or injury, however after experiencing the last 2 years I’m sure we can all relate to the sense of grief and loss in business.
commitments, other pressures, other people’s livelihoods that are constantly on our minds. And because these pressures often continue to build, the longer it takes us to arrive at the final stage of acceptance and forward action, the more it’s going to hurt for business owners.
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross identified the 5 stages of grief commonly accepted today in her book On Death and Dying and explains the grief process that we experience when faced with catastrophic personal loss.
Stage 1 – Denial In denial, the first stage of business grief, we can’t believe what is unfolding and don’t want to accept that it is actually happening to us! This wasn’t how it was meant to be. This wasn’t what you’d be planning for, working for, dreaming of. We often shut out reality by telling ourselves it will all be OK. If I just wait… see what happens…. but essentially do nothing… it will hopefully resolve itself and go back to normal. Because that’s what we crave… normal. We convince ourselves that this is just temporary. It won’t last or it won’t affect us. It may affect others, it might be on the news, but surely it can’t affect me! Hopefully it will all just blow over. Some will go to great lengths to seek out information to back up their theory… to find comfort and reassurance in others confirming their view. Of course, we all find ourselves in this stage. It’s only human. However… what we’re not doing while we’re fighting hard to ignore it is actually dealing with the problem.
Those five stages are: • Denial • Anger • Bargaining • Depression • Acceptance When we look at these more closely, it’s uncanny how similar the process has been for so many business owners navigating through the calamity that has been Covid-19 and I feel there is much that we can learn from this model to support us as we continue to adapt to a future we possibly never saw coming. THE 5 STAGES OF BUSINESS GRIEF Just like personal crisis, these 5 stages of business grief are related to loss. No doubt, this included financial loss, however, it can also have been loss of valued customers or long-term trusted staff, loss of the lifestyle you had worked so hard to build, loss of the savings you had so diligently put aside, or for some, sadly even loss of their entire business. Whilst we’ll all progress through the grief cycle at our own pace, for business owners, there are other things at play. Other responsibilities, other
Stage 2 – Anger When we’ve spent a period of time in denial, but then realised that it is actually happening, the delayed reaction we experience fuels a sense of anger. We start to play the blame game. Whose fault is this? Who is going to take the rap? Why aren’t the politicians doing something to help me? Who’s going to pay my bills? Why isn’t my landlord more supportive? How was I to 36 GINBIZ WINTER 22
know this was going to happen when I took out that loan? I’m going to lose my house/business and it’s all someone else’s fault! It’s so unfair! How could that staff member leave me? After all I’ve done for them! I can’t believe my customers are acting like this! You get the picture…. Again…. all part of the natural reaction process, but you probably don’t want to hang around in that headspace for too long. While you’re stewing about how you’ve been ‘wronged’, who needs to pay or what you’re going to do in retaliation….. you’re not dealing with the problem. The solution isn’t ‘out there’. Stage 3 – Bargaining/Rationalization By this stage, we know this situation is real. We’re feeling the effects, we’re dealing with the myriad of stresses, and no doubt we’re working out how on earth we’re going to pay the mounting pile of bills that are now overdue. We may ask suppliers to extend payment terms. We might try to negotiate with banks for additional time to make repayments. We are also no doubt watching our credit card balance get scarily out of control. It’s enticing to get lost in our daydream of the big payment/supplement/handout the government/ insurance company/party-at-fault is likely to pay to get us out of this situation and turn things around. But if all our ‘eggs’ are in that particular ‘basket’, i.e. relying on someone else to save us, we are very much at risk. Many will start rationalising their situation by comparing their own predicament to others. “I heard they’re so far behind in rent they’re about to be evicted! At least my situation isn’t that bad.” Just like calling your industry friends to ask how bad their week is going when your numbers are looking grim… it might comfort you for a
moment, but it keeps you stuck exactly where you are- and that’s likely somewhere you don’t want to be. Stage 4 – Depression/Despair Whilst some of this ‘bargaining’ might buy us some time or soothe frayed nerves as we’re navigating our way through, it’s not your longterm solution. Your suppliers are likely overextended to their suppliers, your landlord has payments due on their loan, banks at some point will start to tighten up on credit controls and possibly customers are buying less frequently or spending far less than before. As the pieces come together and the reality of all this sets in with no ‘magic bullet solution’ in sight, this is when our truth bomb really explodes. We’ve seen so many business owners fall into despair as they come to terms with their situation, including many in our industry. ‘What’s the point in soldiering on if there’s no certainty? What if it doesn’t improve soon? Am I just going to slide further into debt? I was just starting to have a decent lifestyle/income- I don’t know if I have it in me to do this all again!’ Often, the underlying cause of this angst is the sense that you have no control over the outcome. There are no guarantees. Your future, stay or go, is uncertain. You’ve been through a lot, right? You want to know it’s going to be worth it if you dive in again, possibly even incur more debt and keep swimming. You want to know that at some point, this situation will end, and things will be good again. Stage 5 – Acceptance But in business, as we know, there are no guarantees. There is no safety net. The greatest asset we have is ourselves. Our own resilience. Our own determination. Our ability
to think clearly and make good decisions under pressure. Business is a game of adaptation and response. With that freedom that drove you into your own business, comes great responsibility. You’ll never know what you’re going to be in for when you sign that lease, all you can do is back yourself to rise to the challenge whatever that may be, and then keep showing up each day to do just that. But most of the business owners I know are made of pretty sturdy stuff. You’re not throwing in the towel so easily. You’ve taken a few hits and you’ve had moments of despair, but this will not be the end of your story. You’ll get yourself up tomorrow and you’ll keep the wheels turning. You’ll show up physically and mentally because people are relying on you to do just that. It may be far from perfect and there are days when you might barely hold it together and nothing on your To-Do List gets done, but you’ll be back again tomorrow- even when you are mentally and physically exhausted from constantly holding the weight of responsibility for so long. I see you. You will need compassion (for yourself and others), you will need to embrace surrender and imperfection, you will need to draw on reserves of determination that you never knew you had, but most of all….. you will need to be willing to sit with uncertainty and discomfort. Navigating through such times requires us to not only be willing to change once, but to be willing to do it again and again…. and again. To begin each new week by asking “What is my situation right now?”. “What am dealing with today?” “What is my next step to move forward?” The ones who will succeed long term in this wonderful game of business are the ones who were able to continually adjust, reconsider, change plans and generally adapt to the 37 GINBIZ WINTER 22
constantly changing environment. ‘What worked last year or last month may not work today’ has never been more true that it is right now. Your comfort zone will sink you. Your answers are out there somewhere on that scary-looking limb. The expert guidance tells us to not allow ourselves to wallow in self-pity for long. Make peace with ‘what is’ and start working on how to deal with it. You won’t have any magical guidebook. You’ll just try and see; test and measure; focus on what’s working and eliminate what isn’t. Add new products or services, delete unprofitable items, correct your pricing, look after your best customers and fire the problem ones, hire new staff, induct them in your vision and values and don’t-stop-coaching, release those who are no longer fully ‘on your bus’. Learn how to be profitable on a lower turnover or with fewer staff or be willing to hire, train and grow your own. And above all else, keep talking to your team through every win, crisis, and bump in the road. They’re not looking for someone who gets everything perfectly right every time (no one does), they’re looking for someone real, whom they trust and who they’ll back in a storm. Crisis and catastrophe are inevitable in business. The key is to recognize it quickly, and resolve the Stages Of Business Grief Process to allow you to move into ‘Action Mode and get back on track. Kym Krey is a small business veteran and a mentor with the runs on the board to help you get real results. She’s the gal you’ll want to have in your corner when things get rough or when you’re planning that next big, scary jump. Reach out at www.kymkrey.com.au or kym@kymkrey.com.au
NO SIGNED LEASE?? LANDLORDS ARE LOCKING TENANTS INTO NEW LEASES WITH AN IMPLIED LEASE. HOW?? By Kelly Cunningham
What is an “Implied Lease” and when can it be imposed on a Tenant? Put simply, sometimes the actions of the Landlord and the Tenant can unwittingly trigger an “Implied Lease”, even though no one has signed a formal Lease document. Leases are not normally binding until both the Landlord and the Tenant have signed the Lease, right? Well, sometimes this is not the case. As was found recently in the Supreme Court, the actions of a Landlord and / or a Tenant can lock the parties into a long term agreement, where they didn’t think they were locked into anything. Background: Jacob* had been a Tenant in a shopping centre for the last five years. His lease was due to expire in six months, so he started discussions with the Landlord about a new Lease. The Landlord provided Jacob with a Letter of Offer, outlining the terms upon which they would like to renew Jacob’s Lease. The terms were not quite what Jacob was hoping for, with an 18% increase on his base rental. They were also offering another five-year lease when Jacob was hoping to sign for only three years this time. Discussions commenced in an attempt to reach an agreement and negotiations were progressing well. Three months out from expiry, Jacob signed a Letter of Offer, happy with the revised terms they had now agreed. This included a small 2% rent increase and a three-year term. He sent the signed offer back to the Landlord to finalise the documentation. Business closed due to COVID Fast forward one month and Jacob’s business was closed down due to the government enforced COVID lockdowns in NSW. Jacob’s business remained closed for 5 months. During these five months, his lease expired. Because Jacob had not yet signed a formal Lease (only the Letter of Offer), Jacob assumed that his existing Lease was now in holdover on a monthto-month arrangement. While Jacob’s business was closed, he received a draft Lease from the Landlord, recording all of the new terms agreed in the signed Letter of Offer. Given Jacob’s business was closed, and he was unsure how long it would be closed for or the potential financial implications of the closure, he made a deliberate decision not to sign the Lease just yet. He thought that he would reconsider this, once his business had reopened and he had a better understanding of the future outlook. During the period of closure, Jacob continued to receive the automatically generated monthly rent invoices from the Landlord. Upon reopening his business, after five long months of closure, Jacob was hopeful that his
business would recover from the huge impact of no revenue for five months and bounce back over time. Not too much time hopefully! Two months after the reopening and after Jacob working long hours and incredibly hard to try and get his business back on track, he made the heartbreaking decision that it couldn’t be saved, and he would need to close the business. An “Implied Lease” is issued Given that Jacob had not signed the new Lease, that had been issued months earlier, he felt comfortable in providing the Landlord with one month’s written notice that he would be ending his month-to-month tenancy and moving out. It was then with great surprise that he received a notice from the Landlord to advise that, whilst the Lease had not been signed and returned, it was in effect anyway and he was locked into a new three year “Implied” Lease. He was unable to close his business. You can imagine his shock and panic. Why? I haven’t signed a Lease. My situation has changed, and I can no longer extend? Is this real? Is this legal? Triggers of an Implied Lease 1. Paying the increased rent. What Jacob had failed to notice was, the Landlord had applied the 2% rent increase to his monthly invoice and Jacob had continued paying as the increase was so small, it wasn’t really noticeable on a monthly basis. 2. The signed Letter of Offer indicated that terms for a new Lease had been agreed between the Landlord and the Tenant, given the Lease was about to expire, it showed an intention to renew. 3. The Tenant had continued to occupy the space and the Landlord had also changed the rent to match the terms of the signed offer, which the Tenant had paid. Solution Jacob used the services of an experienced Tenant Representative to meet with and 38
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negotiate an outcome with the Landlord. The outcome negotiated included the following: 1. Being able to exit the Lease after 12 months, rather than three years. 2. Paying a reduced rent. The trade-off provided the Landlord more time to find a replacement Tenant and allowed Jacob an opportunity to continue trading without losing money. Tips and Key Takeaways to Avoid this Risk • A court is required to determine the existence of an Implied Lease. This is a lengthy and costly process that is potentially best served by a Tenant Representative negotiating a commercial outcome prior to any litigation. • Start your negotiations early, (ideally 6 months out from expiry), so that you can have finalised your position, one way or another, well before the expiry of your current lease. • Be sure of your position, before you sign a Heads of Agreement. • Be cautious when the Landlord or their Agent tells you “the Letter of Offer isn’t binding” …. you might find it is later on … • Don’t take possession of a premises until you have a Lease signed by you and the Landlord. • If your Lease has expired and you are occupying as a month-to-month Tenant (without a new Lease signed yet), check your monthly invoices to make sure changes to the charges have not happened without you realising. If changes are made to the invoices, reject these changes as the deal is not yet finalised. Your Leasing Co. specialises in being a Tenant Representative and negotiating lease terms for Tenants. If you have any questions about renewing your lease or entering a new Lease, you can call Kelly Cunningham for a free, no obligation conversation on 0419 001 093. *Our clients name has been changed to protect privacy.
presents
G & TEA
A beautifully refreshing & low calorie Gin & Tea spritz! Now available in slick ready-to-drink cans, Native Berry & Mango!
A fruit of collaboration between Australia’s favourite gin bar, Covent Garden, award winning craft gin distillery, Kalki Moon, and premium mixer creators, Long Rays, all brought to life with the eclectic wrap design by local artist, Carley Bourne! Combining the best Australian Gin, with the most unique native Australian botanicals, all enriched with exotic tea and finished with perfectly carbonated pure spring water.
For wholesale inquiries, please contact wholesale@coventgarden.com.au
Check out our full range at www.cgginco.com.au
GINUARY 2022 • HOTTEST 100 GINS OF 2021
#96 Cape Byron Distiller y Brookie’s Shirl the Pearl A seasonal gin with zesty and uplifting characteristics and notes of orange blossom, this gin is made over several months by steeping Brookie’s Dr y Gin in locally grown Cumquats.
#97 Four Pillars Navy Strength Distilled with native finger limes, fresh ginger and turmeric, this overproof gin is a balance of earthy, sweet, juicy and clean.
#99 Anther Cherr y Made by handpitting 10,000 Tasmanian black cherries and macerating gin in the yield for multiple weeks, this gin has subtle sweet, earthy notes and an alluring dark red hue.
#98 Prohibition Liquor Co. Bathtub Sitting at 69% ABV, this bold gin has a nose of vanilla, juniper and wormwood with a floral veil, a junipercome-aniseed palate and a cinnamon and almond finish.
#100 Winston Quinn Dr y Cut This modern London Dr y style gin is made with fresh lemon and orange rind, lemon myrtle and five other botanicals and has hints of lavender.
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE HOTTEST 100 AUSSIE GINS OF 2021! With the list of new Aussie gins and distilleries expanding every year, we’re excited to see what twists and turns (and hopefully better weather) the 2023 Ginuary Festival brings! So grab your friends and your favourite gin and join us next year for a bigger, better Ginuary! Voting for 2022 will open late this year, follow us on instagram @ginuaryfestival to stay up to date!
GINUARY 2022 • HOTTEST 100 GINS OF 2021 #90 Archie Rose Distilling Co. Bone Dr y This limited edition gin uses both hot and cold distillation and contains coriander seed, Tahitian lime and lemon scented gum to create a balance of citrus and herbaceousness.
#92 Bass & Flinders Distiller y Angr y Ant Using hand-picked local botanicals, this Shiraz grape-based gin is distilled with Mulla Mulla and Purple Vetch Flowers, native lemongrass, native sandalwood nuts and Australian ants.
#94 Prohibition Liquor Co. Moonlight This dark gin is crafted with pink lady apple, native blood limes, black goji, clove, hibiscus, sandalwood, honeybush and rare red juniper.
#91 Tiny Bear Distiller y Gypsy Bold and spicy, this gin is distilled with four different peppers, cardamom, clove, cumin, lemon, lime and cucumber to create a complex mix of fresh citrus and warming spice.
#93 Banks & Solander Signature This contemporar y pot distilled gin uses native pepperberr y, lemon myrtle, strawberr y gum and roasted wattleseed alongside orange, anise and cardamom.
#95 Callington Mill Distiller y Poltergeist Unfiltered Handcrafted with 12 ingredients from Tasmania and beyond, this gin has a heavy focus on the flavour coming from the unfiltered botanicals, including macadamia, lemon myrtle and pepperberr y.
GINUARY 2022 • HOTTEST 100 GINS OF 2021 #84 Hepburn Springs Gin Using pepperberr y, Quandong, lemon myrtle and finger limes, this is a zesty Australian twist on a traditional London Dr y.
#85 Billson’s Christmas This seasonal, small batch gin is triple distilled and triple filtered and uses local cherries, red grapes and fresh mint from the distiller y garden.
#86 Little Lon Dutchy Thomas Based on the Dutchstyle precursor to gin, Genever, this gin is creamy and malty with chocolate and caramel notes and has hints of citrus, juniper and ginger.
#87 Alfred Wiley Jumper & Thongs Made using Pinot Noir grapes fermented by a local winemaker and transformed into a winter gin using native winter spices like cinnamon myrtle, aniseed myrtle, wattleseed and sunrise lime.
#88 Noosa Gin Created in small batches, this gin is distilled with Queensland sugar cane, coriander seed, hibiscus petals, cassia bark, green mango and Valencia oranges.
#89 Farmer ’s Wife Autumn Dr y This autumn inspired gin has an aroma of juniper, grapefruit and honey; a lemon myrtle, kaffir lime and grapefruit palate; and a cardamom, pepper berr y and native sage finish.
GINUARY 2022 • HOTTEST 100 GINS OF 2021 #78 Nosferatu Distiller y Mandrake Always on theme, this fresh and cool cucumber and mint gin also uses a tiny bit of non-lethal mandrake root in its distillation.
#79 Never Never Distilling Co. Triple Juniper Three different distillation processes are used to uncover bright and earthy qualities of juniper in this gin, with two methods of steeping and one vapour infusion being used.
#80 Four Pillars Christmas Distilled with Christmas puddings before being aged in 100-year-old Muscat barrels, this gin has a rich palate with notes of sweetness and spice to it. #81 Red Hen Ultra Violet This colourful gin has an oily juniper texture, delicate notes of coriander and pepper spice, and mellow sweetness of vanilla and cassia on the finish. #82 Mt. Uncle Distiller y Botanic Australis Ooray A native Australian twist on traditional sloe gin, this botanical gin is macerated in Davidson plum and strawberr y gum and has notes of juniper and angelica root.
#83 Antipodes Pink Australia’s first certified organic pink gin, the Antipodes uses Kakadu plum, olida, blue chamomile flowers and ruby red grapefruit in its distillation along with other native and exotic botanicals.
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#72 Narrow Tracks Distilling Dog Days Fresh and citrus forward, this gin uses whole oranges, steeped for 24 hours before being distilled with more orange, lime and finger lime, and native lemon aspen.
#74 Beachtree Organic Koala Inspired by the Australian bush and the scent of eucalyptus, this gin has notes of native lemon myrtle, marshmallow leaf, lime, cinnamon and vanilla.
#76 Australian Distilling Co. Gold Coast A reflection of the bright and sunny subtropical Gold Coast, this dr y gin has soft notes of lychee and lime.
#73 Clarence Distiller y Ruby Named for the fun-loving distiller y dog, this gin is coloured and flavoured by Rosella, and comes across spicy with a bit of sweetness.
#75 Capricorn Distilling Co. Summer Hand-crafted using small-batch copper stills, this gin is a blend of 19 botanicals, including native finger lime, ruby grapefruit and lemon myrtle.
#77 Alfred Wiley River Standard Highlighting locally grown lilly pilly and native tamarind, this gin balances sweet and sour, complimented by rose petal and mandarin peel.
GINUARY 2022 • HOTTEST 100 GINS OF 2021 #66 Four Pillars Olive Leaf This gin uses three types of coldpressed extra virgin olive oil, olive leaf tea, rosemar y, bay leaf, macadamia and lemon myrtle to create its complex savour y flavour.
#67 Beachtree Organic Quokka Crafted with juniper, bilberries, mountain pepper berries and pepper leaf, and lemon myrtle, this gin has a fruity berr y front and a warm finish.
#69 Plan B Distiller y Pepper Rose Hand-picked Tasmanian pepperberries give this contemporar y gin a spicy pop, with an added sweetness from rosehip among other traditional botanicals.
#68 Billson’s Yuzu With locally picked yuzu from Eurobin, this small batch gin contains 14 botanicals and has a piney juniper aroma and lifted lemon tart notes.
#71 Little Lon Proudfoot DIstilled with rosemar y, juniper and pepper, this London Dr y style gin is savour y and herbaceous, with a nutty aroma and a complex pine and rosemar y finish.
#70 2020 Distiller y East London Dr y Paying homage to Forest Gate in East London, this juniper forward, light citrus gin is distilled with a range of traditional gin botanicals.
GINUARY 2022 • HOTTEST 100 GINS OF 2021 #60 Mt. Uncle Distiller y Botanic Australis Gin Distilled with 14 native Australian botanicals, this gin begins with a hint of juniper, followed by lemon, mint and a boom of herbaceousness with a pepper y finish.
#61 Narrow Tracks Distilling Dr y A contemporar y, juniper forward gin containing macadamia and red finger lime, this gin is made with an on-site distilled base spirit.
#62 Wolf Lane Christmas Pudding Distilled with locally made Christmas pudding, and then aged in exAustralian sherr y and brandy barrels, this gin has notes of macadamia, honey and cinnamon.
#63 Clarence Distiller y Duke A traditional dr y style gin with juniper forward palate and a kick of citrus, aided by lemon myrtle and Clarence Valley botanicals. #64 Plan B Distiller y Pepper Sloe Mulberr y A Tasmanian twist on the traditional sloe, this gin uses sloe and hand-picked mulberries, delivering an earthy, rich plum flavour with light almond notes.
#65 Frankly Dr y Citrus Distilled with Riverland mandarin and almond, and paired with Thai Basil from the distiller y garden, this gin has a soft citrus and cinnamon aroma and an anise undertone.
GINUARY 2022 • HOTTEST 100 GINS OF 2021 #54 Cauldron Distiller y Five-toFive Coastal Navy This overproof gin has robust juniper and savour y notes, with native Australian saltbush, macadamias and vanilla beans being used in distillation. #55 Prohibition Liquor Co. Blood Orange An annual release, this gin celebrates in season blood oranges, paired with Riverland lemons and mandarins, strawberr y gum, chamomile and cinnamon myrtle.
#56 Little Lon Ginger Mick Distilled with bright ruby grapefruit and crisp orange, this gin begins with sweet and sour citrus followed by ginger and juniper spice.
#57 Kalki Moon Solstice Aged in ex- Tasmanian Pinot Noir barrels between the yearly Solstice, this gin showcases the master distiller ’s years of experience in barrel aged spirits.
#58 Prohibition Liquor Co. Gin Using wormwood - once banned during prohibition - along with blood orange, grapefruit, lemon myrtle, green tea, vanilla and lavender, this is a citrus gin with a pepper y finish.
#59 Archie Rose Distilling Co. Signature Dr y Featuring eight individually distilled botanicals, including sunrise lime, Geraldton waxflower and Dorrigo Pepperleaf, this gin is a traditionally inspired modern Australian spirit.
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#48 Moore’s Distillers Cut The culmination of the Master Distiller ’s 30 years of experience, this vapour infused spirit is juniper forward, supported by citrus and earthy botanicals and slight cardamom spice.
#50 Nosferatu Distiller y Distiller y Giselle Made to replicate the flavour of pavlova, this gin uses pure vanilla, burnt sugar and double cream essence, complemented by a three-stage orange infusion and distillation process.
#49 Sunshine & Sons Parfait This tropical fruit salad gin is made with pineapple, passionfruit, strawberr y, mango, vanilla and coconut to create a testament to the distiller y ’s neighbour, the Big Pineapple.
#51 Happenstance Distiller y Fiesta Bright and summer y, this spiced gin combines kaffir lime, soft chamomile, star anise and chilli for a lively taste experience.
#52 Four Pillars Rare Dr y The original Four Pillars gin, the Rare Dr y combines a hint of spice with Asian botanicals, Mediterranean citrus and native Australian lemon myrtle.
#53 Narrow Tracks Distilling Pink This dr y, pink gin begins with soft tones and floral notes highlighted by sweet strawberries, but still has notes of citrus and a hint of pepper.
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#42 Billson’s Blood Orange A seasonal gin made with traditional gin botanicals alongside strawberr y gum leaves, cinnamon myrtle, chamomile, pepperberr y and lots of blood oranges.
#43 Cape Byron Distiller y Brookie’s Slow Made by taking the Brookie’s Dr y Gin and steeping it in Davidson plums from their native subtropical Byron Bay region, this gin had flavours of rose, watermelon and bright plum.
#45 Plan B Distiller y Pepper Zest Spicy and tangy, this dr y gin uses lemon myrtle, lemon zest and fresh orange alongside traditional gin botanicals.
#44 Stoken XII Apostles AD Using the XII Apostles BC, this gin has been carefully matured in new American Oak barrels to provide vanilla and charcoal notes and an amber hue.
#46 Stoken XII Apostles BC Handcrafted using 12 individual botanicals, this gin blends traditional gin ingredients with native botanicals including lemon myrtle, aniseed myrtle and bunya nut.
#47 Happenstance Distiller y Fireside This seasonal, winter y dr y gin uses a warming blend of botanicals, including nutmeg, ginger, clove, hazelnut and orange, to create a spice forward spirit.
GINUARY 2022 • HOTTEST 100 GINS OF 2021 #36 Nosferatu Distiller y Blood Orange Made with blood orange peel, navel oranges, dried orange peel and a variety of traditional gin botanicals, this gin has a citrus kick and spicy bite.
#37 Little Juniper Distilling Signature Crafted with 21 botanicals using a traditional single-shot process and an organic cane base, this is a herbal, modern contemporar y style gin.
#38 Moore’s Roots & Leaves Containing botanicals grown in the distiller y ’s garden in Erina, this gin contains only the roots or leaves of botanicals to create an earthy, spicy and citrusy flavour.
#39 Sunshine & Sons Dr y A reflection of the subtropical location of the distiller y, this dr y gin embraces the light, bright, floral and fruity botanicals of the surrounding area.
#40 36 Short Blood Orange Using home grown blood oranges, this gin has subtle aromatics of sweet herbaceousness, and a spicy citrus lift with a hint of fresh pine.
#41 Cauldron Distiller y Fiveto-Five Sunset Featuring organic green tea, citrus peel, red hibiscus flowers and native wild honey, this pink gin has complex herbaceous and floral notes.
GINUARY 2022 • HOTTEST 100 GINS OF 2021 #30 Red Hen Dr y A delicate juniper forward gin with citrus and floral notes. This gin is distilled with fresh celer y leaf, cubeb pepper berries and grains of paradise.
#31 Stoken XII Apostles Here Be Dragons From Cudgera Creek in NSW, this limited edition gin uses fresh, locally acquired dragon fruit to create a refreshing gin with an eye-catching hue.
#32 Australian Distilling Co. Rhapsody Ruby A delicate balance between floral and berr y flavours, this gin is an infusion of classic dr y gin with T-BARs’ Serendipi-T fruit tea blend.
#33 Alfred Wiley Border Run Combining five sustainably sourced Queensland-endemic botanicals with traditional gin ingredients, this gin has a balance of floral, berr y, spice and citrus notes. #34 Eumundi Distillers Folktale Kaffir Lime Created with a mix of traditional gin ingredients and contemporar y botanicals including lavender, cassia and cardamom, lemon and anise myrtle, pepperberr y and, of course, Kaffir lime leaves.
#35 Billson’s Isabella’s Barrel Aged Aged in local barrels previously filled with award winning fortified wine, this layered gin is a smooth and sophisticated homage to one of the founding members of the Billson’s family.
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#24 Cauldron Distiller y Five-to-Five Mountain From Tamborine Mountain Queensland, this gin is distilled at an altitude of 525m and uses quandong and lemon myrtle alongside classic gin botanicals.
#26: Little Lon Miss Yoko Double distilled, this gin has notes of citrus, vanilla, baking spices and juniper, with a lychee fruit finish.
#25 Granddad Jack’s Two Pencils Another gin in this distiller y ’s core range, this classic London Dr y is the most traditional, focusing on rich and heavy juniper.
#27 Distil On The Hill Mandarin Small batched using vapour distillation, this gin is a London Dr y style with an infusion of juniper, mandarin and exotic long pepper, creating a balance of sweet and spicy.
#29 Cape Byron Distiller y Brookie’s Dr y Distilled in Byron Bay, this Australian rendition of a London Dr y contains 25 botanicals, 17 of which are native to the distiller y ’s rainforest where the gin is made.
#28 Australian Distilling Co. Brisbane Gin Made to capture the warm spirit of Brisbane, this gin uses local Queensland finger lime and fresh ginger in their small batch distillation.
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#18 Wolf Lane Navy Strength Keeping in theme with the tropical location, this 58% ABV navy has flavours of finger lime, fresh grapefruit and macadamia paired with heavy juniper.
#20 Karu Distiller y Affinity A contemporar y style and designed for straight sipping, this gin combines juniper, orange, vanilla, almonds, lemon myrtle and a touch of delicate floral and rich spice.
#22 White Lies Brewing and Distiller y Ginesis Finger Lime Made in Sumner, QLD this rich and zesty gin is double distilled and unfiltered to highlight the slightly tart finger lime finish.
#19 Granddad Jack’s Pavlova This fruit forward seasonal gin is full of flavours associated with the classic dessert, including meringue, vanilla, passionfruit, kiwi and strawberries.
#21 Happenstance Distiller y Gin This citrus forward dr y gin from Thebarton, South Australia combines traditional gin staples with native Australian lemon myrtle and strawberr y gum.
#23 Kitty Hawk Created using Australian-made copper pot stills, Kitty Hawk Gin reflects the tropical Queensland climate with a mix of spicy and citrusy notes.
GINUARY 2022 • HOTTEST 100 GINS OF 2021 #12 Kalki Moon Premium Ten botanicals, including lemon and cinnamon myrtle, finger limes and Bundaberg’s famous ground ginger, go into creating this perfectly balanced dr y gin. #13 Granddad Jack’s Greenhouse Another of the three core range gins from Granddad Jack’s, this gin takes inspiration from his Greenhouse, showcasing cucumber, rose-hip, grapefruit peel and lemon myrtle. #14 Distiller y Botanica Moore’s Dr y From Erina, NSW this classic juniper and citrus dominant London dr y style gin was the first Australian gin to win gold at the London IWSC in 2017.
#15 Kalki Moon Navy Strength This big and bold gin is heavy on angelica and liquorice root with plenty of Bundaberg ginger for spice. A spicy and smooth navy strength at 57% ABV.
#16 Four Pillars Bloody Shiraz The Bloody Shiraz takes the Rare Dr y Gin and steeps it in local Shiraz grapes for 8 weeks, producing the Four Pillars take on a sloe.
#17 Billson’s Alfred’s Peculiar Named for the man who introduced spirit production to Billson’s in 1882, this citrusy gin is small batched and pot distilled with 13 botanicals, including butterfly pea flowers.
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#6 Diviners Apparition Made in Ballandean, QLD this classic style gin focuses on the warm, earthy flavours of wattleseed, cassia, macadamia and angelica with a touch of citrus. #7 Wolf Lane Tropical True to its name, this citrus forward gin is distilled using both steeping and vapour infusion to pack in flavour from locally sourced grapefruit, mango and finger limes. #8 Wolf Lane Davidson Plum Coming from the same Cairns based distiller y, the Davidson Plum is a take on a modern Australian sloe - steeped for up to three months, the plums shine in this 37.5% ABV gin.
#9 Karu Distiller y Lighting Created in Grose Vale, NSW this navy strength features three tiers of citrus and a bouquet of Rose Geranium, picked straight from the distiller y garden.
#10 Diviners Outlier This zesty gin is reminiscent of Australian summer, with sweet strawberr y gum and cassia, fresh finger lime and a touch of myrtle pepper spice.
#11 Husk Distillers Ink Gin Sloe & Berr y Using a traditional gin base of juniper, coriander, angelica and liquorice, this gin is then infused with tart sloe berries, sweet red berries and northern Australian rosella.
GINUARY 2022 • HOTTEST 100 GINS OF 2021 Rick and Kylie Prosser
because you really need to rely on the barrels for flavour, whereas with gin you can throw a lot of different flavours around the juniper base, so it becomes more individual to the distillery. In the five years that Kalki Moon has produced our gin, I’ve maybe tasted one or two that are along the same lines of what we do, but everyone’s a little bit different. As a new business, we originally set up our distillery to be a small batch rum distillery based in Bundaberg, but selling gin and vodka, being unaged products, was what brought in money and kept the business running. We were fortunate that in our area there were no other gin distilleries and we had fantastic support by our locals from day one. Our gin has now become our core product of what we do here on site, with a little bit of rum, but everything is now built around our gin. What was the greatest challenge in beginning to distil gin? Getting the recipe right. Once you’ve got it, it should be easy to consistently replicate the product, but initially it’s getting that recipe right. Making sure no one or two botanicals stick out over the juniper, that juniper is still the dominant spice and everything else is balanced in and around each other. The rum and gin industry must have their differences - is there anything you prefer in the rum industry that you’d like to see transferred over to gin, or vice versa? They’re completely separate. The consumers of gin are completely different to consumers of rum: which is good. We get to see both sides of it. Rum is a bit of a pain in the arse sometimes to make, where gin is nice and consistent day in and day out. We’ve eliminated the fermentation side of the gin business, whereas with rum there’s a lot of fermentation that takes place to actually get the product started, so sometimes I’ve wanted to kick rum to the curb and just keep the gin pumping out. But sometimes the challenge is worth fighting for. I don’t prefer one over the other – I love the gin industry and I’m also proud of what I’ve achieved in rum.
Bundaberg has a lot of natural wealth, how has your location impacted your gin and distillery? Bundaberg is a smorgasbord of fruit, veg, distilleries, breweries, cider houses, wineries, everything. We’ve had amazing support from our locals – even if we’re only three and a half hours north of Brisbane, our locals have been our biggest supporters. The word of mouth that they bring for our brand is huge, we wouldn’t be where we are without them. We’ve been able to tap in with local producers to get some botanicals – our Australian premium has lemon and cinnamon myrtle grown here in Bundaberg; we use the same ginger that’s in Bundaberg Ginger Beer, we use native finger limes from the region; and our premix cans are made here in Bundaberg by Bundaberg Brewed Drinks with their ginger beer and apple cider. We’re very lucky where we sit, just up from Brisbane and along the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef, so we get a lot of tourism. We get around 40,000 people a year through the distillery at the moment, and always growing. And it’s all been off the back of gin, really, not rum –we’re known as the gin distillery, not as a rum or vodka distillery. It’s all based around gin. Your distillery is very family orientated, with quite a few members being a part of the Kalki Moon team. What’s the best part of working so closely with your family? The family is really invested in what we do – they get to wear the uniform and be an advocate for the brand. We’re trying to create a multigenerational business that the family moves forward. My daughter works here and my son, Jye, is our head distiller Monday to Friday, and our six grandchildren have been running around the distillery since they were able. It also comes with its tough points, because we see so much of each other, but we’re still really proud
as a family business. All up now we have 14 permanent staff in our business, but then we have four which are paid in what we call “love and liquid” – which are my mum, Diane (who handles all of our accounts), my father-in-law and my mother-in-law. And there’s my brotherin-law, Michael, who is a shareholder and owner with my wife and I – so very family orientated. How do you see your distillery growing in future? I think we’ll get a bit of organic growth from the rum when it starts to come through from October. Though from 12 to 18 months ago I started to really focus as a gin distillery, with rum being a secondary product, so we are starting to release a few more gin products. The newest being Kylie’s Summer Gin, which came out in December but will stay on now as a core gin. We’ve got an anniversary gin coming up to celebrate five years. I’m looking towards an Old Tom, which has always been in the back of my mind. That’ll really get the gin category for our brand sorted – our London Drys, the Pink Gin Liqueur and an Old Tom. We also continue to release Solstice, our deluxe product, which is a super premium barrel aged gin we do. We’ve done a few extensions over the years. We started the business in a 220m² shed with a 100L pot still for gin and a 200L pot still for rum and vodka, and now we’re over 1200m² in space. From two employees five years ago to 14 permanent and four in that “love and liquid”; we engage a PR company on the Sunshine Coast, an external auditor who comes in three days a week to help us with all our excise tax and an engineering company on site. So we’ve grown a lot in five years – it’s sustainable and we’ll continue the growth. Where we are in Queensland our tourism board is very active and likes to promote Bundaberg and our businesses we’ve got here so hopefully it just continues to grow.
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#5 KALKI MOON CLASSIC Mentioning Bundaberg to any Australian will bring a few things to mind – rum, ginger beer and now – thanks to Kalki Moon – gin. For a regional area, a lot of well known products have come from this town, and no one would know that better than Rick Prosser - founder and Master Distiller of Kalki Moon.
With an impressive career at Bundaberg Rum before establishing the area’s first gin distillery, Rick’s fondness for the region has had a long lasting influence on the town and on Australia’s gin industry. A London Dry Style gin, the Kalki Moon Classic is beautiful and approachable in its simplicity. With five key botanicals, including juniper, coriander, angelica root, lemon myrtle and cardamom, this gin focuses on mastering the fundamentals. Juniper forward and well balanced, it sets the standard for small batch gins and belongs on any Aussie gin lovers shelf. Kalki Moon Classic has become a staple of Australian gin - can you explain the process of making your gins? All of our high strength gins we make here at the distillery are London Dry style. We start with a grain base spirit, which we then dilute with water and add to our still. We select our botanicals, which change slightly depending on the gin, and add all of them directly to the spirit and begin a two day cold maceration. On the third day we start the distillation. The two day maceration time is a bit on the longer side, while other distilleries that make London Drys may only do a 12 to 24 hour soak. Everything from the Classic, Navy, Premium, Kylie’s Summer and the base for our Pink Gin Liqueur is all a two day cold maceration. With a lot of other distilleries using a wide array of strange and interesting botanicals, Kalki Moon Classic is quite simplistic in comparison. What do you think makes your more traditional dry gin still successful amongst an array of fantastical gins? With our Classic Gin, we fell into a category of our own by default. We didn’t set out to have a gin at a $50 price point nationwide like it is now. I just kept it really simple, just used five key botanicals, kept the alcohol percentage right on 37%, which helped with the excise tax, so we could try to keep the price down. It was more so about trying to get our local consumers here in Bundaberg, Wide Bay and Queensland in general to drink Australian made gins
over the imported English (Gordons, Tanqueray, etc.). We tried to entice the locals into drinking more Australian, and we figured they wouldn’t be able to do that if the price point was up in the $70-$80 range. As one of only five previous Master Distillers for Bundaberg Rum, and with over 20 years of experience in the industry, you definitely have one of the most impressive resumes in Australian distilling. What’s the best piece of advice you have for other distillers? When I finished at Bundaberg Rum in 2013, I went out as a consultant to start up another distillery. I knew of around eight at that time, a few of them dabbling in gin – Four Pillars had just started and there was West Winds and Archie Rose. Now I think there are over 400 distilleries with over 1100 gins in Australia, so if you’re coming into the gin category now you have to have something pretty special – liquid-wise as well as presentation. The hardest part of the whole industry is not making the alcohol – it’s selling the product, getting people to pick it up and buy it. So, this is my advice: you’ve got to know your market and you’ve got to know how to sell the product, because at the end of the day you could have the best alcohol – whether it’s gin or rum or whisky – sitting in your distillery, but if you can’t sell it you’re not going to go anywhere. What attracted you to distilling in the first place? As a young fella when I first left school, I was always in manufacturing. From making fertiliser and then working in the refinery at Bundaberg Sugar, working on the production line for sugar as well, I’ve always had that manufacturing background. So when I started at Bundaberg Rum in 2000, it made sense to go into that fermentation, distilling and blending side of the business. After 13 years at Bundaberg Rum and 3 years of independent consulting, what made you want to start distilling gin? I really liked the individuality that gin brings with the blending of botanicals. When you’re dealing with rum or whisky, you can be a little limited in what you can do
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For instance, if the Tasmanian pepper berry growers have a bad season it becomes really challenging to maintain the flavour profile of Ink, so we’ve had to focus on managing suppliers and ingredients. There are a bunch of cool botanicals we’d love to use in future recipes, but we can’t because we can’t secure enough supply of quality ingredients. What are some things you love about the Australian gin industry? The colourful characters and the incredible flavours and quality of spirits they make. Australian distillers push the envelope. Besides making spirits, what do you hope to accomplish as a distillery? We live and work in an extremely creative part of the world. Through Ink, we hope to continue to support the arts with our upcoming Ink Art Gin, ongoing and expanding sponsorship of local galleries and creatives, and hosting special events like the Sculpture Distilled exhibition. Looking beyond Ink, as a distillery we want to support people & place. We do this through community sponsorships and environmental initiatives. At the end of the day we’re producing a ‘pleasure product’ – it’s not essential, and neither is the waste that comes along with a non-essential consumer product, so we want to tread lightly on the earth and not contribute extra waste. We scrutinise all our waste streams and are constantly improving them. After working with Strangelove, we were the first distillery in Australia to implement kegged mixers, removing tens of thousands of glass bottles from circulation each year. Our cellar door spirits are stored in bulk and drawn down as needed from recycled spirit bottles, so there’s no waste there. All our organic waste from production is composted, fed to the cattle or used by the bar and kitchen to make syrups or value-added products like jams and sauces. We have 300,000L of rainwater storage which feeds our chiller and flushes the distillery loos. We grow our own garnishes, greens, and some veggies, and have planted thousands of native trees and shrubs since 2017. This week we’ve implemented a new system that enables all food scraps from the kitchen service – including meat bones, dairy, seafood and greasy napkins – to be composted. Our cardboard waste is shredded and used to pack wholesale orders. There’s always heaps more to do but we’re working on new things all the time. It’s amazing to see how your distillery has grown and the culture you have cultivated with the public - what’s the most important aspect of making your cellar door such an enticing experience? I would say one of the most important things is our passionate and highly educated team, who are part of our extended Husk family and make all our guests feel so welcome and
at ease, while subtly dropping knowledge about our story and products. The other special thing is the setting of the distillery itself. When you drive through the front gates and the farm opens to you, you can feel the love, care, and consideration that Lou, our horticulturalist, and Mandy, our co-founder, continue to pour into the design and care for the venue and grounds. It’s just a beautiful place to drink beautiful spirits. Do you have any advice for distilleries looking to grow their brand? Now that events are back open they are a great way to get your brand name out there. Authentic storytelling on social media is free and is a great way to build fans. Building strong, collaborative relationships with bars and bartenders you vibe with and who love your spirits is important. And lastly if you can open one, a cellar door is an incredible opportunity to talk directly to your customers and sell to them with the biggest margin. Despite being one of the biggest distillers, you have the second smallest range of gins from distillers in the Top 5. Do you have plans to change this in future, or are you happy producing just a couple of high quality products and want to focus on your other spirits? As you guys are aware, we’re not just a gin distillery – we’re also Australia’s first farmto-bottle rum distillery. We’ve been very focussed on the original Ink Gin because it was such a standalone product and because we’ve been investing so much time and money into the future of Australian rum, with our single estate, cultivated cane juice rum – Husk Rum. We will never have a huge range of gins because of the time and resource suck that comes with making farm to bottle rum – which is a 50-year play - however in the coming year we have a couple of really exciting new gins coming out that we’ve been tinkering with for some time. The first cab off the rank around September will be the Ink Art Gin, featuring an insanely cool piece by Australian artist Brian Connolly. Stay tuned for more info on the concept behind this mystery liquid … How do you see your distillery growing in the next few years? We hope to grow by reaching more people, expanding our distribution and sharing our story. We are just finishing up a bunch of capital works projects expanding the capacity of both the distillery and the cellar door, so hopefully will be able to consolidate (and stop building stuff!) for the next year at least. Is there anything on the horizon for you we should be looking out for? After 6 years in the market, Ink Gin is going through a subtle brand refresh later this year. Our packaging is evolving to be even more beautiful, so keep your eye out…
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#4 HUSK DISTILLERS INK GIN Husk Distillers was founded in 2012 by Paul Messenger along with his wife Mandy and daughters Harriet, Edwina & Claudia, who embarked on a journey to create a plantation distillery on their cattle & cane farm, nestled in the green caldera surrounding Mt Warning in Northern NSW. Inspired by the diverse and vibrant rum culture of the Caribbean islands and a yearning for fine Australian spirits, Husk’s vision was to create a premium, farm to bottle agricole rum with a unique Australian expression. While rum from the first harvest in 2012 was quietly maturing on oak, the distillery began creating a gin, something different that would challenge people’s perception of what gin can be. Quickly outgrowing the tiny farm shed distillery, in late 2016 construction started on a new distillery, which would be complete with a cellar door, bar and barrel house. After a long 2.5 years of construction, 2019 saw the completion of the new distillery, which is open to the public for tours and tastings. Ink Gin was a bold risk which paid off, as people around the country fell in love with the colour play & soft Australiana taste. Made with a combination of traditional gin botanicals and contemporary Australian ingredients, the gin is a balance of citrus and spice with major floral notes of its hero botanical, Butterfly Pea Flower. Postdistillation, the gin is steeped in these blue flowers for 24 hours – enough time to impart the signature Ink colour. With the beautiful hue and ability to dramatically change colour when in mixed with low pH tonics and citruses, Husk Distillers have created one of Australia’s most eye-catching gins. Ink Gin is one of Australia’s most recognisable gins - when Husk Distillers began, did you imagine that it would become so popular? No! The success of Ink took us totally by surprise. It was a very left field concept for a gin in both look and taste, particularly at the time we released it,
when there were only a couple of craft gins on the market – and no coloured or infused ones. The recipe development was driven by a sincere drive to be completely original and unconventional. Most brands start with a core gin product that is clear and classic, so we didn’t know how Ink was going to be received. All we knew was we thought it looked and tasted incredible. Luckily, other people didn’t think it was too weird and loved it as much as we did. Where did the idea to use Butterfly Pea originate? Were you specifically looking for something to add an eyecatching look to the gin? We were looking for an unusual botanical that hadn’t been used before. As Aussie gins wasn’t yet a category when we first started experimenting, there was a lot of untapped inspiration to be found in our wider backyard of Australia, the Pacific and SE Asia. We came across the butterfly pea in a Thai herbal tea. When we realised that tonic water was acidic and would change the pH and the colour of the gin to pink, it was a eureka moment. You’re surrounded by a wealth of Australian botanicals in Northern NSW - how has your location shaped your distillery and gins? It has an impact on everything that we do for both Ink Gin and Husk Rum. We have 12 hectares of ancient rainforest on our farm, so it’s a source of endless inspiration. Lemon myrtle was always going to be a core botanical in our first gin – it grows feet away from the distillery. What has been your biggest challenge in distilling? And what’s the best lesson you’ve learnt from it? A big challenge has been seasonality in botanicals and scarcity of ingredients.
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our range. The team puts an abundance of dedication and skill into these products, and it really shows through in the final product. In addition to our bottled spirits, our readyto-drink mixed spirit drinks are really taking off across the country. That range was born in our cellar door, when we were playing around with heritage recipes for flavours like Portello, Sarsaparilla and Raspberry Vinegar cordial. Visitors to the cellar door love that taste of history, and of childhood memories. We’ve taken that idea and run with it, and it has created great value and jobs for people in our region. It’s really satisfying to see a quality product creating that possibility. What kind of experience do people expect at your cellar door? Visitors to the venue receive a warm welcome and enjoy a delightful experience of discovery whilst being fully immersed in the historic ambience. Naturally, visitors expect a wide range of tasting opportunities, and they are definitely not disappointed as we have a vast range covering numerous categories. For instance, in addition to our spirits, visitors can taste 25 cordial flavours, made up of bold heritage flavours that take you back to your childhood, and a selection of intriguing new flavours. Visitors can also sample our wide premix, classic soda and beer offering. Visitors to the venue can also take advantage of having access to some of our more limited releases that are only made available through the venue, and they may be lucky enough to sample some of our yet-to-be-released products or recipes in development. With dining, beer garden, speakeasy bar and tasting room, there is something for everybody to enjoy. Other Billson’s experiences in Beechworth include our brand new Soda Bar and our quality accommodation offering at the former Billson’s Brewer’s House. Our venue team does a remarkable job. Not only are they well-versed in our product range and the history of the business, they display an absolute first-class approach to customer service that helps visitors to the venue feel welcome and comfortable as well as informed and educated about our product range. This
is reflected in our strong venue ratings and overwhelmingly positive feedback that we receive from visitors. Billson’s is the top-rated attraction in Beechworth on TripAdvisor. And, despite this enormous range of high-quality products available at the venue, often the overriding feedback topic we receive about the venue is about how friendly, knowledgeable and welcoming our staff are and that the service provided is absolutely exceptional. This is truly heartening and demonstrates how wonderful our people are. Our team is such an asset. How did you create such a warm culture and community around the distillery? The background of the brewery is an alluring story that resonates and fascinates. It really does attract the best people, who have an internal drive to contribute to the Billson’s legacy, and take it upon themselves to continually improve the Billson’s offering. We have very strong leadership and clear direction around a solid set of values that are very easy to understand and buy into. We are lucky to have been able to attract some of the best people from around the region, and beyond, to drive Billson’s forward. Beechworth is a fairly remote, but historic town. How has this location helped to shape the distillery? Historic Beechworth is definitely one of the magical elements that combine to make Billson’s unique. Being one of the best-preserved gold mining towns in the country, Beechworth is a destination in itself and enjoys healthy visitor numbers. The multiple tourism opportunities in the town and surrounding region ensures that Beechworth is a priority destination for daytrippers, weekenders and holidaymakers alike. Having the oldest tower brewery in the country is a definite drawcard and attracts a wide range of visitors, not just those who are interested in our drinks portfolio but history buffs as well. The proximity to local producers is a benefit because we have access to high quality ingredients and, in some cases, manage to significantly compact the length of supply chains. The location has also shaped some of our more interesting and unique traditions.
For example, when it snowed here on the first day of winter, we continued the 150-year old tradition of writing the date on the brewery wall, like so many Billson’s staff have done in the generations before us. What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced? And how did you overcome it and learn from it? There have been so many challenges over the past few years that it’s hard to single out the biggest! As a team, we have definitely set some ambitious long-term goals that require a lot of resilience & future focus. I think we all rock up to work every day expecting a bunch of stuff to go wrong & we just find a way to work through it all together. How do you see your distillery growing in the next few years? Our gins have really resonated with gin drinkers across the country. Word of mouth is always the best form of promotion, and we are fortunate that our audience is very loyal and eager to share our products within their networks. We aim to continue to introduce gin lovers to the Billson’s range as we continually expand into new domestic markets. We will also implement new products and offer special new experiences for gin lovers. Besides your three core gins, you also produce a few seasonal batches. Is there something new coming up we should watch out for? We have just honoured another of the original Billson’s family with a new release this month, Elizabeth’s Remarkable Gin, a remarkable natural red Gin, bursting with raspberry flavours and aromas. On the seasonal front, we have just released our very limited-edition BarrelAged Gin Liqueur and we will offer a limited run of Spiced Gin in the coming months. You should definitely stay tuned for some other exciting gin releases in the not-too-distant future. These new releases will form a range to cater to the existing gin lover, all the way through to those who are just beginning their “gin journey”.
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#3 BILLSON’S GEORGE’S DRY GIN Established in 1865, Billson’s Brewery originally started out producing cordials, ales, porter and other beverages. In late 2017, the historic building was revitalised by new owners, who came to Beechworth to transform the brewery, adding a distillery and introducing new products and life to the business, while embracing the history that came before. Billson’s continues to produce a large range of cordials, RTDs, sodas and beers, as well as spirits. One of three of the core range gins, George’s Dry Gin is named for the founder of Billson’s Brewery, George Billson. An entrepreneur & visionary, he founded the brewery on values of quality, craftsmanship & a commitment to local. This Australian independent artisan dry gin is handcrafted with alpine spring water & a unique blend of 11 local botanicals including native finger limes. With a delightful juniper & fresh citrus nose, this perfectly balanced gin includes hints of subtle spice & a delicate complexity, sitting at a comfortable 40% ABV. The Billson’s George’s Dry Gin is named after the original founder of Billson’s Brewery - how does the gin reflect him? The naming of each particular gin was allocated to the appropriate founder based on their specific contribution to Billson’s and the role they played, with special care taken to ensure that the personality of the product was matched with the personality of the most appropriate founder. For instance, George’s Dry Gin is our classic dry gin, which is the gin that is most recognised and the gin that distilleries will usually be most known for among gin enthusiasts. This is Billson’s “signature” gin, and the gin that could only be attributed to George Billson, the founder of Billson’s. George Billson specifically chose the site of the brewery in the late 1860’s based on the on-site well, which had been dug by gold miners during the 1850’s gold rush. It is fitting now that this same well, housing pristine alpine spring water, is used in every bottle of George’s Dry Gin produced by Billson’s. Over 150 years since Billson’s was founded, each and every bottle of gin reflects George Billson’s decision to base the business at the Last Street site
in Beechworth, based on the quality of the water, a crucial ingredient in crafting premium products. How do you feel George’s Dry Gin defines itself from other Australian gins? Head Distiller, Trevor Giacomelli, says: George’s Dry Gin has all the botanicals of a classic London Dry - juniper, coriander, cardamom and star anise – that give it a piney, anise character upfront. However, what sets us apart from other London Dry Gin, is the addition of Australian native finger limes, Tasmanian pepperberry and exotic yuzu, grown locally at Eurobin. It’s a modern, native and local twist on a classic, with a fresh burst of citrus at the end. Being established in 1865, what do you feel is the most important part of the Billson’s legacy to carry on? The Billson’s legacy is really alive for us in the way we make drinks and conduct our business. From day one they demonstrated an outstanding commitment to quality, when competitors were willing to take shortcuts to produce quicker or cheaper. George brought that focus and vision to the business, and his son Alfred brought forward thinking and innovation. The family were also deeply invested in their local community and their people. We hope that we can stand proud with our team in two, three or four generations the way the Billson’s family did. How do you continue this legacy in your wide range of spirits and other beverages? The best way we can continue to do this is by working with the very best people and using the best ingredients. Our distillers have made invaluable contributions to our spirits range, and Trevor has taken up the challenge to continue to grow and innovate
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Not only do you have your three core gins, but you also produce quite a few limited edition runs. Do you use a common spirit base and set of botanicals across the whole range and if so, how do you think this melds with all the various botanicals and flavors you use in your limited runs? It really depends on what we are making, if it’s something like a gin or vodka, it is made on the same grape based spirit we produce our core range with. However, for other releases that need a specific base, we will make from scratch; for instance, our spiced release was made from molasses and cane sugar while others have been made from distilling beers and using aging corks or even mixing corn and panela fermenations. We spend a lot of time on research and development for our Limited Edition’s and we try our best to give the people what they want while also pushing the boundaries of what distillers think they can make. How do you feel the position of your distilleries, both being in tropical southeast Queensland, has impacted your gins and distilleries? I don’t believe it has had any significant impact on our white spirits, other than points of efficiency in production and water filtration due to ambient temperature changing quite a lot over a period of a year. It does, however, have dramatic effects on anything we barrel age as the increased temperature and humidity impacts the effect of the oak on the spirit and how much evaporation and loss may occur. It’s been a rough few years to operate a business, most recently with the January 2022 floods hitting your distillery particularly hard. How have you overcome the challenges you’ve faced? Every challenge we have come up against has been overcome with our grit and determination to get through it, along with absolutely wonderful and heartwarming support from the community and our supporters. How do you see your distillery growing in the coming years? We will see what opportunities present themselves; we have a focus this year on some export markets and potentially another site in Australia to continue creating the best customer experience for our brand and family story. It sounds like Granddad Jack was primarily a fan of whiskey, and of course you’ve embraced that love as well, but what turned your attention to gin? He definitely fancied a gin from time to time but his favourite was definitely whiskey. I’m a big lover of gin and the diversity of flavour it can have. Having an original focus on gin also had the added benefit of short production times meaning we could open up quickly as whiskey has to be aged for a minimum of 2 years. And finally, which of your gins do you think your namesake would’ve enjoyed the most? 65 Miles, without question. Those big barrel spice flavours and the high ABV would have been right up his alley.
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#2 GRANDDAD JACK’S 65 MILES Founded by the grandson and great grandson of its namesake, Granddad Jack’s Craft Distillery has a heartwarming family history. Opening in 2018 on the Gold Coast, Queensland, the distillery began with a passion for spirits and a desire to carry on Granddad Jack’s hardworking, family driven principles.
With their three core gins named for some of the moments that most defined Granddad Jack’s spirit, his legacy is always at the forefront of the distillery. Now producing a large range of gin, vodka, whiskey and liqueurs and with a second distillery open in Brisbane, Granddad Jack’s has quickly become a prominent name in Australian distilling. At the ripe age of thirteen, Granddad Jack rode sixty-five miles to a sheep station looking for work to save the family home from the local bailiff. Just like the man himself, this gin speaks to the character and hard-arse nature of Granddad Jack. Taking second spot in the Hottest 100 Aussie Gins, the 65 Miles is the only navy strength to crack the Top 5. The ultimate testimony to Granddad Jack and a first of its kind, this gin will make any whiskey-lover very happy; packing heat and baking spice, balanced with juniper but abrupt all the same. Made with juniper, cardamom, star anise, cinnamon, clove and orange peel, this 57% ABV gin is a navy-strength lover’s dream. The 65 Miles is the only Navy Strength to crack the Top 5 of the Hottest 100: what do you feel distinguishes your Navy Strength Gin from others? It’s part of our original core range, that means we have been distilling and refining it since day one. It’s also well balanced and the right mix of spice and citrus to match the high ABV. Your distillery takes inspiration from a very special family member; which of Granddad Jack’s qualities do you feel are most important to your ethos and to carry on in his name? Discipline, Family, Craftsmanship. The 65 Miles Gin gets its name from a tale of Granddad Jack becoming the man of the house during his childhood and at 13-years-old making his way via bicycle 65 miles to a farm for work - how have you reflected this story in the making of this gin? Well, it’s inspired by the cold weather and a drink that would support you and keep you warm on such a ride. The spice warms up and the added citrus isn’t too dissimilar from that of mulled wine and Christmas pudding, so it does have a nostalgic warming effect. The 65 Miles is quite a unique navy strength, but what excites you in other navy strengths (or other gins in general) you’ve tried? Navy Strength is my favorite category in gin as the high ABV aids in staving off clouding the gin when upping the volume of each botanical. This means you can really pump these gins full of flavor, mouthfeel and character.
GINUARY 2022 • HOTTEST 100 GINS OF 2021 Ryan Hartshorn
from turning the waste from our cheese into alcohol and now we’re giving the used gin botanicals back to our cheesery and they’re putting the botanicals on the outside of some of our cheeses. So we’ve gone full circle with our waste reduction with that side of things. When it comes to packaging, all our packaging is biodegradable. We shred all of our cardboard boxes into a packaging filler that we use for all our online orders, so we don’t use bubble wrap or anything like that, and we use paper tape for sealing our boxes. With our cheesery, we were one of the first to pioneer biodegradable cryovac bags, which are one of the worst things for waste in cheeseries. For the waste from our stills (and that’s one of the biggest wastes for all distilleries, with it being hundreds to thousands of litres), we’ve created an on-site water waste processing facility, where we can pump our waste back onto our paddock. It goes through acres of cut veins in the soil, which are filled with filter media. The waste is quite acidic, but the time it’s gone through the filter and the veins, it’s brought back to a pH safe liquid — I think we’re the first distillery in Australia to implement a system like that. We’ve also got solar power and solar hot water, and the water all comes from onsite water tanks. So we’re fairly self-sustaining at the moment. How would you like to see sustainability grow in the Australian gin industry? The first and probably easiest waste reduction for all distilleries — whether you’re in a factory in a city or rural — is to do something with your used botanicals. There’s so many things you can do; people are making chocolate, soaps, gin salts. There’s heaps you can do with the actual used botanicals and I don’t think there’s enough being recycled at the moment. And everyone can buy a cardboard shredder — we’ve had 10+ distilleries contact us just from a photo we put up asking where we buy it, so that helps to reduce and reuse packaging and that basically pays for itself. Sheep Whey is not your only business there either, with Grandvewe and Ewe Care all being a part of the larger picture - how have you incorporated them into your cellar door and the distillery as a whole? When you walk into our cellar door you can experience all three in the one room — we do a tasting experience where you start with the cheese, you move onto our spirits and then you finish with our face cream and hand cream. They’re all very sensory experiences — taste and smell with the spirits and all texture and feel with the skin care cream. It’s all telling our story and core values as they progress through the three companies. And of course you can go check out the bottling room and distillery as well. We also have a large deck, where we want to get away from the idea of being a cafe or restaurant (which we used to have). You can only sit down to have an experience. You can either make gin through a blending process we offer — using 30 different botanicals for you to learn about and blend your gin with and then you get a bottle that you get to write or draw whatever you want on and that’s your personalised creation for you to take home. Or we also have a butter making experience — we’ve got a metal sheep that you have to milk and churn the milk into butter and you get to go home with the butter that you made. It’s again trying to do things that others aren’t doing and having a bit of fun, not just trying to be a serious experience. We take ourselves pretty lightheartedly and that’s how we want people to feel when they come in — just having a good time. You are the only distillery in the Top 10 that has only a single gin in their range - are you waiting for something special to add, or happy with what you have produced and want to leave it there? I actually didn’t want to make gin at all. I wanted us to be regarded as Australia’s best vodka distillery. I could already see four years ago that gin was becoming saturated and there were already too many on the market — and that was only about a quarter of what’s there now.
I did a gin because there was a lot of pressure from the family, saying the market wants you to make a gin, it’ll be a good money spinner, blah blah blah. And I thought, if I’m going to do it, it’s going to be my way and it’s going to be something special and not have been done before. That’s why I worked so hard on the process to create it. But I never had the plan to do anything more than one gin — I want to do one gin and do it really well. I think just doing our own fermentation in Australia is really rare and such an important thing to do to be different from everyone else — I can’t believe 80% of Australian distilleries are still buying the same spirit from two different companies. It’s really hard to stand out from everyone else when you start your product like that. You use a wealth of native Australian botanicals in your gin - but are there any that you haven’t used that you’d like to work with in future? There are three going into our new vodkas that aren’t in our gin, which I recently discovered and thought were amazing. They’re rare, native botanicals infused into individual vodkas — so we’ll have a finger lime, a strawberry gum and a saltbush. I’m venturing into the savoury world of spirits, trying to get ahead of where the spirit world is going and I’m looking into food matching. I already have the world’s first peat smoked vodka with Tasmanian peat, which is a nice smoky, savoury spirit and an oaked vodka, and then that saltbush will work well to round out that trio. So that’s our direction, moving away from gin and owning the Australian vodka market. How do you see your distillery growing in the coming years? We’ve got the three new vodkas we’re releasing, so you’re really going to see our marketing and range turn to vodka. I have so much respect for vodka — I know a lot of people don’t and I think it’s because they haven’t experienced amazing vodka. Vodka’s like a blank canvas to me and I love how you can manipulate it and change it to whatever you want it to be and I think there’s a lot of creativity with it – same as there is with gin, but a lot of it has been done before in gin. Any advice for other aspiring distillers? My biggest advice is that, with the market getting fairly saturated, you need to have an interesting and different product if you’re going to try and get into this market now — and don’t bother if your heart’s not in it. Don’t get into this industry if you’re thinking you’re going to make a quick buck, because there’s already a heap of distilleries that have that kind of mindset and I feel like they will be the first to leave the industry. You’ve really got to have a passion for it to succeed.
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#1 HARTSHORN SHEEP WHEY Created by Ryan Hartshorn in Woodbridge, Tasmania, the Hartshorn Distillery began with sustainability in mind. Ryan began to distill vodka, then gin, using the excess whey from the cheesemaking process at Grandvewe, another branch of the Ewenique family, with which the distillery shares land. The vodka, double-distilled and unfiltered, was elected World’s Best Vodka 2018, showcasing Ryan’s mastery of the spirit, and it’s the foundation that led him to distilling Sheep Whey Gin, along with whey-based liqueur and whey-sky (a Hartshorn spin on whisky). Voted #1 in the Hottest 100 Aussie Gins, Sheep Whey Gin has claimed its place as one of Australia’s most unique and memorable gins. All botanicals, including six native Australian (two of which have never been used in gin before), are all vapour infused. Perfect for a martini or sipping on the rocks, Sheep Whey Gin has a subtle bouquet of rose, citrus and fresh-cut hay, and a uniquely creamy and sweet finish - it’s easy to see why it’s Australia’s favourite gin. Sheep Whey is definitely one of the most unique gins in Australia, how did you come up with your unusual gin making process? About 20 years ago we started making sheep cheese and about five years ago I got sick of cheese being our only operation. I was wondering how to diversify and possibly make a second business and I had a real passion for distilling. At the time, no one was really offering a way to teach you how to distil, so I jumped online and looked at forums, read for about a year and learnt as much as I could. But the whole time I’m trying to think — how do I make a distillery relevant to a cheesery and not just have them as two seperate things that don’t relate? I didn’t really want to do milk liqueurs or anything like that because it had all been done before. I ended up reading about a place in Ireland that was experimenting with cow whey, with fermenting and distilling, and I thought — surely we can do that with sheep! But they wouldn’t tell me how to do it. Luckily my mother and sister have a food science background and were able to work together and figure out how to crack enzymes and protein molecules and release what’s essentially glucose, which then ferments into alcohol. What’s your process? Our vodka is the base of our gin. We only do double distillation — the first is a pot distillation and then the second is a eight
plate column reflux, which allows a lot of flavour to come through from fermentation. We don’t filter at the end of it either, which means a lot of the character of the whey comes through, so you can smell the sweetness of the milk sugars on the nose and it gives it a very creamy texture. We only use Australian native botanicals (excluding juniper). I didn’t want to do a bold London Dry style, I wanted to try and drop the juniper back as much as possible and let the Australian native botanicals really shine. I don’t like to release products that have been done before, so it was difficult to think of a new gin creation. It progressed as I set rules for myself; at first I only wanted to use Tasmanian native botanicals, but that proved to be pretty much impossible and not practical. So I broadened it to Australian native botanicals, which I know a lot of distilleries had done, but we have two botanicals that no one has ever used before — one being an Australian flower and the other an Australian sweet grass, both grown in Tasmania. Then we’ve got lemon myrtle, anise myrtle, wattleseed and pepper leaf from Tasmanian pepperberry. We vapour infuse only, so every botanical is in a vapour basket — they are also all distilled separately. So we have seven different botanicals, meaning 14 separate distillations as they’re all done twice. It’s a lot of work to make one batch, but I do it so that if any of the botanicals aren’t as bold as they were in the last run, in the blending process I can change ratios and balance it. It is the most labour intensive and difficult way to make gin, but it gives me ultimate control. Sheep Whey began with sustainability - how have you continued sustainable practices as your distillery has grown? Over the last five years we started to mature all three of our businesses, and changed our focus to be Australia’s most environmentally focused distillery. Our goal is to reduce and recycle waste as much as we can from start to finish. Over the five years we’ve gone
COUNTING DOWN THE HOTTEST 100 AUSSIE GINS OF 2021!
Ginuary Festival began in 2019 with a simple purpose – to celebrate Australia’s Top 100 favourite gins of the year. From small beginnings, Ginuary Festival has grown exponentially – in 2021 receiving thousands of votes from all over the country and over 400 gins being nominated for the Top 100. With high hopes for the Hottest 100 Aussie Gins of 2021, we set our sights on organising Ginuary Festival 2022. So maybe it wasn’t quite as expected, between delays from the New Year’s covid outbreak, the intended host venue ceasing to exist days before the festival and the worst floods Brisbane has seen since 2011, but one thing is for sure – there was good reason to drink gin! Huddled into Covent Garden once more, gin and mixer stalls got together to make the most of a less than ideal situation. Running masterclasses, trading stories and counting down the Hottest 100 Aussie Gins, the day was still filled with the indomitable spirit of distillers, brand ambassadors and bartenders sharing their mutual passion for gin. Dedicated gin lovers battled through the weather to enjoy a G&T and learn about the incredible industry and some of Australia’s best gins. The day came to a head with the announcement of the Top 10 – a close race between Australia’s biggest distilleries and a few surprising placements from new contenders. Diviners Distillery cracked the Top 10 twice, taking both #10 and #6 with their Outlier and Apparition Gins, respectively. At #9, Karu Distillery’s Lightning Gin moved way up from its previous placement at #36 in 2020. Wolf Lane made away with both #8 and #7 with their Davidson Plum Gin and Tropical Gin, one of the two distilleries to place in the Top 10 twice. Kalki Moon began the Top 5 with their Classic Gin, followed closely by Husk Distillers
Ink Gin at #4 (both distilleries securing a Top 5 spot for the third year in a row). New to the Hottest 100, and taking #3, George’s Dry Gin from Billson’s made an unexpected appearance. After taking third place two years in a row, Granddad Jack’s 65 Miles climbed up to #2. And in an astounding turn of events, moving from #71 in 2020 to #1 in 2021, Hartshorn Distillery’s Sheep Whey Gin took home the title of Australia’s Hottest Gin! The distilleries behind the Top 5 gins have detailed the key to their success in exclusive Gin Biz interviews, sharing the elements that make their gins and distilleries unique amongst an industry that prides itself on individuality. These distilleries have not only made exceptional gins, but have cultivated unique cultures around each one, creating dedicated consumers and involved communities in a highly competitive market and truly earning their places as Australia’s favourite gins. With the list of new Aussie gins and distilleries expanding every year, we’re excited to see what twists and turns (and hopefully better weather) the 2023 Ginuary Festival brings! So grab your friends and your favourite gin and join us next year for a bigger, better Ginuary! Voting for 2022 will open late this year, follow us on instagram @ginuaryfestival to stay up to date! Photos Courtesy of Tyler Rodwell, TR PHOTOGRAPHY
3 HOTTEST 100 GINS - GINBIZ WINTER 22
GINUARY FESTIVAL 2022
HOTTEST 100 AUSSIE GINS
2021
Congrats to HARTSHORN DISTILLERY, SHEEP WHEY GIN! Winning the title of Hottest Gin of the Year for 2021. We’re sure they will wear it with huge pride, and can’t wait to see if they manage to retain the title in next year’s countdown.
