Artisan tipple lifts Australian spirits
Not so long ago Australian-made spirits were widely considered the low-rent option of the market. If you wanted good whisky or gin or rum, overseas labels would be the first port of call.
But over the past decade, artisan distillers have been popping up all over Australia in increasing numbers.
Earlier this year the Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria added the first Australian Distilled Spirits category to its Royal Melbourne Fine Food Awards competition.
It attracted more than 90 entries in seven categories from across the country, emphatically proving that something exciting is happening in the Australian distilling industry.
Bob Laing, who opened the Bass & Flinders Distillery on the Mornington Peninsula with business partner Wayne Klintworth in 2009, is typical of the new Australian distillers who look to the original, often European, sources for guidance but who are also interested in putting a local spin on their products.
''I think people are looking for artisanal products generally,'' says Mr Laing. ''They like the idea of these spirits being made in small volumes and being made in traditional ways. I think there's also something in them being made locally.''
At Bass & Flinders, Mr Laing and Mr Klintworth distil their own grape spirits in an alembic still (the kind widely used in France for making the base spirit for top-range cognac) using local Mornington Peninsula grapes and other grapes sourced in Victoria. They are also about to release a vodka called Sheerwater that uses Cape Schanck rainwater in the mix. For the three lines of gin they make, they distil all the botanicals that flavour the drinks themselves.
Gin, not surprisingly given the surge in interest it has experienced across the spirit world in the past couple of years, is their bestseller.
The interest has led Bass & Flinders to hold regular gin masterclasses at the Red Hill distillery, something they are doing next weekend as part of the 2014 Melbourne Food and Wine Festival. Participants get to learn all the technical ins and outs of this most fashionable spirit and also get to blend their own gin.
''The funny thing is that when we started out we thought we were going to take the world by storm with our grappa and limoncello,'' says Mr Laing. ''But we underestimated the mindset against grappa from people who had tasted terrible ones. Luckily a Spanish friend convinced us to start making gin a couple of years back. It's all about the timing really.''
The same could be said for Australian spirits. It seems as if it may be time for their close-up.
Gin Masterclasses will be held at Bass & Flinders Distillery, 232 Red Hill Road, Red Hill, on Saturday, March 15, and Sunday, March 16, as part of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival. Tickets are $120 (per head or for two people working as a team) from 0404 093 247 or bassandflindersdistillery.com.
