Yes, okay. We know, we are a bunch of gin soaks. While we love to drink wine,and vodka and whisky and all the other manna from the boozy heavens, we just love gin. It seems every day we have a new gin on our doorstep, and we could, quite literally drown in mothers ruin.
Why is gin so bloody popular? It is versatile, the turnaround to make it is pretty quick, and it was somewhat inspired by the craft beer movement. Where brewers gave us sours and Hazy IPA's and other things our Beer Scoffer will keep you up to date on, it also showed people with a bit of imagination brewing gin is fun, and you can be a little crazy to boot.
Which has nothing and everything to do with Forty Spotted Gin and their new Gin(bar) in Hobart. Let's start with their gin. Apart from having some of the most imaginative packaging going about, what's in the bottles is particularly good. They set out to create a beautiful gin, distilled at the bottom of the world. While its not quite the south pole, it is pretty far south as things go. The gin is named after Tasmania’s rarest bird, the Forty-spotted Pardalote, for those wondering about the name.
The cleverness of the branding is, in their words.. "The untamed flow and beauty of the southern ocean currents are honoured on our bottle design. We pay homage to the origins of our brand's heritage which remains at the bottom of the world, with our bottle upright, facing south." Pretty poetic right? The bottles really are a thing to behold and look marvellous sitting on the bar.
There are six flavours - honouring some native Australian ingredients like bush honey, pepper berry and wild rose, but ever the traditionalist, their classic was the first on the tasting bench. Along with the usual aromatics of juniper berry, coriander and lemon peel creating a traditional London Dry style, this gin is infused with native pepperberry which gives it an entirely new complexion. You can find citrus notes prevalent on the nose along with juniper and some mild woody notes.
It is a nice, light gin without a belting alcohol hit, which makes it perfect for a straight up over ice or with a dash of soda water and a crushed kaffir lime leaf. Of course you can drink it with tonic and it is a great option for a Tom Collins or something of similar ilk. I tried it in a martini but found it a tad underwhelming against the vermouth (maybe it was my mixing.. hic).
You can try this and other gins in the range at the new bar, which we clearly need to get to in another post. It is made by the team at Tasmania's most famous Lark Distillery who produce fine whisky among other things.
RRP $80 at most good off premise outlets.
TAS | 2020| 40% ABV