Fringe Food Festival

Monday 23rd April saw a group of us venturing out on the first really Autumnal night of the year to taste some gin; okay  to taste “lots” of gin, and some tonic, and well, in my case, confirm that I really do like gin!

Wallis & Ed, in The Windsor, provided the venue and the snacks. We settled in to do some serious learning and tasting.

Thanks to Jeremy Spencer and Jason Chan from West Winds Gin for taking us through the general production techiniques for gin, the aromatics and leading us on the tasting.

Thanks also to Gerard Anderson from Urban Importers for bringing along one of the Sacred “blend-your-own” kits for us to be inspired by (ordering details at the end of this post).

As promised, here are some details of the history of gin and the gin and tonic’s we tasted.

Firstly, Gin is an old drink. Allegedly used as a (not very successful) cure for variously the plague, gallstones, gout and lumbago. According to Wikipedia it is the source of “Dutch Courage” when the British troops fighting  during the Thirty Year war in Holland noticed it’s “calming effects” – ahem.  The name Gin comes from the French for juniper which is the base aromatic that is used to define Gin as we know it. However modern products include distillates from many other aromatics. Thankfully we’ve moved away from turpentine as a flavouring in today’s modern gins.

Variously courted and pilloried over it’s many years of production (think Mother’s Milk, Mother’s Ruin, Cuckold’s Comfort, Ladies’ Delight and the late Queen Mum’s favourite tipple), Gin is now undergoing somewhat of a worldwide renaissance. I know I am more used to the London Dry gin styles, but there are many more bespoke and speciality gins available now.

Some of the older style Gins such as Gordon’s (1769), Beefeater (1820) and Gilbey’s have perhaps suffered from a bit of snobbery. but there is nothing wrong with a good London style Dry Gin (as I found out when after our gin tasting I followed up with a Plymouth Navy Strength Martini – which was quite lovely)

Interestingly, Gin & Tonic  mixes evolved from the desire to cover-up the bitter flavour of the quinine used as an anti-malarial in the day.

First Round.
West Winds - The Sabre – London “dry style” with added aromatics of wattle seed and lemon myrtle.
Monopolowa – A gin brewed in Austria but originating in Poland – potato spirit base. Triple distilled which is a process more closely aligned with vodka than gin, but this was my favourite of the three. Smooth and very creamy.
Hayman’s Old Tom  - Those of you paying attention will know now that Old Tom is a style of sweetened gin, poular in the 18th century, which died out but seems to be coming back into vogue. Reproduced from a recipe from the “family archives” apparently.

Second Round
Hendricks - Grant’s Distillers (Scotland) – additional botanicals of rose and cucumber. The Hendricks website is atrocious for finding out about their gin, but their gin is my particular favourite, small batch distilled (450 litres) and delicious in a G&T
Gin Mare made in Spain by distilling the botanicals separately then blending them to make a cosistent product. Juniper, coriander, sweet and bitter orange, lemon, Cardamon, thyme, rosemary, basil and olives. Available at Dan’s
West Winds – The Cutlass  A “naval strength” gin which includes botanicals of bush tomato, wattle seed, lemon myrtle, cinnamon myrtle and a blend of lemon and lime, lots of coriander root.

In case you forgot – Naval strength gin is alcoholic enough that gunpowder soaked in gin (accidentally of course) will still ignite.

Tonics.
Fevertree - lunched in London in 2005, from the man who ran Plymouth Gin, cinchona bark extracts and other flavourings make a superior tonic.  On pour at many better bars around town eg Gerald’s, and available at Rathdowne Cellars - Distributed in Australia by Rio Coffee Ph 08 8362 3376

Dr Tonic - new kid on the block – made in New Zealand. Like their facebook page and convince them to distribute in Oz soon!
Capi - Australian made and owned, owners of an almost “too cool for school” website.

Bespoke Gin Kits from Sacred. All the fresh-cut botanicals in Sacred Gin are distilled separately under vacuum and are now available in 200ml bottles, 6 to a kit. There are two groups:-

Traditional: Juniper, Citrus, Angelica, Cardamon, Licorice and Coriander &
Contemporary: Junpier, Pink Grapefruit, Nutmeg, Star Anise, Orris and Cassia.

You can make your own gin, starting with the Juniper base and adding other distillates to your preference, modify your existing gin, maybe float some on top of your next Gin & Tonic.

Availbale from May 10th online at Urban Importers, or via email to gerard@urbanimporters.com.au or at La Vita Buona, in City Square.  Stocks are limited.

So which was your favourite gin / tonic / combination?  Do you like the idea of tonic syrups? Where do you buy your gin?

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