CAPI’s Better Together Packs: Victoria Edition

Great Ocean Road Gin 

 

Tell us about your brand/product. How is made? How do you source the materials? What makes your brand different from the rest?

Great Ocean Road Gin is a small batch craft gin company producing local gins which features botanicals & ingredients from the Great Ocean Road, Surf Coast region. The natural environment of the Great Ocean Road are the inspiration for my gin. I try to use as many local botanicals as possible in my gin. Coastal plants such as kelp, pigface, saltbush all lend lovely salt characteristics. Eucalyptus enhances the juniper notes and provides a distinctly Australian flavour. We use a local honey from Torquay called Surfcoast Honey, which adds some delicious sweet notes in the gin. All of these ingredients make our gin truly unique to its location. We currently produce 4 gins:

1. Our gold medal winning contemporary dry gin
2. Guvvos, our trophy medal winning Navy Strength gin
3. Split Point and 2 gin liqueurs
4. Raspberry and a new Grapefruit cello

We also make a premium premix G&T can featuring our own artisan tonic and four single serve cocktails. We have a small Tasting Room and Gin Garden which is located in Aireys Inlet.

What does it mean to be Australian to you?

We are incredibly fortunate to live in Australia, so for me it means I am incredibly lucky. I get to live & work in a beautiful natural environment, we are safe and well (particularly in the current global environment), we have access to some of the best food and drink, we have amazing producers and growers. For me I am part of the Australian food community, we are proud to produce premium products on a world stage

Favourite restaurants and bars?

There are so many great bars, cafes and restaurants Australia wide.At the momentI am all about supporting local and we have some amazing food and food spaces in our surrounding region. Our coastal township Aireys Inlet where our Tasting Room/Gin Garden is located has some of the best food on the coast with modern Greek at Al Le Greque, fabulous Italian style pizza’s at The Captain of Aireys, Little Feast and of course the Aireys Pub.Some favourite drinking spots for a G&T or cocktail right on the Torquay beachBomboras& Front Beach Barand in Geelong–The Edge, Wah Wah Gee, and of course 18th Amendment who have won Best Regional Bar for consecutive years running. My go-tos in Melbourne are Madam Brussels and the Gin Palace.

Reed & Co 

Tell us about your brand/product. How is made? How do you source the materials? What makes your brand different from the rest?

Reed & Co Distillery is a family owned and operated distillery in the alpine town of Bright N.E Victoria. Our philosophy is simple, we are captivated by the natural landscape and exist to create quality Australian spirits and experiences to represent our region and are worthy of sharing with others.

The combination of creativity with our craft is our daily purpose, applying technique and passion to distill the landscape, the botanicals both wild and locally grown that are at the heart of our flavour profiles.

As chef turned distillers, we seek discovery, continuously testing, tasting and experimenting with techniques to create a quality that both represents us and a captures the flavours of the North East.

This is what fuels our commitment as makers.We forage and source Victorian ingredients where available and collaborate with local producers & makers to profile the region we live in.

We are the makers of Remedy Gin: Born out of curiosity and determination to create a truly local taste, we distil local and wild plants. Mt pepper leaf and fruit produces a truly Australian dry spice and citradora (lemon scented gum) distilled with locally grown dessert limes profiles the citrus elements, a copious amount of juniper is enhanced with the addition of pine needles

 

What does it mean to be Australian to you?

In regards to our spirits, EVERYTHING! It’s the foundation of our creativity.Gin is an old beverage that has been brought back to life with a fresh new to Australian feel, we have an abundance ofAustralian and local flavours we use to enhance our beverages

 

Favourite restaurants and bars?

There are too many to just name a few!Melbourne is a food and beverage mecca and we have an appreciation for everyone involved in making our industry great

 

 

Heathcote Gin

Tell us about your brand/product. How is made? How do you source the materials? What makes your brand different from the rest?

Some of the best-laid plans are turned on their head over long lunches and wayward conversations. Heathcote Gin was one of those crazy ideas that fortunately landed the right way up and, ever since, we haven’t looked back.

As a primary producer, I’ve always been committed to adopting an ethical and sustainable approach to farming and agriculture, always striving to protect and respect the land I am privileged to use, and to ensure that a more sustainable future in farming is possible for the generations that may follow.

The drawcard to Heathcote was the unique, mineral rich, 500-million year old Cambrian soils. Having farmed in the region, the idea of what could be produced with such amazing soils pretty much boggled my mind. 

Creating a regional gin is more than just gin in a bottle. It’s the journey of exploring local botanicals, the discovery of what may lie on the region’s doorstep and how this discovery may become an exciting opportunity to share something special beyond the local Heathcote community. 

Making gin using the landscape of Heathcote as the palate is not only exciting but also niched. Nowhere in the world can a spirit be created quite like the one inspired by Heathcote to produce a ‘Spirit of the Region'.


What does it mean to be Australian to you?

For me, being Australian is about authenticity being true to yourself and what you do. Finding your passion and working your arse off to make it happen, watch it grow and celebrate its success. As Aussies, we tend to not take ourselves too seriously and waking up every day with gratitude and a ‘can-do’ approach I believe is a good way to live life.


Favourite restaurants and bars?

I’m a massive fan of ‘Vaporetto’ in Hawthorn. I’ve been going there for years and whilst they have an awesome menu, I eat the same thing every single time–it’s so good. 

Lucy Liu tucked away in the Melbourne CBD is sensational–superb Asian fusion cuisine, incredible cocktails and this constant buzz–ideal when you want a place with a bit of life and energy.

Bars in Melbs-Bower Bird is a must in Richmond–everything they use and serve is fromVictoria–even the tables and chairs! Their gin list is Victorian only (70+ gins) and their beer and wines are also local. I love the concept and their commitment to this idea. 

As a rural Victorian gin, I must include my favourite country pub. Other than our Cellar Door in Heathcote (Heathcote Juniper Lounge), my favourite country pub meal would have to be at the Shamrock Hotel in Rochester. They have this awesome wrap around balcony upstairs. Food and a ‘few’ on a warm summer’s night–doesn’t get much better.

Patient Wolf Gin

Tell us about your brand & product! How is it made, how do you source the materials? What makes you guys different from the rest?

Bucking the trend in Australia for regional-based distilleries, we are uniquely an urban distillery. Our gins, our style, even the drinks we serve over the bar at the distillery door, all reflect that. Melbourne is the food and drink capital of Australia, and we wanted to not only be a part of that here, but also bring a little bit of what Melbourne has to offer, to all cities in Australia.

And the best thing, we’re accessible. To our locals in Melbourne, and to the regional or interstate tourists coming into town for a visit. We offer world class gins and great experiences right here at the Patient Wolf distillery door in Southbank.

Ours gins are unique in that our style and vision was to create big, bold and complex gins, while also making them incredibly smooth. That is what our gins are about and that’s what makes them different. Because of that, they make for better drinks.We achieved that through sourcing unique botanicals like tonka beans from South America, which work so well with native Australian botanicals like aniseed myrtle. Our Müller coper still is a distiller’s dream and allows us to extract these beautiful, subtle flavours that most stills can’t.

What does it mean to be Australian to you?

The vast array of native Australian botanicals offers up endless opportunities for experimentation in distillation, allowing us to strike the perfect balance between New World flavour profiles and classic gin notes. We distill with native aniseed myrtle, and source our coriander seed from local Aussie farmers. And our fresh organic citrus comes from the SouthMelbourne Market, just up the road from the distillery.

We love the adventurous spirit of the Australian food and drink lover, always looking to try something new and shake things up. Never has it felt more important to connect with local gin drinkers, and we have been overwhelmed by the local drive to support local small producers.

We love to see consumers who are happy to pay a few dollars more to enjoy a premium, Australian product. We are proud to make world class gins right here from our home in Australia. It’s great to win some of the biggest awards on a world stage and represent Australia.


Favourite restaurants and bars?

We are spoiled for choice in Melbourne, and all our favourites are that much more enticing after so many months going without. South Melbourne local Bellota Wine Bar is always a winner for a long lunch, or Stokehouse on St Kilda foreshore. For late night drinks, you can’t go passed the CBD. Melbourne’s Berlin Bar, or Gin Palace are favourites

 

 

 

Melbourne Gin Company 

Tell us about your brand & product! How is it made, how do you source the materials? What makes you guys different from the rest?

Inspired by the city we love, the Melbourne Gin Company (mgc) was established in 2012. We are driven by flavour, culture and community spirit.

Founded by Andrew Marks, a Yarra Valley winemaker living in Collingwood, to cheekily acknowledge classic London Dry Gin by creating the very first Melbourne Dry Gin. mgc seeks to pay homage to our cultural capital, well known for its food, drink, art and sport and worthy of its own unique spirit. Made in stills that were designed for making perfume to capture the very essence of the city.

Our products use local ingredients like Australian Honey Myrtle, Australian Native Sandalwood, Bergamot, Tasmania Leatherwood Honey and macadamia. Some ingredients including our rainwater is from the distillery site. We love to keep it local but just like the melting pot that is Melbourne we love to bring international flair with some exotic additions. Bringing Melbourne’s cosmopolitan flavour to the mix are the exotics: angelica root, orris root and cassia bark.


What does it mean to be Australian to you?

Being Australian to us means getting out and doing what you love to do. Love going to the theatre, great! Maybe catching a game of footy is more your style or maybe you prefer to grab some dumplings with the family. All great options, just get out there and enjoy.

Favourite restaurants and bars?

There are too many favourites to name! These days we are happy to get a table at any Victorian restaurant-support local!