POLISHING OFF THE GIN GENIES
Take a sip into the past on a boutique drinking tour around some of the state’s most charming and quirky distilleries
Where else but Tasmania could you find yourself standing in a dark room of an almost 200-year-old sandstone gothic revival building, with an opulent cocktail glass in hand containing an internationally award-winning gin produced on site?
As my eyes adjust to the darkness, I chastise myself for not visiting Shene Estate and Distillery sooner, as it combines two of my favourite things — gin and history.
I’m on Drink Tasmania’s newest tour. The seven-year-old company is under new ownership, and there’s an expanded list of tour options, with the recent explosion in Tasmanian craft gin the driver behind their latest offering.
Our guide is Drink Tasmania co-director Peter Baldwin, who tells us that in the past five years Tasmania has gone from having 12 distilleries to 56.
Whisky distillers, waiting many years for their product to mature, have turned to gin as a way to reap some quick cash with what is turning out to be premium boutique spirits taking the drinking world by storm.
Peter and friend Jonathon Coleman bought the business in December, and it’s a far cry from their usual day jobs. Jonno is managing director of Rosny-based One Stone Finance, and Peter left his job as a social worker with the Sexual Assault Support Service to become one of the company’s guides.
“At the end of the day, both jobs are about dealing with people,” Peter says, over a Bright Eyes coffee at Brooke Street Pier, where our tour begins.
Our party of four’s first stop is the aforementioned Shene Estate at Pontville, where we are treated to a tour of the historic site by three members of the Kernke family.
Head distiller David Kernke tells us of the property’s links to King George III, Governor Lachlan Macquarie and early colonialist Gamaliel Butler, who founded the law firm now known as Butler McIntyre & Butler — the oldest continuously operating law firm in Tasmania and possibly the entire country.
David’s daughter Myfanwy leads us into the beautiful former stables where we sample their two varieties of Poltergeist gin. The True Spirit is smooth, and the taste of the botanicals such as lemon myrtle and Tasmanian pepperberry are subtle and delicious.
Poltergeist Gin Unfiltered is a show shopper, and was awarded a double gold medal at the 2017, 2018 and 2019 San Francisco International Spirits Competition, as well as a platinum in 2019.
It is the only Australian spirit to achieve platinum status at that competition, which is overseen by more than 50 judges and generally sees more than 3000 products entered each year. We are sipping it with Capi tonic water when Myfawny pulls open the timber pointed arch windows letting the light stream in. She tells us, despite the name, “there are no ghosts here, but plenty of good spirits”.
After a sneaky whisky tasting with Anne Kernke, we jump back on board the minibus and head to our next destination for lunch — Frogmore Creek winery.
Included in the price of our tour is a twocourse meal plus a wine tasting and full glass of wine, beer or cider with lunch. I opt for a glass of sparkling cuvee to go with my octopus, chorizo and spicy nduja tortellini and sweet potato, pumpkin and baby spinach frittata. I also pinch forkfuls of my husband’s sticky pork belly and 18-hour braised beef brisket with chimichurri, which the whole table agrees is the dish of the day.
Backtracking slightly, we hit the road and arrive at the Old Kempton Distillery at Dysart House. Formerly known as Redlands — and before that as the home of former Mercury columnist Leo Schofield — the 1840s building is another stunning example of colonial Tasmanian architecture.
The tastings on offer are varied and plentiful, and we are the first paying customers to taste a new, yet to be bottled — or even named — sweet tropical gin. We also try two more gins, several whiskies, an apple liqueur and even a lavender liqueur, the latter mixing very well with one of the dry gins.
Our visit coincides with one of Old Kempton’s summer Sunday sessions, with live music, cocktail and food specials all on offer.
Our guide Jade shows us around the surprisingly small distillery and bond store before we’re back on the road to 7K Distillery, housed in several shipping containers at a semi-rural property at Brighton. The operation is a testament to the ingenuity of 28-year-old creator Tyler Clark. An electrician by trade, Tyler built the copper still himself.
His winter edition gin has Carolina reaper chilli soaked in it. Not normally much of a chilli fan, I reluctantly give it a taste, but I am pleasantly surprised. The chilli kicks in after about 30 seconds, leaving a gently warm feel down the throat. The raspberry gin is 7K’s bestseller, but I find it a bit sweet for my liking. Thera’s also a sweet liquorice spirit.
We return to the city for one last drink at the Lark Distillery. That’s four distilleries down, 52 to go.
The author was a guest of Drink Tasmania