Accompanying Notes: 12pc Australian Gin Flight (Edition 5.0)

7K Distillery was founded by a lad who grew up in the country with an insatiable interest in making things. While doing an apprenticeship, Tyler began to dream about creating his own distillery - from scratch. So in 2016 that's exactly what he did. The initial building for the distillery was cut from two used shipping containers and a 1100L copper pot still was built from the ground up. Designing and building the still from scratch meant that it would perfectly fit the confined size of the shipping containers and gave Tyler more of a personal connection with the still itself. The distillery has since outgrown its initial creative shell several times but the upside is the new location has enough room for a cellar door!

One of the distillery's core principles is to use local Tasmanian and Aussie ingredients as much as possible. This Aqua Vitae Raspberry Gin blends juniper with raspberries (specifically the Willamette variety) from a farm close to the distillery. The raspberries are infused in a dry gin base, naturally sweetening and colouring the spirit. There's no extra sugar or syrup added.

78 Degrees Distillery, previously known as Adelaide Hills Distillery, was founded in 2014 by winemaker Sacha La Forgia, who worked in wineries around the world before a stint at a grappa distillery in Italy where he was inspired to start his own distillery. Upon returning home, he made his own copper still and launched 78 Degrees Distillery in the Adelaide Hills. The distillery has since changed hands a couple of times, during which it bore the brunt of being in a wider corporate drinks portfolio, which has caused it to lose a little shine in the eyes of bartenders.

78 Degrees' Classic Gin was launched in 2015, which became one of the earlier Australian gins to gain widespread acclaim. Botanicals used in this gin include juniper, coriander, citrus, clove, cinnamon, pepper, star anise, orris root and angelica root.

Nestled on Gubbi Gubbi Country in Caloundra, Beachtree Distilling is an Indigenous‑owned, organic distillery founded by Kirra Daley and Steve Grace. Their journey—marked by personal sacrifices during the pandemic and flooding—culminated in a world‑class, award‑winning operation celebrated for its sustainable, closed‑loop ethos and “One Bottle, One Tree” tree‑planting initiative.

Organic Koala Gin is handcrafted in small batches using a certified organic sugar‑cane base, rain‑filtered water, and a blend of botanicals—including juniper, lemon myrtle, cardamom, cinnamon, and vanilla—without concentrates, added sugars, artificial colours or sweeteners. It is naturally gluten‑free, vegan, and coeliac‑friendly.

Tasting notes highlight a brilliantly balanced profile: bright, zesty lemon‑myrtle paired with warm spice from cinnamon and cardamom, softened by vanilla and anchored by juniper. The finish is refreshing and harmonious.

Enjoy neat over ice, or pair with ginger beer, ginger ale, lychees, elderflower tonic, soda, cucumber, or lime for a vibrant twist.

Created by two hospitality veterans, Corinna and Felix, Ester Spirits firmly believes that life’s too short for anything less than ‘fuck off deliciousness’. Inspired by an obsessive quest for the perfect Negroni, the duo began their distilling journey over 10 years ago with a tiny still in a Newtown backyard. After many iterations and non-stop tinkering, Ester Spirits officially launched in 2020.

The botanical load in each of Ester's gins is higher than most others, creating a wrap-around-the-tongue character in the liquid. The Dry is a juniper forward London dry style gin with lashings of sweet citrus and macadamia for a textured mouth finish.

Naturally, this gin makes a great Negroni - just add 30ml sweet vermouth and 30ml bitter aperitif (eg. Campari or... dare we say it... White Possum Scarletta).

Five Eleven Distilling is the sister company to Six Twelve Brewing, both based in North-East Adelaide. The original Six Twelve name was inspired by the head brewer who is seven foot tall (ie. six foot, twelve inches). That's a lot of brewer. The distillery is family owned by ex-farmers and a new kid on the block, having been established in late 2022. The distiller is, however, six foot four. Hmm...

Silver Needle Gin is a unique drop inspired by the delicate flavours of white tea. The base spirit is made in-house using malted barley grown in south Australia, which is then fermented into a mash by Six Twelve Brewing, then distilled into a malt spirit. Botanicals in this gin include silver needle white tea, elderflower and peach.

Built by two lifelong friends and landscapers, Nick and Will transformed a shared passion for Japanese whisky—sparked during a ski trip—into a thriving distillery journey. After experimenting on a 30 L Grainfather still, they acquired a custom copper still to bring Green Street Distillery to life. Their name, “Green Street,” nods both to their suburban Adelaide origins and their eco-conscious ethos.

This Dry Gin, a classic London Dry, is vapor‑infused in a copper pot still using twelve botanicals. Each botanical is individually distilled then blended for optimal flavour and consistency. The result? A juniper‑forward spirit with a salty edge and herbaceous forest‑pine aroma, culminating in a dry, rich, savoury finish.

What sets Green Street apart is their commitment to sustainability: they champion native Australian botanicals, use direct screen‑printed bottles to reduce waste, compost spent botanicals, source local ingredients, and integrate solar power into production.

Green Cask Distilling is a new operation based out of an electrician's warehouse in inner-city Melbourne. Founded by a sparkie and an ex-food scientist, the distillers delight in trying to pack as much flavour in each bottle as humanly possible. This means experimenting with a wide range of obscure ingredients. Indeed, it's impossible to ignore the countless jars ordaining the shelves inside the small distillery.

Future Fruit Gin is one of the wackiest, surprising gins we've ever tasted. It begins its life as a humble London Dry Gin, distilled with a heavy dose of citrus and peppery spices. The distillate is then used as a blank canvas, to which a number of fruit extracts, fruit acid and some cane sugar is added. The blended gin is then cold filtered. To say this gin is fruity would be the understatement of the year. We get fistfuls of pineapple and melon, making this a tough gin to use as a mixer, but that's OK since it's so interesting to sip neat anyway.

Hang 10 Distillery, founded by surfers Deon Rowe and Marine Raynard, is located in Warriewood on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. The couple—driven by a desire to combat food waste and support sustainability—crafts small-batch spirits using unsold sourdough bread rescued from local bakeries as the base for their gin, vodka, whisky, and more.

The distillery officially opened to the public in May 2024 after years of experimentation and red‑tape hurdles.

Surfer’s Signature Gin, a London Dry style gin, is notable for its use of a base spirit derived from stale bread, combined with a curated blend of botanicals. Expect bold juniper complemented by bright citrus nuances.

Nonesuch Distillery, founded by husband and wife team Rex and Annette, is nestled up on a hill beside a windy road that leads to Port Arthur in Tasmania. Designed to be a small scale interactive facility, they’re welcoming hosts and if you’re a lucky visitor they’ll involve you in whatever spirit they are making at the time you show up. They make a dry gin, a seasonal sloe gin, a seasonal ‘sloe malt’ (a new-make malt spirit infused with sloe berries) and single malt whisky.

This is a classic London dry style gin but slightly sweeter and with stronger citrus notes. It incorporates most of the botanicals you would find in a classic dry gin (citrus, liquorice, orris root, angelica, coriander, cardamon) as well as native wattleseed. The botanicals are macerated in the still and distilled using a one-shot method (as opposed to individually distilling each botanical then blending). The resultant gin is left unfiltered to preserve as much flavour as possible.

Travelling While Standing Still is an elegant, art-inspired gin brand created by Macedon-based creative duo—photographer Jacqui Henshaw and designer/musician Keith Smith. Their gin is a deeply nostalgic tribute to the Australian Southern coast, designed to evoke memory and place from their cherished family holidays along the Great Ocean Road.

Their Australian Dry Gin is a small-batch, handcrafted London Dry–style spirit infused with native botanicals: seaspray (samphire), saltbush, and desert lime. These botanicals are macro‑seasoned with fresh lime and distilled with juniper, coriander, angelica, orris root, and a few secret elements, all powered with triple-purified water. The result is a briny, herbaceous, and intensely citrusy gin that balances a dry, coastal freshness with zesty vibrancy.

Ideal with a pinch of sea salt and a twist of lime to elevate its coastal essence. It’s also versatile in classic cocktails like Martinis, Gimlets, Negronis or simply enjoyed neat over ice.

Wolf Lane Distillery is based out of Cairns in Far North Queensland and is the latest wolf-related addition to the Aussie booze scene (along with Patient Wolf Distillery, Wolf of the Willows Brewery and Three Wolves cocktail bar, just to name a few). It was founded in 2018 by three mates who, perhaps not so coincidentally, also founded the Three Wolves cocktail bar opposite the distillery. Their range of gins and liqueurs are made in an 8 plate column still known affectionately as ‘Column Farrell’ who is chiefly responsible for making the distillery's base spirit as well as the second distillations for each gin.

This citrus forward gin is made using 13 botanicals, some of which are macerated in base spirit while others, such as the hero botanicals in fresh local ruby grapefruits, mangoes and finger limes, are vapour infused. Other interesting botanical additions include lemon myrtle, pepperberry and macadamia which are used alongside the staples juniper, angelica root, cinnamon and cardamom.

Some of you may be aware we not only design, bottle and assemble tasting sets and advent calendars such as this one, we're also a distillery ourselves. We've been makers of boutique liqueurs since 2018, although for much of that time we avoided making a gin as it wasn't what we knew best. But when a few bartenders and restaurant owners asked us for a plain and simple gin that could be used as a 'blank canvas' in their mixology, we went about experimenting.

Organic Bare Dry Gin is built upon a base spirit made with organic sugar cane from Queensland. In this spirit we macerate organic juniper and organic coriander and distill it again. That's it. Just two botanicals. Originally released exclusively for bars and restaurants in a 5 litre format, we've since bottled a small quantity and made them available on our website.

Pair this gin with a regular or flavoured tonic. It's also perfect in a Negroni as it doesn't have any particular botanical leaning that would lead to a flavour clash, especially if paired with a complex vermouth.