Barossa Distilling reveal tawny port aged gin

The Barossa Distilling Company has released a limited edition gin aged for seven months in tawny port barrels.

It is the company’s third gin following the release of the Generations Gin in 2016 and its Budburst pink gin later that year.

The barrels originally held Barossa red wine and then spent eight years ageing Tawny port before being cut down to 100 litres at a local cooper, oak charred to a crocodile char and filled with Generations Gin. The same style barrels were also sourced to make the company’s first whisky, which is 12 months away from release.

Barossa Distilling managing director Neil Bullock said the gin was barrel-aged in the same way as whisky is traditionally matured.

“Back in the old days they would store the gin in an oak barrel in a ship’s ballast and effectively by the time it got to its destination it would have been barrel aged, depending on how far the journey was.”

“It’s confusing to the palate in a way because it’s got a little bit of a whisky characteristic – it’s very much a gin but it sits somewhere between the two in terms of the flavour profile it’s delivering and you get those toffee and honey characteristics that you would find in a Speyside style sherry or port cask finished whisky.

“It’s a cracking sipping gin, over ice it’s just beautiful but we have tried it here with a splash of dry ginger ale and a bit of fresh lime squeezed over the glass.”

The 40% ABV Barrel-Aged Gin is $125 for a 700ml bottle and is available through the Barossa Distilling Company website or at its cellar door in the Old Penfolds Distillery building in Nuriootpa.

Bullock says: “I took a bottle out a few weeks ago and we’ve been doing tastings of it over the bar here and 100 per cent of the feedback has been ‘wow, that’s incredible’ so we’re quite excited to get it out.”

“Almost without exception people have put their names down on the list to get their hands on a bottle so the response has been very good and we’re expecting they are going to go quickly.

“It would be nice if they hung around a little longer because we don’t have any other gin in barrel at the moment but I’m going to have to sort that out pretty fast.”

12 January 2018 - Sam Coyne The Drinks Report, news editor