Is there such a thing as an Original gin? My word yes.

Mark Twain once wrote "There is no such thing as a new idea. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope." I suspect the good folk at Original Spirit Co. might beg to differ.

This little distillery in Victoria's Mornington Peninsula is shaking things up a little with a sloe gin the latest offer to make the line up of their Original gins alongside their better known Ginfusion range. Purists might question the validity of flavoured gin but for as long as the spirit has moved on from its reputation of mothers ruin and something aging aunts drank from tea cups at 11am, experimentation has taken place across the globe. One of our favourites is Whitley Neill's rhubarb gin - see our thoughts here

We've been happily enjoying these ginfusions over big old blocks of ice with soda water and all manner of accoutrements and garnishes. The blood orange ginfusion with a slice of blood orange in a highball with a load of soda is delicious.

Back to the sloe gin. This a traditional gin made with the addition of sloes, a plum like berry which causes the gin to take on an earthy, raisiny like quality. This one has wild foraged berries hand pricked to release flavour as they infuse for a month in their Classic Dry gin, not only infusing the plum like berry taste which has a lovely sweetness, but also there is a hint of almond from the sloe kernels.

We enjoyed the punchy fruit flavour, and were able to note the strong aromatic flavour of the original gin with the hint of coriander seed still detectable. Its a ripper of a drink, a distant relative of the Japanese umeshu, which is well served over ice. add a splash of soda or a little squeeze of lemon to ring out even more depth. Either way, yum!

Buy their gins in good retailers of direct via the website.

RRP $75 (500ml)

https://originalspiritco.com/

Vic. | 2021 | Mornington Peninsula | 30% ABV