A small Kialla gin distillery has proved it can mix it with the big guns, winning three awards at an international spirits show.
Black Rabbit Distillery’s signature gin received a gold medal award at the London Spirits Competition in only its first year of commercial production.
It also received a silver medal for its passionfruit gin and a bronze medal for the Black Rabbit blackberry bramble gin.
In the competition, spirits were rated on three criteria: quality, value and packaging.
To be a medal winner, spirits must show a high rating in all three categories, with the most weight placed on the quality of the product.
Unlike other competitions where entries compete against the same spirit, the London Spirits Competition pitted gins against rums and whiskeys for the prizes.
Black Rabbit Distillery owner Sam Wieland was pleased with his distillery’s awards and said they showed the small business was on the right path.
“I was pleasantly surprised. We haven’t been operating a year yet,” Mr Wieland said.
“I’m a bit dumbfounded.
“The main reason is because it is such a new thing.
“You don’t expect to find yourself in this position (winning awards) that early on.”
Mr Wieland said the gold medal-winning signature gin scored 91 out of 100 overall in the competition.
However, the quality score was much higher: 95 out of 100.
The score on the packaging section of the competition was what let the product down.
“We’re more focused on what’s in the bottle than what it looks like,” Mr Wieland said.
He was more than happy with the 95 per cent quality score though, with the competition taking in things such as taste, aroma and the way the drink feels in the mouth.
“That comes down to how we make it,” Mr Wieland said.
He said the Black Rabbit gin was made quite differently to a lot of other gins.
Black Rabbit gin is made with a plum eau de vie, which Mr Wieland said was taken to a point where the flavour was less of a plum flavour than if they were making a plum spirit.
The botanical maceration process is also different to a lot of gin making.
Mr Wieland said the process the distillery used made the Black Rabbit gins “more approachable” to those who may not have enjoyed gins before.
Winning awards with the three gins sent to London is a top effort for the small distillery, which has produced fewer than 2000 bottles so far.
“This is validation we are on the right track,” Mr Wieland said.
Running the business with his wife, Fiona Wieland, Mr Wieland said he had been involved with distilling for 20 years.
He also describes himself as a “tinkerer” and as such has built most of the equipment for the distillery himself.
While the distillery started off small, Mr Wieland is testing new stills that would allow the business to bottle a much greater number of gins in each batch made.
At the moment, Black Rabbit Distillery sells to some local bottleshops and a couple of restaurants.
You can also buy from the distillery door at 4 Murat Nook in Kialla.