Victoria’s Never Never Distillers has won the Best in Show trophy at the 2019 Australian Gin Awards for its Classic Dry Southern Strength Gin.
The Awards judging is chaired by distiller Bill Lark (below), with the top trophy sponsored by SabreX and offering a $10,000 marketing prize.
The judges described the winning gin as being “immediately delicious on the palate rising to a rich high point”.
The win follows Never Never Distilling Co’s Southern Strength Gin winning World’s Best Classic Gin at the World Gin Awards in London earlier this year.
It was the first time an Australian gin has scooped the top prize, a huge accolade for a distillery that only launched in 2017.
More than 150 craft gins in six classes were judged in October. The results were announced by Lark at a dinner for 150 gin enthusiasts at the Paddington Town Hall on November 21.
The dinner heralds the opening of the Sydney Gin Palooza which will host 1800+ gin lovers over the following three days.
The Best in Class winners at the Australian Gin Awards are:
Classic Dry: Never Never Distilling. Southern Strength Gin
Contemporary: Archie Rose. Distiller’s strength Gin
Matured: The West Winds Gin. Barrel Expedition 11
Old Tom: Kangaroo Island Spirits. KIS Old Tom
Australian Navy: Mt Uncle Distillery. Botanic Australia Navy Strength
Flavoured: Darby-Norris Distillery. Blueberry Gin
The Australian Gin Awards judges are Bill Lark (Chairman), Mikey Enright, Scott Fitzsimons, Lindsay Silcox, Lyn Lark, Genise Hollingworth, Philip Moore and Glenn McPhee.
The Gin Bottle Design awards chaired by Linda Sultmann of Signwave Australia and sponsored by CCL with a $5000 product prize are determined by another set of judges during the same week and the bottle declared the best Gin Bottle is Wildspirit Bloody Merry Gin produced and designed by Dad and Dave’s Brewing, Brookvale NSW.
All Australian Gin Awards results can be seen at www.auastralianginawards.com.au
