The newest player in Ballarat’s hospitality scene, Itinerant Spirits celebrates native ingredients hand-foraged from the grounds of Western Victoria.
The recently launched Gallivanter Gin and Vansetter Vodka from Itinerant Spirits offer a new spin on gin and vodka, infusing them with the distinctive characteristics of local native ingredients, hand-foraged from Western Victoria.
Gallivanter Gin is as a tribute to the juniper berry, enhanced with native botanicals, including the zesty Lemon Drop Wax Flower, grown in the Grampians region.
Itinerant Spirits Head Distiller James Fairlie (ex-Four Pillars) is at the helm of Itinerant Spirits’ creative journey. He says Gallivanter Gin balances a creamy, lemony palate with undercurrents of warm spice from hints of wattleseed, nutmeg and cassia bark and finishing with black peppercorns and Tasmanian pepperberry leaf.
“Flavour balance is crucial, especially when venturing beyond traditional notes. Gallivanter Gin’s versatility is a virtue, whether savoured neat, as the star in bright and fresh cocktails like a Gimlet or adding depth to savoury cocktails like a Dirty Martini or a Red Snapper.
“Vansetter Vodka, on the other hand, is a celebration of the raw product in its purest form through distillation. Skillfully produced through a unique all-grain production process, the result is a bigger bodied, more flavoursome spirit that is best enjoyed in a highball with soda and a hint of peach and kaffir lime,” said Fairlie.
Vansetter Vodka is smooth and subtle, crafted to achieve a balance of malted grains and a hint of spice. It is a bold reinterpretation of vodka, bringing a full-bodied flavour culminating in a warm, toasted rye finish.
Itinerant Spirits recommends Gallivanter Gin in ‘The Hopeless Wanderer’, a gin cocktail championing the flavours of Bacchus Marsh strawberries, pink peppercorn, rosa and citrus fizz. Vansetter Vodka is showcased in ‘The Valliant’, a zesty mandarin, pomelo, lemon and aperol-based cocktail that’s sour, a little sweet and very unique.
Signalling a new landmark destination for Victoria, Itinerant Distillery is housed in the heritage-listed 160-year-old Ballarat Goods Shed.
The new regional venue has the capacity to produce 1.2 million bottles per year; decked out with a 3000-litre vodka and whiskey producing German Kothe still, 650-litre gin still and 24,000-litre on-grain brewhouse, and all spent grain from production is reused for local animal farm feed.
James Fairlie said the team is proud of the unique spirits created within the historical Goods Shed walls.
“Our pride in our work is immense. From grain selection to the artful act of distillation, every step reflects our commitment to flavour and quality.”
