The Sparkke Change Beverage Company has collaborated with Adelaide Hills Applewood Distillery on a limited edition gin – The Great Dame Gin.
There are only 1000 bottles of the gin, which celebrates talented women winemakers, distillers, mixologists and chefs – Sparkke is a female-founded social enterprise.
Inspired by the spices and botanicals in Sparkke at the Whitmore’s kitchen, the gin features a citrus backbone of finger limes, spent pink grapefruits and lemons, with subtle notes of curry leaf and watercress, finished with a touch of palm sugar post-distillation.
The team behind the Great Dame Gin includes Rose Kentish, Co-Founder and Director of Sparkke; Laura Carter, Head Distiller of Applewood Distillery; Emma McCaskill, Head Chef at Sparkke at the Whitmore; Emilee Moore, Hotel Manager of Sparkke at the Whitmore; Katherine Sortini, Head Bartender at Sparkke at the Whitmore; and Megan Hume, Distiller at Applewood Distillery.
Kentish said: “We created this gin so our young makers could collaborate and learn from each other, encourage the cross pollination of ideas and learn a new skill base.”
Carter, said: “We were so excited when Sparkke first approached us to do a collaboration as we were already great fans of their beverages.
“The combination of these flavours were new for us which made the process extremely creative for our distillation team. We used curry leaf, pink grapefruit and ginger to capture the ‘summer sunshine’ element and added spice elements too. The sustainability ethos of both companies translated into the gin.”
McCaskill added: “We wanted to use ingredients in the gin that are singature flavours in our kitchen. We work a lot with spent citrus, so we infused the pure ethanol with this. Wild watercress with its pepper-y notes features too. We use a lot of Indian spices, such as coriander and curry leaf, which is a unique element that features strongly within my cooking and reflects my Indian heritage.”
The Sparkke at the Whitmore team have also created eight limited edition cocktails using The Great Dame Gin cocktails, named after influential females.
‘The Ada Coleman’ named after one of the best-known female bartenders in history includes rose vermouth, Montenegro and angastora bitters.
The ‘Sue Binns’ named after a well-respected South Australian publican; her martini includes the Great Dame Gin and Adelaide Hills Distillery’s Dry Vermouth.
Sam Fuss was one of the first female brewers in Australia and her Bramble includes Marionette Crème de Mure, lemon and sugar.
Sarah Lark, Australia’s first female distiller, has inspired the Eastside Sour, which features lime, sugar, mint, cucumber and wonderfoam.
Abby Reonnfeldt made her first cocktail on the first day she opened her first bar and inspired the cocktail ‘Aviation’ which features maraschino liqueur, bitter truth crème de violet and lemon.
Tom Collins is inspired by Australian food icon Maggie Beer, and includes turmeric-infused gin, lemon, ginger and soda water.
Pam Dunsford, the first female to be accepted to study winemaking at Roseworthy, inspires the French 75 including only lemon and sugar.
