Saint Felix Distillery ~ The Gin Queen

Saint Felix Distillery is located in Mordialloc, in the south eastern suburbs of Melbourne. It’s part of the popular Urban Ground complex which houses a cafe and bar, and at the weekends hosts live music and food trucks.

Head Distiller, Xavier Nalty, is an experienced chef and has worked in some of Australia’s most celebrated restaurants, but his passion has always been distilling.

After experimenting with vodka, Xavier reached out to Calvados Christian Drouin Distillery and ended up living and learning with the third-generation distiller and connoisseur Guillaume Drouin and developed an incredible knowledge base of the brandy making process.

After a stint as a distiller at Collingwood’s Craft and Co, where he developed custom recipes, Xavier took a leap of faith to open Saint Felix Distillery.

His extensive culinary experience is reflected in the unique flavour combinations of his spirits.

Aside from gin, Xavier has created a Bitter Citrus Aperativo, and a Yuzu and Green Tea Spirit. My favourite is his Cherry and Cacao Husk Brandy, which tastes like Black Forest Gateaux in a glass!

Saint Felix Distillery Wild Forest Gin

Xavier focused on Mediterranean botanicals instead of the natives found in many Australian gins. Mastic gum is one of the hero botanicals and has fresh pine notes and earthy, vanilla characteristics.

He uses a cold distillation method to extract the fresh notes of his botanicals. The addition of rosemary, bay leaf and lemon myrtle create a distinctive, herbaceous gin with a lingering finish and a lovely hint of lemon sherbet.

Wild Forest gin was one of my Top Australian gins of 2020.

If you love Negronis, check out their Aperativo !