You’ve probably seen many of our native gins sharing the news of their success at the San Francisco World Spirits Awards. As per the last 2 years, I’ve done a round-up for you, covering all the winners!

This year Australian gins won 5 Double Golds (up from 2 in 2017), 7 Golds (up from 4 in 2017), 21 Silver (up from 11 in 2017) and 15 Bronze (up 8 from 2017). A total of 48 medals (up from 26 in 2017).

The state with the most medals was Victoria (15), New South Wales (13), who just pipped South Australia (12 ), followed by Tasmania (5), Queensland (2) and ACT (1).

I don’t have the final number of gins entered but given the ongoing explosion of gin, I would imagine it has significantly increased from the 268 entries in 2017.

Awards are often disregarded as ‘marketing puff’ that many consumers ignore, so I spoke to a couple of distillers to discuss the impact of winning a medal at San Francisco.

Tim Stones, Manly Spirits (Double Gold) “I’m not massively pro-awards as there are so many about. However, I do see then benefit of using them to benchmark our products against other son the market. Winning a Double Gold is a hugely validating experience and completely vindicated my choice of career change.”

Sales Manager, Rob Sutherland, also reported a bigger uptake of their gininto venues.

Sean Baxter, Never Never Distilling Co. (Gold Medal) “The San Francisco World Spirits Competition is the top global comp, the one we all care about. With 43 judges and an extremely high standard, it’s our chance to see how we stack up with the world’s best gins. A gold medal for us means recognition that our gin is up there with the best in the world.”

In addition, Sean told me they were flooded with emails from potential new stockists after the announcement.

Whatever your view on awards it obviously means a lot to the people making the gin and gives them a leg up in a highly competitive market.

Here are the 2018 results in full:

DOUBLE GOLD MEDAL 2018 (Outstanding; earning top marks from all judges.)

Manly Spirits Co Australian Dry Gin (NSW)

Archie Rose Distillers Strength (NSW)

Dobson’s New England Dry Gin (NSW)

Poltergeist Gin (Unfiltered) (TAS)

Single Shot Gin, The Melbourne Gin Company (VIC)

GOLD MEDAL 2018 (an excellent product, meeting very high standards)

Triple Juniper Gin, Never Never Distilling Co. (SA)

Brookie’s gin (NSW)

Brookie’s Byron Slow Gin, Cape Byron (NSW)

Roots and Leaves Gin, Distillery Botanica (NSW)

Something Wild Green Ant Gin, Adelaide Hills Distillery

Billy Goats Gin, Saleyards Distillery (QLD)

Prohibition gin (SA)

SILVER MEDAL 2016 (A finely crafted spirit, well above average.)

Coastal Citrus Gin, Manly Spirits (NSW)

Horisumi Summer Gin, Archie Rose(NSW)

Signature Dry Gin, Archie Rose(NSW)

Sweet Pea Gin, Dobson’s(NSW)

Whisky Barrel Aged Gin, Manly Spirits(NSW)

Barrel Aged Gin, Twenty Third Street (SA)

Signature Gin, Twenty Third Street (SA)

Bathtub Cut Gin, Prohibition (SA)

Yuzu Gin, Settlers Spirits (SA)

Gin, A True Spirit, Poltergeist (TAS)

Arboretum Gin, Animus (VIC)

Bartender Series Spiced Negroni Gin, Four Pillars (VIC)

Distiller Series Dry Island Gin, Four Pillars x Hernö (VIC)

Gin, BeGin (VIC)

Macedon Dry Gin, Animus (VIC)

Navy Strength Gin, Four Pillars (VIC)

Pink Gin, BeGin (VIC)

78° Gin, Adelaide Hills Distillery (SA)

Dry Gin, Hippocampus (VIC)

Lady Susanne Gin, TerraAustralis Distillery (VIC)

Signature Gin, Underground Spirits (ACT)

Bronze (A well-crafted spirit that deserves recognition.)

What is the San Francisco World Spirits Competition?

Launched in 2000, the San Francisco World Spirits Competition is considered the most respected and influential spirits competition in the world, with a rigorous judging process involving highly controlled blind-tastings with an expert panel who only receive information on spirit type, ABV and age (where applicable) to remove bias.

The winners of the Australian Distilled Spirits Awards were announced at Ormond Hall in Prahran last Thursday.

I have attended every awards ceremony since their inception in 2015 but in 2017 and 2018 I was fortunate enough to be asked to join the judging panel in the gin category as well as host the awards ceremony. Both are duties I don’t take lightly!

There were over 300 spirits submitted across all categories this year and judging is managed and organised under the tightest of conditions.

As judges we don’t see any bottles over the two days and the spirits are presented pre-poured in tasting glasses ready for judging. Judging sheets simply have spaces to give marks for colour/appearance (/10), nose (/20), palate (/40), balance (/10) and finish (/20) and no other information, including the ABV to avoid spirits being identified.

Medals are presented as follows:

Gold (90 – 100 points) A Gold Medal Exhibit is an outstanding spirit, liqueur or bitters for the type of product that it is.

Silver (82 – 89.9) points) A Silver Medal Exhibit is an excellent spirit, liqueur or bitters for the type of product that it is.

Bronze (74 – 81.9 points) A Bronze Medal Exhibit is a very good spirit, liqueur or bitters for the type of product that it is.

There were 7 categories for gin and the results were as follows:

LONDON DRY CATEGORY

GOLD

Kalki Moon Premium London Dry Gin,  Kalki Moon Distilling & Brewing Company, QLD

Poor Toms Fool Strength, Poor Toms Distillery NSW

Suter & Sons Dry Gin, Victoria

Sin Gin No 5 Greed The Murray Hotel, Western Australia

SILVER

Animus Macedon Dry Gin, Animus Distillery, Kyneton, Victoria

Manly Spirits Australian Dry Gin, Manly Spirits Co., NSW

Triple Juniper Gin, Never Never Distilling Co, SA

1829 Gin, Old Youngs Distillery, WA

Poltergeist Gin – Unfiltered, Shene Estate & Distillery, Tasmania

Sin Gin No 2 Lust~ The Murray Hotel, Western Australia

Sin Gin No 6 Gluttony The Murray Hotel, Western Australia

BRONZE

Prohibition Gin ~  Applewood distillery, South Australia

Kalki Moon Classic London Dry Gin ~ Kalki Moon Distilling & Brewing Company, QLD

Classic Dry Gin ~ McHenry Distillery, Tasmania

Original Classic Dry  ~Original Spirit Co., Victoria

Poltergeist Gin True Spirit  ~ Shene Estate & Distillery, Tasmania

Spring Bay Gin ~ Spring Bay Distillery, Tasmania

Sin Gin No 1 Pride  ~ The Murray Hotel, WA

Sin Gin No 3 Sloth  ~ The Murray Hotel, WA

36 Short Original Gin  ~ Virginia Spirits Pty Ltd, SA

CONTEMPORARY GIN

GOLD

Animus Arboretum Gin Animus Distillery, Kyneton, Victoria

Lawrenny Van Diemen’s Gin,  Lawrenny Estate Distillery, Tasmania

Six Seasons Gin Old Young’s, Western Australia

Anther Gin ~ The Craft & Co, Victoria

SILVER

78° Gin  ~ Adelaide Hills Distillery, South Australia

Small Acre Gin  ~ Ambleside Distillers Pty Ltd, South Australia

Brookie’s Byron Dry Gin  ~ Cape Byron Distillery, NSW

Fossey’s Gin Fossey’s Gin, Victoria

Four Pillars Spiced Negroni Gin ~ Healesville Distilling Co., Victoria

Hellfire Bluff Distillery Piquant  ~ Hellfire Bluff Distillery, Tasmania

Hellfire Bluff Distillery Summer Gin  ~ Hellfire Bluff Distillery, Tasmania

Kis Wild Gin ~ Kangaroo Island Spirits, South Australia

Lawrenny 1818 Settlers Gin ~ Lawrenny Estate Distillery, Tasmania

Cooper’s Best Gin ~  Mark Moran Group, New South Wales

Settlers Zuzu Gin ~ Settlers Spirits, South Australia

Red Hen Gin  ~ Small Batch Distilling T/A Red Hen Gin, South Australia

Dasher + Fisher Ocean Gin ~ Southern Wild Distillery Pty Ltd Tasmania

Suter&Sons G&Tea  ~ Suter & Sons, Victoria

Balcombe Dry Gin ~ The Craft & Co, Victoria

Twenty Third Street Distillery Signature Gin ~ Twenty Third Street Distillery, SA

BRONZE

Aqua Vitae Modern Gin ~ 7K Distillery, Tasmania

The Abel GIN co-Essence Gin  ~ Abel Distillers, Tasmania

Adams’ Turbo Gin  ~ Adams Distillery, Tasmania

Something Wild Beverage Company Green Ant Gin ~ Adelaide Hills Distillery, South Australia

Chamomile Dry Gin ~ Alchemy Distillers, Victoria

No. 8 Botanical Gin ~ Ambleside Distillers Pty Ltd, South Australia

Big Dry Gin ~ Ambleside Distillers Pty Ltd, South Australia

Animus Ambrosian Gin~  Animus Distillery, Victoria

Applewood Gin ~ Applewood Distillery, South Australia

Archie Rose Signature Dry Gin ~ Archie Rose Distilling Co., New South Wales

Archie Rose Distillers Strength Gin ~ Archie Rose Distilling Co New South Wales

Gin 10 – Wild & Spicy ~ Bass and Flinders Distillery Pty Ltd, Victoria

Gin – Soft & Smooth ~ Bass and Flinders Distillery Pty Ltd, Victoria

Angry Ant Gin ~ Bass and Flinders Distillery Pty Ltd, Victoria

Hippocampus Bangkok Gin ~ Boatrocker Brewers & Distillers, Victoria

Cedar Fox Distilling Co. Gin ~ Cedar Fox Distilling Co. Pty Ltd, Victoria

OLD TOM GIN

Silver

Bronze

Kis Old Tom ~ Kangaroo Island Spirits, South Australia

NAVY STRENGTH GIN

Gold

Silver

Bronze

BARREL-AGED GIN

Silver

Bronze

SLOE GIN

Silver

Bronze

OTHER (UNLISTED GIN) – does not fit into any other category

Silver

Bronze

On the final day of judging, all the gold medal winning gins are evaluated alongside each other and an overall winner selected by the judges.

This CHAMPION GIN trophy was won by Anther gin!

Gin distillers also did well in the Smaller Scale Production Trophies, with Suter & Sons winning Champion Australian Micro Batch Spirit:

While Animus Distillery was awarded Champion Australian Small Batch Spirit for their Arboretum Gin.

Gin and vodka distiller, James Young from Old Young’s Distillery in WA picked up the Champion Distiller award for the second year running for achieving the highest total score across his entries.

It was wonderful to watch the response of the winners, it obviously means so much. All the entrants receive a score as well as constructive feedback. Everyone I spoke to saw the awards as a way of benchmarking themselves within our fledgling spirits industry.

For full results across all the categories head here.

2017 was another massive year for Australian gin and the passion evident from our eager guests at Junipalooza Melbourne shows that there is a great appetite for local gins. Which is fantastic as 2018 will see even more gin distilleries opening!

For now, though, I’ve put together my Top 10 Australian gins for 2017. It was a tough job to limit my list to just ten. Obviously, making a list like this is very subjective and I know many of you will have your own favorites. Note, I’ve only included gins that are readily available to the exclusion of some limited editions.

Why did these gins make the list? Excellent quality base spirit is a must. The more neutral the better as it allows the botanicals to shine. All of these gins have great balance. During my event in September with Leslie Gracie, master distiller of Hendrick’s gin, she spoke passionately about balance in gin making, creating a ’roundness’ of flavours without ‘spikes’ of dominant botanicals.

Interestingly, and not deliberately, three out of the ten are all from Adelaide, showing the dominance South Australia is showing within the industry.

Loch Brewery & Distillery G&T gin

Craig and Mel from Loch Brewery and Distillery have already created two great gins; with their original and ‘The Weaver‘, which is one of my favourite gins using native botanicals. Craig has been tinkering with a recipe for a gin and tonic gin for some time before releasing it this year. Featuring juniper, bergamot, pepper berry, aniseed myrtle, roasted wattleseed and coriander, this is a wonderfully balanced addition to the Loch range.

Wild Brumby The Stallion Navy Strength gin

Wild Brumby’s origins lie in making schnapps, but their foray into gin making this year has yielded impressive results. Out of the three gins, Stallion got my vote. At 57% it’s a bold gin but easily sipped over ice. Citrus forward with a mouth-watering pepper berry finish, it’s perfect as a G&T but fabulous as a gimlet.

Distillery Botanica Rather Royal Gin

Philip Moore, one of Australia’s most distinguished distillers, collaborated with the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney to produce the Rather Royal Gin, a fancier version of his Garden Grown Gin. As you’d expect from Philip, it’s a beautiful, floral gin, bursting with delicate flavours, so be careful not to drown it with an overpowering tonic.

Anther (formerly Artemis) Cherry gin

Anther’s original gin is a delicious juniper forward spirit and they use this as a base for their Cherry gin. Tasmanian cherries are macerated in the gin for three weeks before being removed and soaked in water to get the last of their juice. This cherry water is then used to cut the gin (dilute) to bottling strength. Surprisingly complex, fruity but with an expectedly dry finish. I like it with soda water.

Dasher & Fisher Ocean gin

Distiller, George Burgess at Southern Wild Distillery in Devonport has a background in food science and set out to create gins that can be enjoyed alongside food. All three gins contain a base of Tasmanian pepper berry, locally sourced lavender and wakame seaweed that are dialed up or down in each variety. My favourite is the Ocean gin which is driven by the wakame seaweed which fills your mouth with umami before moving onto a delicate somewhat floral finish. George has succeeded in creating a gin that captures the Tasmanian seascape.

McHenry Federation gin

William McHenry selected botanicals from each State in Australia; Kakadu plum from the Northern Territory, lemon myrtle from Queensland, strawberry gum from New South Wales, mountain pepperleaf from the ACT, cinnamom myrtle from Victoria, celery top pine from Tasmania, wattleseed from South Australia, and quandong from Western Australia and  distilled them individually before blending them together to create this tasty, vibrant and quintessentially Australian gin!

Red Hen Dry gin

A group of friends who caught the old Red Hen trains to school together decided to make a gin together in the Adelaide CBD, while continuing with their day jobs. Less than a month after launching Red Hen Gin it took out the ‘Champion Small Batch Spirit’ at the Australian Distilled Spirits Awards! This vapour infused gin contains native muntrie berries, citrus and peppercorns but is a wonderfully traditional London dry style gin.

Green Ant gin

Adelaide Hills’ collaboration with Something Wild beverages, is a bright, citrus forward gin that uses green ants as a botanical. More than just a gimmick, Green Ant gin supports Indigenous communities from where the green ants are harvested and illustrates how native botanicals can be used imaginatively and sustainably.

Manly Spirits gin

Manly Spirits gin burst on to the Australian gin scene with its beautifully designed bottle and interesting use of native botanicals that include locally foraged sea lettuce. They’ve recently added a Coastal gin to the line-up and I would also include this edition in my pick of 2017 gins.

Never Never Triple Juniper gin

I fell hard for Never Never Triple Juniper gin when it was released in August. Yes, they’ve used native botanicals but this gin shrieks juniper, juniper and more juniper and is everything a great gin should be. Without a doubt, my Australian gin of 2017. The Southern Strength and Juniper Freak versions have also proved popular at GQHQ and I can’t wait to see what the team have in store for 2018.