In 2008, someone wise beyond their years and undoubtedly attractive proclaimed June 11 a sacred day to reminded us of the true joy in our lives. No, we’re not talking about children, family, food or even an international day to savor the largest online gallery ever compiled in the honor of George Clooney’s smile.
We’re talking about booze. More specifically, the juniper spirit that was brought by the Dutch to London during the reign of William III, and has been served everywhere, in palaces and from bathtubs since. We’re talking about World Gin Day.
You’ve no doubt enjoyed it with fresh fruit, with tonic, with garden plucked herbs and cracked peppers. But in a first for World Gin Day 2016, the artisans at the McLaren Vale Distilling Company have asked the internationally renown producers at Woodside Cheese Wrights to create the perfect pairing menu for their range. Perish the thought of a pitcher of Beefeater and a block of store bought cheddar. This is going to be something incredible.
The McLaren Vale Distilling Company are still relatively new hands of the Adelaide Gin scene, started just over 12 months ago by Rowland and Shelley Short. But the couple also happen to own and operate Maximus Wines, which was the catalyst for the most unique element of their Settlers Gin range – the gin is actually made from grapes.
“We make our Gin differently to 99% of other distillers,” explains owner Rowland. “We distill each botanical itself and then blend it afterwards. The analogy I use is when you cook a stew at home over many hours and you’re left with this wonderful flavour afterwards, but you can’t easily discern each flavour from the original ingredients anymore. We avoid that issue with our technique so while it’s a lot more work, our flavours are clean and bright and crisp. It’s a precession of our ingredients over your palate.”
A precession that Kris Lloyd of Woodside Cheese Wright diligently spent time matching her range alongside. “The first step, was to try to understand the Gin across the Setllers range, it’s complexity, body and the forcefulness of the alcohol,” she explains. “I then wanted to relate it back to our range, so we did a preliminary selection of which 3 proved a perfect match, but had to play with the final couple.”
“One thing which I found really interesting is that the alcohol of the Gin was a vehicle for cleansing the palate, especially with the creamier richer cheeses. The Gin would refresh you after a mouthful and give a long, lingering length of flavour that was utterly delicious!”
The art of Gin and Cheese pairing will see 5 cheeses matched across the range. Saving the final reveal, Kris shared that a hard, blue and creamy soft would all be involved but couldn’t hide her excitement for the Grace, a delicate french styled goats cheese with a delicate rind developed by the geotrichun mould used in the production as being a perfect match for Settlers classic Rare Dry. But while the Gin may add to the cheese, what does the cheese ad to the Gin? As Rowland explains, “overall, whenever we are looking to garnish a gin. You can have a complimentary garnish or a conflicting garnish. We like things that will pick out and enhance the botanical profiles of our range an in this instance we’ve discovered a synergy where 1 and 1 makes 3. It’s something altogether new and unlike beyond what we might have expected.”
So much so that despite this weekend’s launch for World Gin Day, the Maximus Wines Cellar Door intends to keep the Gin and Cheese pairing as a permanent fixture. With the attention lavished by Rowland upon each bottle of Gin matched by Kris’s exceptional palate, quite simply this promises to be one of the finest moments of the World Gin Day calendar this year.
And if you happen to be visiting McLaren Vale for Sea & Vines this weekend it will certainly make for a break from the endless list of red and white tastings! Be sure to drop into the Maximus Wines Cellar Door at 197 Foggo Rd, McLaren Flat. For more information, please visit the McLaren Vale Distilling Company website, or alternatively cheese fiends should visit the Woodside Cheese Wrights website.
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