By Jessica Micallef
Mountain Distilling’s gin is pure liquid gold.
The Macedon Ranges distillery has won a gold medal for its Mountain Gin at the International Wine and Spirit Competition in London.
The gin scored 95 points during the judging process by a panel of international industry experts.
Distillery co-founder Michael Harris said it was a humbling experience to be recognised at such a lofty international level.
“Even if we took a bronze from the competition, we would have been absolutely stoked,” he said.
“To get a gold medal, it just means our gin is in that calibre, which is pretty unreal.”
Mr Harris said the secret to the success of their winning gin was the use of local ingredients.
“I think the thing that gave us a point of difference was the fact that we used locally foraged pine needles and the pepperberry botanicals,” he said.
“It gives us a fresher, cleaner aroma. The mountain pepperberry is one of the native ingredients to Australia, along with lemon myrtle, which is also in our gin. The combination of all those with orange peel just gives it a really bright profile.
“We’re always tinkering around with new recipes. Mountain [Distilling] will definitely be a distillery that will focus on doing things very innovatively.”
