Raise a glass for World Gin Day

Cocktail

Melbourne deserves a drink. After what feels like countless days in lockdown over the last 12 months, the city is re-emerging today and ready to safely celebrate the easing of restrictions. With that in mind, it’s perfect timing for a drink to celebrate World Gin Day! Here’s our recommendations for all you gin lovers out there.

CocktailGin Palace
Melbourne’s beloved bar Gin Palace famously has one of the best World Gin Day celebrations out there (sometimes involving a literal bathtub of gin!). This year it will be a smaller affair with extremely limited numbers of bookings available. Instead, why not stay home and order in their world-class cocktails? We recommend trying the Slowgroni (Brookie’s Slow Gin, Campari, Maidenii Sweet Vermouth). The star of the show here is Brookie’s Slow Gin, an Australian take on the classic ‘sloe’ gin utilising native Davidson Plums for a beautifully bright and full flavour. Just be warned: you’ll want to order a few of these as they go down a little too easily!

Death Gin Takeover at Bowerbird
Made right here in Melbourne, Death Gin uses Juniper Berries from England, Egyptian Coriander Seeds, locally sourced Citrus, Peppercorn and native Australian aromatics. Besides having a fun name, their celebrating World Gin Day with a takeover at Bowerbird Bar on Saturday 12th June. There are free tastings with the distillers, as well as some cheeky discounted bottles & giveaways. It’s hard to go wrong with $14 negronis too.

Bottle of gin next to cocktail
Raise a glass & make a cocktail at home
While we’re glad to get out and about again, it’s no secret that it’s quite difficult to find a last minute booking in Melbourne this weekend. The solution: bring World Gin Day home with you. Cape Byron Distillery, home of the highly awarded Brookie’s Gin, has some wintery cocktails listed on their socials that are just asking to be drunk. Set amongst the lush rainforest of the Byron Bay hinterland, Cape Byron Distillery create spirits that capture and showcase flavours distinctive to their area with some unique Australian botanicals.

If you’re looking for a beautiful Australian interpretation of a classic London Dry Gin, their Brookie’s Byron Dry Gin is created with 25 botanicals, 17 indigenous to the Northern Rivers. Their Brookie’s Slow Gin (featured in Gin Palace’s Slowgroni) is made using their Northern Rivers indigenous Davidson Plums instead of ‘Sloe’ berries, making it a one-of-a-kind spirit. You can serve this sipper over ice with a splash of soda or ‘Take It Slow’ with 1part Slow Gin, 1 part tonic, 1 part soda and sliced strawberries & mint. For something quite different, Brookie’s Shirl the Pearl has delicious orange blossom, mandarin and marmalade flavours.

Whatever your drop of choice is this weekend, we hope you can raise a glass for all the excellent gin makers this World Gin Day.

– The Plus Ones Team

World Gin Day is on Saturday 12 June, 2021 (but isn’t every day a good day for a craft gin?)

Disclosure: The Plus Ones were invited to try Brookie’s Gin by Agent99 PR.
Photo credit: Supplied.