Exceptional small batch spirits producer Adelaide Hills Distillery has recently joined forces with Nimbility to begin its Asia expansion.

Founded in 2014 by Sacha La Forgia, a local winemaker who travelled the world for over 6 years working vintages and exploring the world of distilling. Handcrafting a copper pot still from the ground up, Sacha is passionate about crafting spirits from Australian produce and values quality above all else. Launched in 2015, 78˚ Gin, a London Dry style gin sourced using many native Australian ingredients, quickly earned Sacha a reputation for producing exceptional small batch spirits.

After a successful first year, in 2016 Adelaide Hills Distillery (AHD) teamed up with Steve Dorman and Toby Kline of The Hills Cider Company. Backed by an independent, like-minded local company, the range continues to grow, driven by quality, Australian ingredients, and always with an Australian twist.

The current portfolio comprises four gins, three vermouths, a Bitter Orange aperitif reminiscent of the orange bitters of Italy, a sell-out native grain whiskey and an Australian spiced white spirit distilled from both sugar cane and molasses.

78° Gin

Using pure Adelaide Hills water, 12 unique botanicals and never heated above 78.1°, the 78° gin is produced in small batches using grape spirit and vapour distilled using a column and basket still designed by Sacha for specifically for gin. This enables the retention of the most delicate flavours and aromas resulting in a pungently aromatic gin displaying resinous, citrus and floral notes with underlying spice.

Perfect served as a G&T garnished with a lemon twist and peppercorns.

78° Sunset Gin

This gin takes its inspiration from those closing moments in the day that throw panoramic views across the sky. This vision slowly morphs and changes continually captivating the viewer. Like the 78° Gin, the Sunset edition is produced in small batches using grape spirit and vapour distilled using the same specially designed column and basket still.

This gin exhibits notes of fresh red berries, with subtle hints of pine and eucalyptus. Further botanical integration adds depth and complexity, to give the finish great balance and intensity, just like a sunset in some of the remote locations where they are harvested.

Best served with Mediterranean Tonic garnished with the Davidson Plums or Strawberries & Thyme, or in a Sunset Gin Sour with AHD Rosé Vermouth, sugar syrup, lemon juice and egg white, served chilled on the rocks with a lemon twist.

78° WOMADgin

This gin is a celebration of globally renowned music festival WOMAD which has its roots in the U.K., the spiritual home of Gin. WOMAD celebrates everything great in the world of music, sustainability, responsibility and most of all, fun, values that are shared by AHD and feature strongly at the heart of their endeavor to ‘craft for better’. To recognise the UK festival’s growth and success in its Australian home in Botanic Park, South Australia, AHD have crafted a gin that presents a hybrid of ‘traditional’ London dry botanicals with some exciting produce that is endemic to Australia and has been celebrated by the country’s first people for centuries.

The botanical mix is driven by juniper, adding fresh pine and resinous notes, coriander lending spice and citrus hints, blood lime giving acidity and freshness, lemon myrtle for bright sherbet hints, pepper berry adding organic herbal and delicate spice tones.

The Bitter Orange

Inspired by the classic aperitifs of Italy this orange aperitif is an Australian expression marrying traditional European bittering herbs with predominantly Australian ingredients at its core. The nose is herbal, floral and bursting with bright Riverland orange. The palate is deliciously bitter, fresh and citrus driven.

Perfect in a spritzer with a good Blanc de Blancs or in an Estate Negroni with 78° Gin and AHD Rosso Vermouth.

Rosso Vermouth

The Adelaide Hills in South Australia is home to some of Australia’s most revered farms, orchards and gourmet producers, with its celebrated cool climate providing perfect conditions for growers and farmers alike. From this enviable landscape, AHD takes their inspiration using only the highest quality produce, sourced both locally and from other premium regions both interstate and around the world.

South Australia is particularly well known for red wine. For their Rosso Vermouth, AHD’s preference is for old vine Grenache that emanates from the depths of McLaren Vale. Casting characteristics of raspberry and blueberry with nuances of spice, chocolate and tobacco, this is the perfect foundation for crafting this product.

A generous handful of their imported traditional blend of 36 Torino roots, herbs and spices, that have been stored since the 1960s, add vanilla, spice and a rounded herbal tone. Then they add their signature Australian touch with a late addition of Anise Myrtle and Quandong, then utilise the citrus characteristics of Sunrise Lime and Finger Lime to cut through the unctuous nature of the Grenache.

This Vermouth comes into its own in an Estate Negroni, mixed with AHD 78° Gin and The Bitter Orange.

Dry Vermouth

Created with McLaren Vale Chenin Blanc at its base, this variety showcases ripe stonefruit, citrus and herbaceousness, while adding great mid palate fruit characteristics to the Vermouth on which to carry the botanicals.

The Chenin Blanc is then aged in old oak and stainless steel with our modern blend of Torino inspired roots, herbs and spices. From here this Dry Vermouth gets its distinct Australian air by utilising the French method of adding salinity in the form of Karkalla, resinous herbal notes of Native Thyme and a rounding off of undertones of honey and nuts imparted from roasted Wattleseed, tying all of the botanicals together with the varietal characteristics of the Chenin Blanc.

Best served in a Dry Gin Martini with 78° Gin stirred over ice, double strained into a chilled martini glass and garnished with lemon rind.

Rosé Vermouth

Created upon a McLaren Vale Chenin Blanc foundation with the deep red fruit and spicy pepper characteristics of McLaren Vale Grenache and Shiraz, the Rosé Vermouth is aged in a mixture of old oak and stainless steel with our distinctive 40/60 traditional/modern Torino blend that complements the fruit driven palate.

A unique flavour profile of Karkalla, adding sea spray, herbal, salty notes; Wattleseed lending toasty nuts, coffee and chocolate; Native Thyme adding herbal, green and savoury nuances; Sunrise Lime/ Lemon Myrtle and Finger Lime giving perfumed citrus notes and Anise Myrtle for a leafy complexity.

Best served in a Rosé G&T with 78° Gin and Mediterranean tonic.

The Gunnery Australian Spiced

The team at AHD wanted to produce a spiced white spirit that wasn’t driven by vanilla and sweetness, eschewing artificial flavours and aromatics in favour of natural ingredients with a mature approach. An expression of Australia, the Gunnery Australian Spiced uses pot distilled distillates from both sugar cane and molasses, and blends Australian native ingredients with traditional spices.

A superb combination of Australian native and traditional botanicals. Cinnamon myrtle shines through on the nose with hints of chocolate, vanilla and citrus. The palate is savoury and refined with a lingering hazelnut finish. Slightly sweetened with bush honey and Australian demerara sugar.

Perfect served as a Dark & Stormy, garnished with lime and topped with ginger beer. Also can be used as a perfect Winter addition to Mulled Cider.

Native Grain Whiskey

A bold project to make a Whiskey of truly Australian heritage and character was started many years ago by Sacha - “early on I was driven not to replicate a whiskey perfected by another country, but to research and develop a whiskey that was totally reflective of Australia both in its modern form and tens of thousands of years of history,” he comments. This project kicked off challenging the normal with vast amounts of research and experimentation.

Wattleseed has been known as an Indigenous staple, grown across the grain belt through the middle of the country before colonial settlement. Over 100 different species of wattleseed exist, all which have slightly different flavours. Sacha has spent years sampling, selecting the right species and then investigated how to appropriately roast the grain to achieve ideal flavour characteristics.

Now AHD have a Whiskey that truly reflects Australia’s present and past. The first release in 2019 of the Native Grain Whiskey represents years of experimenting with introducing Australian Native Produce into the mash. To date Sacha has experimented with wattleseed, kangaroo grass, spinifex and salt bush seed to name a few. The results are astounding and you can really taste the land from where it comes.

Australian Whiskey is a divergent path from Adelaide Hills Distillery’s production of the stabled and highly awarded 78 Degrees Gin range. However, Tobias Kline of the company comments, “we are driven to have a true Australian signature throughout our portfolio. Not only do we integrate this but our commitment to continual crafting better can be seen by our products winning their category across all beverages we make.”

This drive for consistently market leading quality has been captured in “Native Grain Whiskey” project. The first release in 2019 took a World Whiskey Award for Australia’s Best Grain Whiskey and is already sold out.

With each batch the distillery is committed to continually improving the quality of what they make. Through sourcing and integrating native Australian produce, Adelaide Hills Distillery work to create products that have a strong sense of place and minimal impact on the environment. This true Australian Whisky, recognised internationally for its superb quality, champions the uniqueness of Australia, not just for the present but also for the past.

“We couldn’t be more excited to be working with such a forward-thinking, environmentally conscious, wholly Australian brand. I’m particularly excited to have access to a Negroni gift pack to make at home!” says Nimbility Founding Partner Polly Aylwin-Foster.

For more information on Adelaide Hills Distillery across the rest of Asia please contact info@nimbilityasia.com

Adelaide Hills Distillery Sets Its Sights On Asia