Round of applause, Jason Chan

This just in from the San Fransisco Spirits Competition, Tradewinds Gin has had some fantastic news.

The 40% abv picked up a GOLD to complement its clear bottle and the dark green Cutlass deservedly now has a DOUBLE GOLD on the bottle.

This is a prestigious contest and to pick up a pair like this reflects the care and thought that have gone into the production of this truly great Australian product.

Keep an eye out for a bottle near you soon.

 

Hat tip also to Jamie and the crew in NZ at Stolen. Stolen white rum also grabbed a GOLD.

In Australia, hopefully around the middle of this year.

A signature cocktail for a signature gin.

A wrote a couple of weeks ago about Jason Chan’s gin project from the Margaret River, Tradewinds.

When my bottles arrived, i was lucky enough to spend ten minutes talking about the Cutlass, the 100 proof Australian gin, with a delicious savoury addition, the native bush tomato. As well as an overview of the idea, Jacky shared a signature drink to showcase the spirit.

The Cutlass Cocktail

Chan’s spec called for 60mls of the Cutlass, a large barspoon of Rose’s lime marmalade, about 15mls of freshly squeezed lime and 8 basil leaves, shaken hard and double strained up.

It’s a hot day here in Sydney today, so the photo, I upped the recipe by half and double strained it into a jar over a couple of big cubes. The colour is better when it’s up but it tastes great either way.

The marmalade sweet is delicious, the basil brings a huge freshness that accentuates the mouthfeel of the 50% abv Cutlass beautifully. It opens up the savoury bush tomato as well, the true point of difference of his product.

It’s a great drink and a great product.

Yum.

Two Finger Rickey

So, I’ve found a new fruit. Microcitrus australasica, or the Australian native finger lime. These delicious fruits are shaped liked tiny little green bananas or maybe salad fingers. They are full of tart lime caviar and are utterly delicious. Tim Philips might think all the good fruits have been used, but this one is just a little ripper.

Apparently well known in the foodie trade, finger limes are reported to pack much more vitamin punch than the average fingerless limes, but it was just a dude in a market that told me that, so probably don’t go quoting me on that.

Two Finger Rickey

45 mls Tradewinds Gin, 15 mls sugar syrup, 10mls fresh squeezed lime juice, two finger limes.

Scrape the insides out of the finger limes, combine all the other ingredients with the limey caviar goodness over ice and give a good, hard shake.

Strain, allowing the caviar to fall through into the drink. Garnish with a finger lime, if you have any left.