Tiny Tasmanian distillery makes its mark

I like to think I am pretty up to date with what is happening with food and booze in Tasmania but Taylor & Smith slipped right under my radar.

Taylor and Smith's Dry Gin was just named the winner of 2020’s Best Small Batch Spirit Award at the Tasting Australia Spirit Awards.

Sponsored by Mastercask, the South Australian awards recognise ingenuity and energy in Australia’s distilling industry.

The Taylor & Smith Dry Gin ($85) also won gold in the London Dry Gin category, and the Taylor & Smith Gin ($85) won bronze in the Best Contemporary Spirit section.

Taylor & Smith’s Dry Gin is billed as "a beautifully aromatic gin with a unique character as an array of striking botanicals and other ingredients, including abalone shell, are paired with a quintessentially Tasmanian ingredient: the needles of the native Huon Pine tree".

“We love experimenting,” says Natalie Smith, one half of team Taylor & Smith. “Huon Pine always makes me think of being in the Tasmanian landscape - of rivers and crisp clean air. It’s an icon of Tasmanian flora and Tasmanian timber, too - so it just made sense to try it in the Dry Gin.”

The water that feeds directly to the distillery comes from a lake of snow melt at Mount Field National Park.

Taylor & Smith Distilling Co. is an artisan distillery based in the Hobart suburb of Moonah that is owned and run by Smith and Ben Taylor.

All ingredients are as local as possible, even the abalone shells are sourced from family dives on the East Coast of Tasmania. “Abalone shell is used in Chinese medicine and the calcium carbonate neutralises acids while adding a slight salinity,” says Taylor.

Visit www.taylorandsmith.com.au for more information.