Gin

Hillmartin Distillery
Products:
Gin
Local outlets:
Abruzzo Lab, Epping
Bar Ciconne, Macleod
Craft & Vine, Montmorency
Diamond Creek Hotel Bottle Shop
Panton Hill Hotel
The Black Sheep Hawthorn, Bar and Bottle Shop
Township/suburb:
Plenty
Municipality:
Nillumbik
Notes (in their own words):

Hillmartin Distillery is a small family owned operation, headed up by father daughter duo Gavin and Amy Shaw. They combine art and science to produce a range of gins for those with a taste for the sweet and fruity through to those who like something that is dry. And, of course, everything in between.

Imbue Distillery
Products:
Gin
Local outlets:
Own tasting and boutique bottleshop (Wander North, 13/149 Upper Heidelberg Road, Ivanhoe), open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, each midday-8pm.
Fitzroy Cellars
Hop and Vine, Warrandyte
Liquorologist, Balwyn North
Lower Plenty Liquor
Northcote Bottleshop
Second Home, Eltham

Venues: Bowerbird Bar, Richmond; Craft Kitchen and Bar, Eltham; Fondata 1872, Kangaroo Ground; Jock & Eddie, Eltham; Little Black Pig & Sons, Heidelberg; Little Drop of Poison, Eltham; Mercer’s Restaurant, Eltham; Next Door Warrandyte Bar and Eatery; Platform 3095, Eltham; The Grace Darling Hotel, Collingwood
Township/suburb:
Research
Municipality:
Nillumbik
Notes (in their own words):

Imbue Distillery are a husband and wife team that make hand-crafted gins and gin liquers imbued with stories (and flavours) relating to where they live (Nillumbik). They are not afraid to play with flavours and, for example, their first product was gin infused with dandelion, prickly pear, blackberry and fennel, all foraged from the local area. Over time, they plan to expand to other spirits and liqueurs. Together, founders Mel and Mick Sheard share 30 years’ experience in Melbourne’s food industry.

Read an interview with Mel and Mick Sheard.

Mary Monica Gin
Products:
Gin
Local outlets:
Township/suburb:
Yarra Glen
Municipality:
Yarra Ranges
Notes (in their own words):

Mary Monica Gin only started out business in 2020 and their first product is called ‘oriental gin’, which is a south east asian inspired citrus gin. They live on a regenerative citrus farm in the Yarra Valley where they grow the botanicals used to flavour their gins. Their key botanicals are picked fresh in season and distilled within 24 hours. Timing is everything. This means that, when the season’s batch is sold, they do not produce any more gin until the next fruit is on the trees.

Finally, whence the name Mary Monica Gin? Mary Monica was the owner’s Great, Great Grandmother, who ran a pub in Chapel Street, South Yarra, during the great depression.

Puss & Mew
Category:
Local outlets:
Cellar door (Thursdays to Sundays)
Blackburn Cellars
Dan Murphy’s Marketplace
Nunawading Market
Township/suburb:
Nunawading
Municipality:
Whitehorse
Notes (in their own words):

Puss & Mew is a boutique gin distillery, making small batch craft gin. Their various gins are created using a combination of three methods: steeping (boiling botanicals in the pot), vapour infusion (placing botanicals in the vapour path during distillation) and compounding (botanicals soaked in the spirit post distillation). This allows them to extract the richest flavours from their ingredients.

They are also a bar and restaurant, open Thursdays to Sundays.

They also run gin masterclasses most Saturdays, where you are guided through the process of making your own gin.