Page 13 - Food&Drink Business magazine June 2022

FROM a base in Collingwood, Melbourne, The Craft & Co distils spirits and brews beers, while Bangholme on the outskirts of the city is home to its 40-acre vineyard and winery.
Despite such a comprehensive stake in the alcohol industry, founder and chief distiller Paul Baggio sees developing its first no alcohol gin, Juniper Juice, as a fantastic opportunity.
“The beverage sector has certainly super charged in the last few years and what was a niche, or fringe product has swiftly found itself front and centre. Many would argue Covid left a somewhat foggy state of inebriation with a growing health consciousness in response.
“Combined with technology advancements in the beverage industry like reverse osmosis and spinning cone, we saw an already dynamic industry turn its creative focus to something fresh and wonderfully bold,” Baggio said.
Spinning cone is a type of low temperature vacuum steam distillation, which gently extracts volatile chemicals while minimising the effect on the taste of the product.
The company’s existing range includes its award-winning Collingwood Dry, Old Tom, and Navy Strength gins, Gingerbread Gin Liqueur and Amaro.
A FRESH CHALLENGE
“For our artisan distillers, applying their skill and talent to create a flavoursome no alcohol gin was a welcome challenge. And it certainly came about as there was a suitably sized market to focus that energy on. The business case found its own way as often occurs,” Baggio says.
Baggio says Craft & Co was founded seven years ago on a philosophy of flavour being paramount and a mindset of curiosity and passion.
LEFT: Craft & Co’s Amaro liqueur took 250 different tastings of herbs and botanicals. The resulting flavour library helped shape Juniper Juice.
BELOW: Without juniper berries, gin isn’t gin.
“Having our village of artisans apply their craft to create the very best products was The Craft & Co’s reason for being. The process of making gin is very much about the flavour alchemy. The foraging, the range of flavours from the exotic to the spice road, are all descriptors that Gin drinkers have become accustomed to.
“It is not a simple process to produce a beverage that captures all the complexity packed into modern-day gin without the spirit alcohol to provide the stability needed by the complex oils of the botanicals,” he says.
A review of the NoLo gins on the market made the team determined to make a more flavoursome product that would offer the same robust experience of a traditional gin and tonic. Baggio says it was a case of necessity being the mother of all invention.
“ There were many iterations, and to be honest creating Juniper Juice delved more into the team’s extensive experience creating our Amaro than our gins. The Amaro took 250 different tastings of herbs and botanicals, which enabled us to establish a flavour library.”
BLUE SKY
www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au | June 2022 | Food&Drink business | 13