Page 14 - Food&Drink Business magazine June 2022

BLUE SKY
LEFT: Award winning gins created with a philosophy of flavour, curiosity, and passion.
BELOW LEFT: Juniper Juice is Craft & Co’s first foray into the NoLo market.
BELOW: Creating NoLo gin relies heavily on herbs and botanicals.
TO THE STILL
The creation of Juniper Juice began with deconstructing the flavour profiles of two gins, Old Tom and the distiller team’s favourite variety London Dry. It was a whole-of-business collaboration, with members of the kitchen crew at Craft & Co also involved.
A serendipitous trip to the north of Spain didn’t hurt the process. Baggio says they observed the use of ocean salt water and savoury notes all being “thrown into the pot that stirred the juniper juices”.
Baggio explains that the balance of the savoury notes is what makes the London Gin special. A fusion of earthy tones, the hint of rosemary and a freshness from bergamot ensuring length on the palate, he says.
While the gins provided the inspiration, the fact remained that a LoNo gin relied heavily on creating a herbal mixture.
“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.
“In traditional gin production, juniper, lemon and orange peels are combined in a boil, but that’s limited when creating non-alcoholic spirits because they release such significant quantities of unstable matter.
He says distillers need a strong understanding of phenols and how they polymerise as well as working with blends of flavours that derive similar esters to ensure a suitable weight is delivered on the palate while ensuring the extracted mix remains stable.
“Just as creating a quality
Navy Gin is all about the skill in distilling the highest quality pure base spirit, LoNo production requires a strong understanding of water alchemy. Effectively we are stabilising as much soluble floral and herbal compounds distilled water can hold in suspension,” Baggio says.
Baggio says that Craft & Co entered the LoNo alcohol market when there was a suitably sized market to focus on.
“For our artisan distillers embracing the challenge to drive the production of a flavoursome gin that does not have alcohol was fantastic,” he says.
With a stable of spirits, beer, and wine, it certainly won’t be the last LoNo offering from Craft&Co. ✷
14 | Food&Drink business | June 2022 | www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au