Down a red brick laneway, past Three Wolves bar and restaurant you’ll find Cairns first gin distillery, owned by the trio behind Three Wolves and other Cairns cocktail and drinks venues. Wolf Lane Distillery.
Conceived as a gin distillery, Wolf Lane is already knocking out gold medal winning gin. With their Tropical Gin, along with a navy strength gin, the future is already looking good for one of the latest entrants to Australian gin.
Tropical gin, our selected gin of the month, is made on the distillery’s 400 litre still column still, nicknamed ‘Column Farrell.’
The Tropical Gin isn’t rushed, with the dry botanicals steeping for 24 hours in their neutral grain spirit. Included in this mix are Juniper, coriander seed, cinnamon, angelica root, lemon myrtle, cardamom and macadamia.
The following day, with the spirit run they vapour infuse a number of ‘wet’ botanicals to lighten and brighten the tropical gin. These include locally sourced fresh ruby grapefruit, mangoes and finger limes along with lavender and mint.
The result? A really beautiful, bright and indeed tropical gin that undoubtedly has its place in the Australian gin market. When you first smell the tropical gin, we find it really pleasant to see this great mix of fresh citrus, alongside the juniper. Avoiding the use of peels and opting for fresh fruit gives it a different depth and more mellow warm citrus which we really appreciate.
On the palate, this is an eminently sippable gin. The macadamia gives nice mouthfeel, while carrying some of the other botanicals to a longer finish than they’d otherwise have. The citrus carries all the way through and the lemon myrtle has been used sparingly here, meaning the grapefruit, mango and myrtle combine in a beautifully balanced way
Drinking this one is going to be very easy! The guys at Wolf Lane have tapped into the tropics and are happy to recommend this one with soda, rather than tonic. If you like to have something a little different to the usual G&T, then we’re happy to say this works perfectly well. Garnish with some ruby grapefruit, as this will complement the botanical mix.
Continuing the grapefruit theme, if you’re after a suitable cocktail recommendation is a grapefruit spritz.
However you choose to have it, enjoy and send us your pics!
Grapefuit Gin Spritz
30ml gin
60ml ruby grapefruit juice
Top up with a mix of prosecco and soda
