
Diviners Distillery aren’t your average craft gin producers. Not only do they make their spirits in Queenslandâs premier wine region â the Granite Belt, but they do so using a cold distillation process rather than the traditional high heat distilling method â more on that later.
Launching only 6 months ago, Diviners might be new kids on the block but theyâve grabbed our attention with their outstanding introductory gins, Apparition and Outlier.
We chatted to founder and co-owner, Frank Tomlinson, who told us that he drew inspiration from a chance meeting with renowned mixologist Matt Whiley, owner of Scout Sydney and one of the worldâs best bars, Scout London.
âA few years ago my wife and I were visiting our son in London and we went to a bar called Peg and Patriot which was owned by Matt,â says Frank. âMatt was making gin in his bar and when I tasted it I thought it was just so beautifully clean.â
Striking up a conversation, Frank discovered the clean-tasting, small batch gins were produced using a Rotavap â a rotary vacuum evaporator. As a retired neurosurgeon with a PhD in biochemistry, the science of distilling proved appealing. As and already âenthusiastic consumerâ (as Frank puts it), Frank decided to give gin production a whirl himself.
Returning to Australia Frank purchased a Rotavap and sought the expertise of some friends at Bent Road Winery â which would later become home to Divinersâ distillery.
Including Frank, the team at Diviners consists of winery owners, Robert Richter and Glen Robert, along with Bent Road Wineryâs assistant winemaker, Andrew Scott. After a period testing out small batches â which included some hands-on assistance and guidance by Matt Whylie himself, the wheels of the operation started turning.
âAfter Frank invited Matt out to Australia, he spent about 6 days giving us a crash course in mixing gin and operating the Rotavap,â says Divinersâ distiller, Andrew Scott. âWe all sat down brainstorming about the type gin we wanted to create. There were a lot of differing ideas but we reached a starting point when I thought back to an essay Iâd written about the gin renaissance â at the history of the gin explosion. Thatâs when I had the idea to create two different flavour profiles â an old school and a new school gin.â
The old and new-school gins â Apparition and Outlier â are our November and December gins of the month respectively. Apparition features the traditional juniper forward woody flavour, and Outlier bright, bold citruses required for a modern palate.
As for whatâs involved with the Rotavapâs cold distilling process â Andrew told us more. âThe rotary vacuum evaporator allows us to boil botanicals at a lower temperature than the traditional high temperature method,â says Andrew. âHeat causes faster and greater chemical reactions so the great thing about distilling cold is the high-fidelity representation of flavours that you get, because theyâre not altered as much as they are at high heat, so itâs like the opposite of a pressure cooker.â
Divinersâ also say the subtle process of cold distilling helps ensure flavours arenât compromised when increasing the spiritsâ strength. With its 46% ABV, Outlierâs citrus driven flavours retain presence without being overpowered by its increased ethanol.
What we love about Diviners is the amount of thought thatâs gone into the creation of their product â and by saying this weâre not just talking about whatâs inside the bottle.
Faceted so that light can shine through when placed on a bar, the bottle is also shaped so that itâs easy for a bartender to hold when pouring its contents into a glass.
Going further still, Diviners enlisted the talents of Seattle based artist, Olivia Knapp, whose intricate illustrative artwork â influenced by scientific specimens from the 16th to 18th centuries (including Knappâs trademark eyeballs) â have been printed onto the bottleâs glass and labels to reveal different layers. Frank tells us itâs a nod to the idea that Surrealism can be found within gin.
âDuchamp said that the Surrealist experience of art is not over until you view the art and in the same way we believe that the journey of gin is not over until you take a sip of that gin,â says Frank.
Weâll tell you exactly how you can take a sip of Apparition and Outlier in our How to Drink articles. Hereâs to continuing Divinersâ gin journey – weâd agree itâs a work of art!