Making sloe gin

The kindness of friends in our local community in making sure we had food in the house during our self-isolation period after returning from Germany has been extremely humbling. While I feel a little guilty as I am not sick (touch wood), I am so very grateful. Without their support and offers of help, it would have been challenging to have a normal-ish life at home. These lovely people have dropped off milk, bread, eggs, vegetables, home made soup, Tim Tams and even great German beer, which will be perfect for washing away the disappointment of cutting short our holiday.

Among the doorstep deliveries was a bag of sloes. Sloe gin is something I hadn't tried until moving to Tasmania. My top tips for the local ones would be those from McHenry and Nonesuch Distillery, quite different but both delicious. Now I'm about to try making some myself, using this recipe from 'Gourmet Farmer' Matthew Evans. We'll get to find out what it tastes like in somewhere between three and six months time.

Mid-winter festing

My favourite Tassie festival, over again. This year, friends made the trip down from the north to stay and join us at the Huon Valley Mid-Winter Festival. Friday night's burning man ceremony was awesome. After the long and tedious preamble last year ("Let me tell you a story...", a very long one that will go for about 40 minutes), it was refreshing and positive to have a woman from the local indigenous community welcome everyone to country, encouraging us to take care of the land we depend on. Then a horde of flaming arrows flew at Big Willie and up he went, to the great delight of the crowd.

I had been looking forward to trying a rabbit pie from The Princess and the Fatman made with sustainably farmed bunnies from Geeveston, and it did not disappoint. Absolutely delicious. Then a pork bun from Fat Pig Farm and some hot mulled Willie Smiths cider. And I simply can't go past Lady Hester's sourdough donuts, oh my god! As always the event is so well organised, with all the basics sorted, like enough seating and toilets, friendly staff keeping the place clean, easy parking and plenty of fire barrels to warm up by. Add the music, costumes and generally jovial atmosphere, what's not to love. Bring on 2019.

McHenry

On my recent visit to the Tasman Peninsula to walk the Three Capes Track, I couldn't leave without making a stop at McHenry Distillery. As I pulled into the car park, a wedge tailed eagle soared above and sun filtered through the forest. It's a beautiful spot that reminded me of our own home up in the hills. Some time back, wandering through Salamanca Market with my mum, I stopped to try McHenry's Classic Dry Gin and a bottle came home in my shopping bag. It's definitely now my favourite gin. Anyway, the last bottle ran out last year and I was keen to see where it was made. In the cosy tasting room (pictured here) I tried their Federation Gin, which uses one botanical from every state of Australia, and a bottle came home with me too. I had a brief tour around the distillery and bond store. If you're visiting Port Arthur, make sure McHenry's is on your itinerary. I doubt you'll leave empty handed.

Whisky school

Sounds like a pretty good kind of school, right? And it is. The Tasmanian Whisky Academy runs courses and industry education and events. I attended their Foundations of Distilling course this week, together with aspiring distillers from as far afield as Townsville, the Sunshine Coast and the Macleay valley. It was a cracking couple of days packed with information. For whisky and gin lovers, the course is a great insight into the process of producing the beautiful crafted beverages we enjoy. For anyone thinking about starting their own distillery, it provides both loads of inspiration and a healthy reality check. Either way, you'll learn at least a few things you didn't know about the art and business of distilling.

After a morning covering the distilling process and an overview of the business with Sullivans Cove head distiller Patrick Maguire, one of the 'founding fathers' of Tasmania's whisky industry, we took a trip out to local brewery Moo Brew. There we learned from brewer Rowl about the brewing process and how the 'wash' is made, from the supply of quality malted barley, through milling, mashing and fermenting. In the past, Moo Brew has supplied several of Tasmania's best whisky makers with their wash, although at present they are concentrating on other things, such as an exciting whisky barrel aged stout that we were lucky enough to taste.

We spent the afternoon at award winning whisky maker Sullivans Cove for a walk through the distillation process from delivery of the wash to the barrel, where it stays for at least 12 years, and beyond. The sheer amount of whisky knowledge stored in production manager Heather's head really blew me away. At home that evening, David handed me an article from this week's Tasmanian Country newspaper about how a bottle of Sullivans Cove American Oak Single Cask had sold for $11,667 in an auction through Christies of London. And proceeds from the sale will go to charity. Wow. It was one of the last remaining bottles of this year's world's best single cask single malt.

The following morning we were out at Nonesuch Distillery, a boutique Tasmanian distiller of small batch spirits, primarily gin and now whisky. Owner and distiller Rex is truly passionate about his product - and you have to be - as he said, there's no point making gin you don't want to drink. It was great to see a smaller, newer distillery in operation and the solutions Rex has come up with to a wide range of challenges. Everyone I've met in the industry so far (I'm sure there are exceptions) is so supportive of others wanting to follow them. Our group asked lots of questions, and even the cheeky ones (a gin maker's recipe is always a secret) were answered with expertise, experience and good humour. The spirit of coopetition is alive and well in Tasmania's distilling industry. I took home a delicious sloe gin as well as some classic Nonesuch Dry Gin. Now I need to rearrange the 'drinks cabinet' to fit them in - not a bad problem to have.

From sheep whey to vodka

Turn water to wine? How about sheep whey to vodka? Hartshorn Distillery in Birchs Bay, Tasmania is doing exactly that. This week we attended a local business function hosted by the Kingborough & Huon Business Enterprise Centre. Owner and head distiller Ryan Hartshorn had the idea to turn a byproduct of his family's business Grandvewe Cheese, whey from sheep milk, into vodka and gin. We had a tour of the premises (I was happy to scratch the chin of one of their friendly sheep) followed by a tasting. The fermented whey is distilled in the pot still (pictured right) and to make gin, the spirit is distilled through the beautiful glass reflux still pictured below, passing through a blend of secret herbs and spices (well, botanicals) including some local Tasmanian flowers and leaves. Ryan even paints each bottle by hand, resulting in a truly ewe-nique product that would make a lovely gift from Tassie. I liked the "whisky-like" barrel aged vodka, so I bought a bottle to take home. P.S. For more sheepish humour courtesy of Grandvewe, see below.

Redlands Distillery

I chose a perfect place to stop on the way to Launceston one gloomy day last week: Redlands Distillery in Dysart House, an 1840s colonial inn in the village of Kempton. There's a warm and inviting sitting room with leather couches to enjoy a bite to eat in. In my case, that was two enormous whisky soaked fruit scones with jam and cream and a lovely coffee. I'll have to go later in the day next time, as the lunch menu looked great. Redlands does of course produce whisky, which I haven't tried yet, but it was a little early in the morning for me, so I had a taste of their apple schnapps, produced using wash from Spreyton Cider in the north of the state.

The day the ice cream ran out

The first day of this year's Taste of the Huon festival dawned damp and misty. But by mid-afternoon, we were hungry and headed to Ranelagh to sample some of the tasty things on offer. Blueberry cider from Pagan Cider. A pork empanada for me and a corn bun filled with pulled pork and ranch sauce for David. Some of the 'smallest pancakes in town' a.k.a. dutch Poffertjes with icing sugar and cream. And an ice cream sandwich: two biscuits filled with salted caramel crunch ice cream. All delish. Unfortunately for the stallholders, it wasn't terribly busy, but we had a very pleasant time indeed.

Today was a completely different story. I was on volunteer duty with the Huon Valley Dog Walking Association, checking parked cars in case there were dogs left in them. Dogs are not allowed at the event, so sometimes people unaware of this bring them and then decide to leave them in the car while they pop in for a while. And just like kids, dogs left in cars when the sun comes out can die very quickly. It was sunny and hot and the crowd was huge. The sea of cars stretched off into the overflow paddocks. The queue for the ice cream stalls was long. By 2pm one ice cream maker had sold out and the others were making a killing! There was even a queue for the free sunscreen.

An evening with a whisky legend

Bill Lark is known as the father of Tasmania's whisky industry. He tells a good yarn too. Last month the Public Relations Institute of Australia hosted an evening with Bill where he told us the stories behind the Lark Distillery and its single-malt whisky that (along with Bill) is now well known in whisky circles worldwide. He's a good storyteller, one of the keys to the success of his brand.

I am not a big whisky drinker but I do enjoy a taste. Whether you drink whisky or not, Lark's cellar door in Hobart is a great spot to enjoy a drink or simply to soak up the atmosphere. On arrival we were served a gin and tonic with Lark's Forty Spotted Gin with a strip of pink grapefruit and a few Tasmanian pepperberries. Then it was on to the serious stuff. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the Cask Strength single malt. At 58 percent ABV I expected it to blow my head off, but it was smooth and delicious. As was the slightly sweet Slainte whisky liqueur developed by Lynn Lark. Tasmania will make a whisky drinker out of me yet.

Mid-winter feasting

Work done for the week and gumboots, beanies and thick, woolly socks on, it was time to head to the Huon Valley Mid-Winter Festival at the Apple Shed in Grove.

A feast of local produce awaited. Red Brick Road scrumpy cider, a pork bun from Fat Pig Farm, a hot cider from Willie Smiths, some goat chilli with corn chips and sour cream, a Lady Hester sourdough doughnut with rhubarb and whisky jam and a McHenry sloe-gin chocolate from Cygneture... oh my god. All superb. The burning man ceremony was a hit with the crowd again, and with glowing fragments of straw streaming into the crowd I was reminded of a recent article by Sydney broadcaster James Valentine on why a festival like Dark Mofo could never happen in Sydney. Put simply, too much OH&S getting in the way of common sense and good fun. We managed to miss much of the musical entertainment this year, but we did take a walk through Woolfzinger's Cider Show Alley, where I heard a young fellow say, "Mummy, does that man have eyeliner on? Are those real eyeballs on the back of his head?"

This is one seriously well-organised event, as we've come to expect from the teams at MONA and at Willie Smiths. We've had a lot of rain and that morning nearby Huonville saw some of the worst local flooding in 20 years, but the not-quite-Glastonbury level mud was tempered with truckloads of mulch and sand. We didn't have to queue long for anything despite the big crowd, there was plenty of seating, all undercover, well-organised parking a short walk away, good-humoured staff keeping the place clean and loads of fire barrels to stand around to keep warm... just amazing. It was brilliant fun - again - we'll be back next year for sure.

Drink Tasmania(n)

For a girlfriend's birthday, a small group of us 'locals' from Hobart and surrounds joined the Drink Tasmania 'signature tour' last Saturday, together with visitors from Melbourne, USA-via-Sydney and Canada-via-Brisbane. Starting with a 9am coffee and a taste of Lost Pippin wild ferment cider at Brooke Street Pier, our super-friendly and relaxed guide Dolly drove south to Home Hill Winery in Ranelagh where we sampled some of their lovely wines, then Pagan Cider where we tried several delicious ciders including a strawberry and a quince.

We had lunch and a Willie Smiths cider tasting at The Apple Shed in Grove, before heading back into Hobart for a whisky tasting and history lesson at Lark Distillery. From there we headed out to Cambridge to see how Lark's whisky is made. I have been on other distillery tours, and none explained the process as well as our host did at Lark. Finally, I really understand how it it made... and the difference between 'whisky' and 'whiskey'! On the way back into Hobart we popped into a shed in an industrial estate, a.k.a. one of Tasmania's newest breweries, Last Rites, to sample some of their wares.

We had such a lovely day. It reminded me that tourism experiences are not just for tourists. Get out there and see what our beautiful island has to offer.

In heaven there is no beer

In heaven there is no beer
That's why we drink it here
And when we're gone from here
Our friends will be drinking all the beer*

Our annual Oktoberfest is over. It's become something of a tradition for us, first in Sydney and now here in our "beer hall" (shed) in Tasmania. The real deal in Munich actually happens in September, but weekends in late September in Tasmania are reserved for football apparently. It's Grand Final season you see. So we hold ours in October.

This year we were excited to procure pretzels baked by a local Franklin woman, Sip Visser of Grey Hen Bakery. They were absolutely delicious. We had pork and beef bratwurst (proper German sausages, not what is passed off as bratwurst in most butchers) from Silverhill in Cygnet. Sauerkraut using a recipe told to me by a Bavarian butcher in Sydney. Cucumber salad, fried potatoes, mustards, Glühwein, my favourite apricot streusel cake that uses quark in the pastry (can't wait to be sourcing that from Elgaar Farm in Tasmania again once they re-open) and of course plenty of (imported) German beer. Oktoberfest music, dress ups and decorations. Our fellow Teutophile friends came down from Sydney for the weekend and kindly stayed to help clear up afterwards. The weather was beautiful, sunny and mild - unlike last time we held it, when snow flakes drifted onto the barbecue as the sausages cooked and we spent the afternoon huddled around the fire barrel. I'm sure our Tassie Oktoberfest would horrify many Germans, but we love it. It's a wonderful way to catch up with friends while enjoying many of my favourite foods.

*For a lovely old German version of this song, see here. Prost!