Victorian gin drinkers came in their thousands to a small market in North Melbourne last month for a Junipalooza Gin Festival.
The spelling of the festival’s title is no mistake – the signature flower for gin is juniper.
The event attracted around 20 Australian gin makers for the chance to show off their best concoctions to gin drinking enthusiasts.
Organisers said about 2000 visitors attended the festival over the weekend of October 22 and 23.
Among the guests was self-styled “Gin Queen” Caroline Childerley. She was introduced to gin by the original ‘Gin Queen’, her mother-in-law, around 20 years ago and her love of the drink has only grown since then.
She is particularly taken by the use of Australian native plants in local distilleries.
“It’s that they really reflect Australia. We grow about 60,000 native species here that aren’t available anywhere else in the world,” Miss Childerley told The Newsroom.
The line-up of producers included some of Australia’s best-known distillers including Bass & Flinders, Four Pillars, and Melbourne Gin Company.
Gin producers from Spain, New Zealand, and the UK were also present at the palooza.
This is the first time a gin palooza has been held outside of the UK, where it has been run for the past three years in London. – Melissah Dierickx-Bosmans
Video filmed, presented by Andrew Brain, and post-production by Melissah Dierickx-Bosmans
About the author
Melissah Dierickx-Bosmans is a journalist at Macleay. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @mjdbworld
