FIRST JOURNEYS - 80 GINS AROUND THE WORLD - PIN 36 OF 80
IRONBARK GIN, North Richmond, NSW, Australia
AROUND THE WORLD, ONE BOTTLE AT A TIME,
PHILEAS FOGG WOULD SURELY APPROVE
Distiller Reg Papps spent more than 20 years working in industrial distillation, including a long stint with Shell, running industrial distillation units. In 2013/14 he decided to take all that experience and follow his dream of owning a boutique distillery, and together with his wife Greta he established Ironbark Distillery in North Richmond, NSW.
This was a proper change of scale — from industrial distillation to a small craft distillery — but Reg clearly knew what he was doing. They launched their first spirits in 2014 and just a year later won Australian Gin Distillery of the Year at the Melbourne International Spirits Competition.
Ironbark was located on the outskirts of Sydney, in the Hawkesbury region and on the edge of the Blue Mountains, and the range grew to include gin, vodka, moonshine, rum and whisky. It was a small operation, but one with big ambitions, and Reg was very much the face of the distillery and the man behind the spirits.
And then there was the Wattleseed Gin.
Wattleseed comes from native Australian Acacia trees and has been used as a traditional food for thousands of years. When roasted, the seeds develop an extraordinary flavour that sits somewhere between coffee, nuts and chocolate, which makes them a fascinating botanical for gin. Ironbark used wattleseed alongside more traditional botanicals, and the result is something quite different from the usual citrus-and-juniper Australian gin.
Sipping it neat, you can actually pick up those cocoa and roasted notes and they linger for quite a while. Chocolate craving? Just have a little neat sip!
The gin is bottled at 40% ABV and is still available in Australia, although the current availability seems patchy. It has also been listed in the UK, although again, stock is now much harder to find than when I originally bought mine.
If you've come across Ironbark Wattleseed Gin, you may also have noticed that compared with some other imported Australian gins, it was cheap as chips. There was a good reason for that.
In March 2019, UK drinks company Halewood Wines & Spirits took a majority stake in Ironbark. The intention was to increase production substantially and use Halewood's international distribution network to take Ironbark into new markets, including the UK, USA and China. At the time, Halewood said the plan was to triple production of the gin, rum and whisky.
And if you don't recognise the Halewood name, I'm sure you'll recognise some of the brands that have been part of its portfolio — Whitley Neill, JJ Whitley, Aber Falls, Crabbie's, Peaky Blinder and Liverpool Gin, amongst others. It was quite a big partner for a little Australian distillery.
But the story changed again later that same year.
In November 2019, Reg and Greta made what was described at the time as an “unexpected change in direction” and sold their remaining interest, leaving Halewood with full ownership of Ironbark. Reg subsequently moved on from the distillery and spent several years at Manly Spirits, where he worked as Lead Distiller and Production Manager.
The company behind Ironbark Distillery is still registered as an active Australian company, but the original North Richmond distillery is no longer operating as the little craft distillery and cellar door that Reg and Greta established.
The brand itself, however, hasn't disappeared. Ironbark Wattleseed Gin is still listed for sale in Australia at 40% ABV, and the gin continues to turn up internationally, although UK availability is currently rather hit and miss.
I rather like wattleseed as a gin botanical because it isn't what you might expect from an Australian gin. We've become used to native ingredients such as finger lime, lemon myrtle, pepperberry and strawberry gum bringing bright citrus, spice and herbal notes, but wattleseed goes in a completely different direction.
Roasted, nutty, earthy and distinctly chocolatey, it gives the gin a richness that makes it really interesting to drink neat.
Which, of course, made me think of one cocktail.
An Espresso Martini.
"A wattleseed gin, a former Shell distiller, a Halewood takeover and a rather unusual Australian twist on a London Dry."
"Show me a bottle
and I'll tell you a story."