International prize for Southern Ocean gin another notch in the belt for Great Southern Distilling Company

A gin dreamt up and distilled in the Great Southern to help celebrate last year’s Albany Maritime Festival took out the prize of best in category at last week’s American Distilling Institute awards. The Giniversity Southern Ocean Navy Strength Gin claimed top honour in the international gin category, along with being awarded a double gold medal. Great Southern Distilling Company director Cameron Symes said the gin was launched as part of the Maritime Festival last year as a nod to the history of Albany. He said he was proud of the gin’s win because it was a member of his team, Garry Zacher, who he had known since he was 12 that developed it. “I’m 20 years in the business now so I’m trying to have other people develop and create to the same standard of what I’ve been doing,” he said. “(Garry) distilled and blended this gin then brought it to me asking ‘what changes do you want to make?’ and I told him it was beautiful and should go straight to market. “I think to see those people coming through working with us is what makes me most proud of this achievement.” The award-winning gin is described by the company as being influenced by the Southern Ocean and uses “botanicals and infusions to reflect the saltiness of the water, gunpowder from the decks of old battle worn ships, medicinal cures for sea bearer’s afflictions and the colour of this deepest dark ocean.” Awards success is familiar territory for the Great Southern Distilling Company having previously claimed international trophies twice for its whiskies and once for a different gin. “Navy strengths is the pinnacle of gins so this is awesome,” Mr Symes said. “Across the board, we’re being recognised as world-class, my goal 38 years ago, when I started researching, was wanting to make spirits that can compete with the best of them at international levels. “The whole reason we are here in this region is the quality of its produce — we put quality in, so we get quality out.” He said winning international awards for a product developed in the region continued to help attract curious tourists from all over the world. “Stuff like this assists in getting people to go ‘hey, that’s the destination we want to go to’,” he said. “We’ve had people from Japan, Sweden, Germany and Scotland come here just to visit the distillery who otherwise wouldn’t have been in the region. “We know that food and beverage tourism is definitely a drawcard for people who want quality, and they’re the consumers who usually have the resources to leave some behind in the local community by staying in nice places and going out each night. “This is the best place in the world and we all know that.”