A new reason to visit the Huon Valley in Tasmania

There are myriad reasons to visit the lovely Huon Valley in the deep south of Tasmania.

There are small towns like Cygnet, Franklin and Dover, with foodie magnets like Willie Smith's Apple Shed, The Old Bank, Red Velvet Lounge, Porthole Cafe, the Kiln Collective, Shio, Geeveston Old Bank, Masaaki's and Harvest and Light.

There are also cellar doors including Home Hill, Kate Hill Wines, Two Bud Spur and Elsewhere.

And now there is a local micro distillery with its own tasting room. Distiller Brian Hatfield says: "We strive to use the best Tasmanian ingredients to create the very best spirits and liqueurs."

Winsome Spirits produces absinthe, gin, vodkas and fine liqueurs and has glasshouse cellar door facility for tastings in the southernmost municipality in Australia. 

Winsome Spirits is at 8524 Channel Highway, Woodstock, Tasmania, 7109
0428 279 479. See https://winsomespirits.com/

How an old country pub is helping lift spirits

For three thirsty years you could not even get a beer at the local pub in Thorpdale, West Gippsland. Now the pub is on the cusp of opening the region's first distillery.

A devastating fire tore through the 80-year-old Traveller’s Rest Hotel in 2017 and caused such extensive internal damage that many locals feared this would be the end of their much-loved local.

Enter Jill Jepson and Sean McCarthy, who bought the grand Art Deco hotel and set about restoring it to its former 1937 glory, eventually reopening to happy locals and parched drivers in late 2020.

Fast forward a few years, and a few more hurdles, now the Traveller’s Rest Hotel is counting down the days to opening its brand-new distillery.

Initially starting with vodka, the focus will be on using local produce and working toward utilising Thorpdale’s famous potatoes.

The distillery is in the basement of the building, with the keg room converted into a tasting room and bar.

Visitors will be able to sample several vodkas sourced from different ethanol bases, with flavours including plain, apple and coffee to start.

Seasonal supplies will give the distillery the opportunity to shelf a range of flavours during the year.

The Traveller’s Rest Hotel has a bar, restaurant, function area and accommodation and opens five days a week from Wednesday to Sundays. It is a country pub and a community hub.

See https://www.travellersresthotel.com/

To plan a visit to Gippsland, see https://www.visitgippsland.com.au/

Image: Nicky Cawood

Your last-minute festive gift guide for gourmets and drinkers

Got friends who love their food and drink? Here are some last-minute festive gift ideas put together by the GOTR team.

Wine lovers will enjoy experimenting with new high-tech glasses from Melbourne-based Denver & Liely that retail for $200 each.

The hand-blown crystal glasses went through eight years of R&D before being released last month and are designed to aerate the wine in a similar fashion to decanting.

The glasses are beautiful-looking and certainly help soften out the tannins in big, young reds.

Designer Denver Cramer found inspiration for the shape in commercial jet engines, with a multi-directional turbine ‘hub’, designed to rapidly aerate the wine.

The universal design suits pinot noir and chardonnay best, but also works with red blends.

Hand-blown and hand polished, the glasses are fun and impressive. See https://denverandliely.com/

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As soon as the GoTR team saw the AdHoc PEPE Chili Cutter they wanted one.

Specially designed to cut dried chilis, the stainless steel and acrylic design makes for a beautiful addition to kitchens with its eye-catching design.

AdHoc was named as best kitchen brand of the year for 2024-2025 in the PLUS X awards and this looks the goods; combining design and functionality.

German-designed AdHoc products are well thought out with their straightforward elegance. 

This costs $39.95 and is perfect for when you want to add just the right amount of chilli to your past or pizza.  See https://sheldonandhammond.com.au

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Vodka is the perfect summer tipple. It can be enjoyed with just about any mixer and loves to get up close and personal with ice cubes.

STOLI Premium Vodka is a smooth and iconic spirit that's perfect for festive cocktails. Distilled three times from top-quality grain and filtered through birch charcoal and quartz sands, it's blended with pure artesian well water for a clean, crisp taste.

Whether it's mixed into a classic martini or enjoyed over ice, STOLI is a long-time favourite and very stylish.

STOLI Premium Vodka is available via Dan Murphy’s, alongside other flavours such as Cucumber, Vanilla and Salted Karamel. $58.99.

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Travellers and beer lovers will enjoy the new edition of the coffee table book Australia’s Historic Pubs.

It tells the stories behind 52 of the most loved heritage pubs across Australia. Illustrated with lovely colour images, it reveals their varied histories and also uncovers many colourful characters through the centuries.

Readers can discover how immigrants carved out their destinies amidst the greed and ambition of the gold rushes, while convicts carved the building blocks.

From the bustling streets of Hobart to the serene banks of the Swan and Brisbane Rivers, this book takes you on a journey to visit some of the most venerable watering holes in Australia.

Australia's Historic Pubs  costs $49.99 and is available at good book shops, or through
http://woodslanepress.com.au.

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Henschke is one of Australia’s most revered family wine producers and has released a range of special gift packs.

Check out the Plumm Glassware Gift Packs: special edition offerings that contain two Henschke-branded Plumm crystal wine glasses and a bottle of wine. 

Each glass is machine blown from 100% lead-free European crystal, using the pulled stem method for increased durability. Each pack contains the two glasses and a Henschke wine of your choice. 

The glasses cost $55 a pair and the cost of your chosen wine will be added at checkout. See https://www.henschke.com.au/products/plumm-glassware-gift-pack-choose-your-own-wine.

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Angel's Envy  a super-premium Kentucky Straight Bourbon, has just landed in Australia, and at under $100, it is an ideal treat for whiskey enthusiast dads.  

Angel's Envy was founded in Louisville, Kentucky, in 2011 by industry icon and Master Distiller Lincoln Henderson and his son Wes Henderson.

Unlike other bourbons, Angel’s Envy undergoes an additional maturation process, with its Kentucky Straight bourbon finished in port wine barrels to adds an additional layer of complexity and flavour. 

Angel's Envy costs $99.99 and is available at independent retailers nationwide.

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Got a thirsty friend who enjoys trying different beers? The Casella family, the people behind [yellow tail] wines, also have their own brewery in the small town of Yenda In the Riverina.

Their range includes very quaffable Yenda Pale Ale ($17 for a six pack) and the light, clear Yenda Session Lager available in 330ml six-pack bottles (RRP $7.50).

Out of the same brewery is the laid-back, easy drinking Poets Lager ($16 for a six-pack). Available at Cellarbrations, Bottle-O, IGA Liquor and Porters.

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Mason Cash has been producing mixing bowls for centuries but recently released the new Home to Roost range, featuring beautifully delicate embossments and a cheery colours.

The Home to Roost range includes mixing bowls in three sizes, the batter bowl, prep bowls, storage jars and a utensil pot.

Made from earthenware, the bowls are light enough to hold in one arm while mixing, but sturdy enough when using on the countertop.

This is the Mother Hen nest bowl ($110) from https://masoncash.com.au/products/collections/home-to-roost/.

Top Image: Aleksei Popoc, Scop.io   

Grey Goose gets just a little fruity

Flavour-infused spirits are all the rage this summer with French premium vodka distiller Grey Goose upping its offering with the release of Grey Goose Essences.

This new range is made with "all-natural ingredients" and is available in three flavours: strawberry and lemongrass, watermelon and basil and white peach and rosemary.

All are designed for enjoying in cocktails, or as the key ingredient in a spritz.

Grey Goose Essences is one of the first super-premium flavoured spirits to launch in the Australian market.

"The recent introduction of Essences is an exciting chapter for Grey Goose, with this latest innovation giving our consumers more choice when it comes to their summer serves,” said Sander Janmaat, marketing manager for Grey Goose at Bacardi-Martini Australia.

"Lower in calories than your standard vodka and gluten-free, Grey Goose Essences is easily mixed with your favourite premium tonic or soda water, for the ultimate effervescent beverage this summer.

"From picnics and backyard barbecues to rooftop drinks, while basking in the sun or cooling in the shade, summer is the best time for a spritz."

The Essences range also has a lower than standard ABV of 30%.

Grey Goose is distilled in France using only two base ingredients: single-origin Picardy winter wheat and natural spring water.

The Essences range containszero added sugar and is gluten free. It is available at available at BWS stores, Dan Murphy’s and other major retailers nationwide at RRP of $73.99.

For more info see www.greygoose.com/essences 

Meet an asparagus vodka

It sounds like an April Fools joke, but I checked the calendar and it is definitely May. 

Portobello Road Distillery has launched what it claims is the “world’s first asparagus vodka”.

And the vodkas will be vintage releases, Drinks Business reported.

The London distillery intends to release the vodka annually, just after the start of asparagus season, using asparagus grown on Portwood Farm in Norfolk.

The vegetable is steeped for 24 hours in British potato vodka before being bottled in a limited run of 600 bottles each time.

Available for both the on-trade and off-trade, the vegan vodka features no filtration or additives and the distillery says it can be used to vamp up classic cocktails such as the negroni or martini. 

The launch follows an earlier attempt by the distillery to make an asparagus-based gin, which didn’t work as well as the team had hoped.

“The fact that it was a gin and therefore required to be juniper-led meant the actual asparagus flavour was quite subtle,” said Portobello Road Distillery co-founder Jake Burger.

“So when we stepped into vodka production, we wanted to revisit the ingredient, but this time in a product where the flavour could really stand out and sing in mixed drinks”. 

Righto Jake. 

# Portobello Road Distillery really is based on London’s famous Portobello Road.