One of the (many) great things about this industry, is its capacity to deliver synergies that just work, and that make you smile: when my social media feed showed Trish Brew had released her own gin, I knew it had happened again.
A former Bartender, Trish was also Bar Manager at the Gin Palace before becoming Brand Ambassador with Fever-Tree Australia, and was named Brand Ambassador of the Year that the 2022 Australian Liquor Industry Awards.
Trish has a love for all things juniper, so it’s no surprise that Bellicose Gin, is juniper-forward – what is surprising is that she has managed to do that with a pink gin.
Speaking to Bars and Clubs, Trish explained how the gin came about: “I have been a spirits judge for quite a long time, and I was constantly was tasked to judge the flavoured gin category. When you walk into the room, you’ve got all these glasses lined up and the flavoured gin category was just a sea of pink gin. A lot of the time they were artificially coloured, they were sickly sweet or cloying.
“I think I’m a really nice spirit competition judge and I always like to give constructive feedback, but reading over some of the other judges’ notes they were really nasty. They would say ‘couldn’t taste any juniper’, ‘it was artificial’, ‘it was sweet’, ‘it was like chemicals’. So there was years of this and I thought ‘wouldn’t it be great to flip the script on what these judges are saying’ and make a gin where you can discern the juniper, it is all natural ingredients and is something that bartenders will really want to mix with.
Championing pink gin
“As you know, we have so many amazing gins in Australia, we’ve got great dry gins, navy strength gin, but I think the pink category kind of feels like a bit of an afterthought for a lot of distillers, and I really wanted to champion this really difficult category.”
While the concept of championing pink gin with a product that has discernible juniper and natural ingredients seems straightforward, the reality was definitely less so.
“I won’t lie to you, there were massive challenges,” Trish said. “I worked with Andy Fitzgerald from Gospel on this and his wise words were true – integrity cost.
“When you are using real ingredients, premium ingredients you are going to pay for them. So, I do understand now, why you don’t see gins of this calibre very frequently.
“I wanted to use these beautiful heritage raspberries from the Derwent Valley in Tasmania, but because I love juniper and I use a lot of juniper in the gin, I needed to balance that out and so I have to put a lot of raspberries in there. Then, because I am vapour infusing it’s going to be more delicate, because I really didn’t want that cooked jammy flavour. So, it takes me about a kilo of these beautiful raspberries per litre of spirit.
“Not very cost effective, but I think it tastes absolutely amazing, so it was definitely worth fighting for.”
The result of this focus on quality, as well as “countless distillations” that Trish said she felt “pushed the friendship with my friends at Gospel” is a “beautiful gin, that is very juniper driven, it’s got a gorgeous floral note to it”.
A gin to experiment with
Trish added: “I wanted to make a gin that would work across different drinks and be something bartenders want to experiment with.
“It had to make a great gin and tonic – with Fever-Tree Tonic of course – but also a great Martini. It has so much juniper in there, but it’s very well balanced so it is able to stand out in cocktails. My favourite cocktail is a Clover Club with lemon, egg white, raspberries and gin and it really sings in a drink like that.”
Trish remains the Brand Ambassador for Fever-Tree and she told Bars and Clubs that not only has the whole Fever-Tree have been very supportive, but the company has also been an inspiration to her in driving that focus and passion for using quality ingredients.
With the only prerequisite from the Fever-Tree team being that it goes well with its tonic, which ones from the range work well?
Trish said: “The Indian Tonic is great, and of course Mediterranean is a no-brainer, but my favourite at the moment is the Fever-Tree Elderflower Tonic. It’s a little bit more fun, the floralness really works and makes those raspberries pop a little more, so that’s a really beautiful combination.”
And for those bartenders who are already thinking about how they might use this gin, Trish said: “because the gin is so juniper-driven you could absolutely slot it into any of your classic gin cocktails without a worry at all.
“You also get a beautiful floralness from the orris in there, and orris and raspberry and jest best friends, so it’s a gin that is perfumed and fabulous. But I also wanted to make a gin that was really powerful, so event if you are mixing and putting lots of ingredients into your cocktail you should still be able to taste that it is Bellacose in there, and I really think I have achieved that.”
As for the name, Bellicose means willingness to fight and, as Trish said: “If you’ve ever triend to bootstrap a business from the group up – or make a pink gin – then you are going to have to fight for your life.”
Bellicose is available now direct through Trish – she is currently working on some suppliers, and as that happens Bars and Clubs will bring you the details.
