By Parker McKenzie
Belgrave-based distillery GinFinity has won the Best Australian Signature Botanical at the World Gin Awards 2022.
GinFinity, which opened its doors to the public in March 2021, is co-owned by brothers Ben and Cal Pratt with their cousin Andrew.
Ben Pratt said it was “Tremendously exciting” to win the award for their bubblegum gin.
“It was so exciting and took us all by surprise. We’re just absolutely rapt,” he said.
“This particular gin we’re talking about – the bubblegum gin – is a newer product, we developed it about six months ago.”
The two brothers and their cousin have been distilling liquors for 16 years and dabbled in brewing beer too.
Mr Pratt said the idea for the gin started when they tried the flavouring technique in rum.
“We’re very interested in fermentation side of things, so we are always playing around with different sorts of wild fermentation and different inoculations trying to produce different esters,” he said.
“We thought that we could probably combine a couple and produce the same ester that makes bubblegum flavour,
“We were successful in producing that and then we thought it would be amazing to put that in into botanical gin.”
An ester is a molecule of alcohol which binds with an acid during the distilling process to create flavors and aromas.
The group also own Kilik Handcrafted Rum, which operates in a separate but connected building as a café, restaurant and bar in Belgrave, as well as the LittleBrew distillery in Ferntree Gully.
Mr Pratt said it’s been a long road, but they couldn’t have asked for a better start to 2022 after the last few years.
“The whole industry will know it’s been a tough one,” he said.
“Whether it’s being able to open or having to be closed and serving takeaway, and then staff staffing issues, it’s been a bit of a rollercoaster.”
His brother Cal Pratt thanked people in the local area on Facebook for supporting the distillery.
“We are absolutely thrilled to be doing what we love in such a beautiful area in the hills,” he said.
“We hope long-term this kind of thing will really help regain some lost tourism back to the area.”
The World Gin Awards is a part of the World Drinks Awards and is held every year.
GinFinity is located at 64-68 Monbulk Road, Belgrave and is open until 7pm Wednesday to Sunday.
