I’ll be the judge of that

I went to the 2026 Australian Gin Awards last night, which were held at the very cool Ester Distillery in Enmore.

And I am very proud that the gin I judged as the best in the Classic Gin category went on to win Best in Show!

It was the clear winner among the 49 gins I tasted – juniper forward and full of flavour.

It was lined up among the other category winners and blind tasted again by all the judges to determine the best of the best.

Those judges included some very talented gin experts, so it was exciting to feel like I knew my stuff.

But I had no idea which distillery had produced the winning spirit because I only saw clear liquids in little tasting glasses.

Gin Awards Chair Mikey Enright, who was my fellow Classic Gin judge, announced the trophy winners and congratulated all distillers who entered, noting the exceptionally high standard of production.

“Over the years since the competition began, we’ve noticed that the quality and balance of gins have become exponentially better, and this year was no exception,” he said.

I was invited to bring a guest to the ceremony, but decided to go solo. I took my sister last year and we both found it a bit tricky to juggle my official duties with being party buddies.

Ester provided lots of yummy charcuterie for guests to nibble, plus fried chicken slider burgers and delicious G&Ts, of course.

Oh, I forgot to tell you who won! Blackwattle Distilling Co. (NSW) was awarded top honours, taking out Best in Show with its Classic Variety, Dry Sydney Gin.

I spoke to the distiller later in the night and he said he added Sri Lankan spices to the gin, along with lots of other international and local ingredients. He was inspired by the distillery’s location in the cultural melting pot of the distillery’s home in Sydney’s Inner West.

He started making gin during the pandemic and the Dry Sydney Gin was his first-ever release.

Prohibition Liquor Co. (SA) won the Contemporary class with Original Gin. Willing Distillery (NT) won Barrel Aged with its Port Barr Port Barrel Rested Gin. Never Never Distilling Co. (SA) took out the Over-Proof class with its Southern Strength Gin, and also won the Flavoured class with Ginache. And Sin Gin Distillery (WA) won the Traditional Gin Liqueur class with its Sloe Gin.

Mikey and I judged the Traditional Gin Liqueur class too – congrats to Sin Gin!

I behaved myself last night and wearily snuck off at 8pm, leaving the rest of the guests and winners to celebrate.

But I’m backing up tonight for the opening of a new wine room. I really need to learn how to say no.

Song of the day: Tina Turner “The Best”