Hurdle Creek Still Cherry Gin

Every year, Hurdle Creek Still makes a seasonal Cherry Gin from fruit grown locally at Eldorado Orchards, near its Milawa distillery in north-east Victoria. For the 2025 release, cherries from the 2023 harvest were frozen and steeped for 22 months in a gin made specially for the purpose, with cassia and lemon myrtle among its botanicals. The fruit was then strained out, crushed, and its juice returned to the spirit before bottling at 35% ABV.

Limited Edition · Spicy · Fruity

The colour is a deep cherry red, and the distillery finds this year's flavour richer than recent releases, a difference it puts down to the varieties and the season. Ripe cherry fills the nose, and the palate is generous and rounded, with enough tartness to keep the fruit from feeling heavy. CassiaCassiaThe bark of a Chinese cinnamon tree, coarser and hotter than Ceylon cinnamon. It brings a warm, slightly sweet spice.Glossary adds a warm spice and lemon myrtleLemon myrtleThe leaf of an Australian tree with an intense lemon scent, purer than zest and without acidity.Glossary a fresh citrus lift, while juniperJuniperThe one compulsory botanical: gin must taste predominantly of juniper. Its "berry" is really a small conifer cone, resinous and peppery.Glossary stays in the background. The long steep and the returned juice give the fruit a whole, integrated taste, closer to fresh cherries than to syrup. At 35%, the texture is softer than a dry ginDry ginGin with no perceptible sweetness: in the European Union, the word "dry" allows at most 0.1 g of sugar per litre.GlossarySee Dry gin gins, and the finish is fruity, lightly spiced and persistent.

Hurdle Creek suggests it on the rocks muddled with a few frozen berries, in a G&T with frozen berries and a lemon twistTwistA strip of peel twisted over the glass to release its oils, then dropped into the drink.Glossary, topped with Prosecco as a Ginsecco, or with dry ginger ale. The ginger ale brings out the cassia, and the Prosecco makes a bright, festive aperitif. A few frozen berries, as the distillery suggests, also chill the drink without watering it down.

For the G&T, pour 4 cl over clear iceClear iceIce without air bubbles, made by slow, directional freezing. Denser, it melts more slowly and dilutes less.Glossary in a balloon glassCopa glassA large stemmed balloon glass, popularised by the Spanish gin and tonic: it stays cold for longer and gathers the aromas above the drink.Glossary, add 10 cl of chilled Fentimans Pink Grapefruit Tonic Water and stir gently once. Garnish with a fresh cherry and a lemon twist, and place the same garnishes on a small plate beside the glass. The grapefruit's bitterness balances the ripe fruit, and the lemon draws out the lemon myrtle.