Cellar Door Festival Distillery Edit makes its debut next weekend

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Cellar Door Fest is back this April with a brand-new festival: Cellar Door Fest Distillery Edit. While this is all about the South Australian distillery scene, you will find French links in some of the products being offered, from brandy to fruit based liqueurs such as mandarin and cherry.

The all-new boutique event will feature a mix of more than 40 of your favourite local distilleries: think gin, vodka, whisky, rum and more!

Cellar Door Fest Distillery Edit is your chance to discover a series of great South Australian brands via complimentary tastings, exclusive masterclasses and a delicious assortment of cocktails available for purchase from the Fever-Tree Cocktail Bar.

Read on to find out which producers will be exhibiting French-like products at Cellar Door Festival Distillery Edit.

Brandy producers at Cellar Door Festival Distillery Edit next weekend

23^rd Street Distillery, Riverland
- Not your Nanna’s brandy: Two years in a mix of French and American oak barrels, mostly ex-chardonnay, impart seductively rich colour, smoothness and length to this new generation brandy. But they wanted to give you more, and herein lies the magic of blending. With the addition of single copper pot distilled portions they’ve added an unexpected lifted brightness.
- Prime 5 brandy: A blend of years has created the ultimate in refined character. Aged portions of traditional, double pot distilled liquor contribute sophisticated richness and roundness. Portions distilled by the single pot process balance these characters with lively, bright top notes. Parcels have been aged up to eight years in ex-chardonnay French and American oak barrels, contributing further richness and depth.

Lobo Spirits, Adelaide Hills
- They say that ” All cider makers secretly or not so secretly really want to make Apple Brandy”. Apple Brandy is most well known as Calvados – the French name for the region that well known examples come from in Normandy, Northern France.
- Lobodos, is their Australian interpretation of this delicious drink. It takes a while, best matured in oak barrels for at least 3 years. The result is a complex full flavoured apple brandy (although we prefer the name lobodos), with rich nutty and caramel notes supporting the apple base line.

Mount Compass Spirits, Southern Fleurieu
- XO Brandy: a limited edition of 100 numbered bottles of 24 year old cask strength Brandy.

Aperitif and alternative spirit makers with French-like products at Cellar Door Festival Distillery Edit

Ambleside Distillers:

- Mandarin Gin: limited edition Gin has been created using premium mandarins freshly harvested from an organic Riverland orchard.
  1. Paired with juniper and carefully balanced with elderberries, kumquat, vanilla, cacao, atherton nut and almond for a well-rounded palate.
  2. Cassia, cinnamon and licorice root add a subtle undertone of spice while the post distillation steeped mandarin peel give this Gin a fresh, zesty aroma.

Applewood distillery, Adelaide Hills:

Unico mando – a mandarin liqueur

Imperial Measures Distilling, Adelaide

- - French-like fruit-based spirits:
  - Mandeaux (mandarin liqueur);and
  - Cerise (cherry liqueur)

Mount Compass Spirits, Southern Fleurieu (who we mentioned above for their brandy, also fits into the alternative spirit category):

- - Anise Spirit: a classic Anise spirit made from distilling aniseed and liquorice root with Australian grain alcohol.

Never Never Distilling Co., McLaren Vale – aperitif, alternative spirits, gin, liqueur

- - Ginache: Premium McLaren Vale Grenache Fruit blended with their Award-Winning Triple Juniper Gin.

Threefold Distillery:

- - Frontignac Gin (002): In the middle of the Lobethal, Adelaide Hills, lies a small Frontignac vineyard. The grapes were hand-picked in the sun and then whole bunch pressed. The juice was added to gin and left to rest. The result is a sweet, textural, aromatic gin.