Nose: Juniper, pine needles, cardamom, orange zest, and a nose-prickle of ethanol. Palate: Peppery and hot right out of the gate. Chili, white pepper, and a developing strong taste of lemon essence. Some cardamom and coriander seed comes through on subsequent tastes, but so does a sting of alcohol. The texture is OK, but not special. Finish: Medium/long. The intensity is all due to heat and the flavours cluster around citrus oils. The aftertaste is sour and bitter. Blackwattle Distilling Co. is a new distillery recently established in the Sydney suburb of Rozelle, a couple of blocks from the old industrial foreshore area (which is undergoing redevelopment). Technically this area is called White Bay, but I guess the distillery owners liked the sound of Blackwattle better. We visited a couple of weekends ago and met Mark, one of the two distillers and company owners, who was dispensing free samples to visitors. This was the second spirit we tasted. After their very mild “Dry Sydney Gin” that we tasted first this had more presence, but it’s a bit narrow in character and has a lot of heat … too much to be enjoyable neat. The strength is also a little odd. There is no legal definition of “navy” gin but by default it is usually 57% abv or more, so why did they cut this to 55%? At least they don’t chill-filter it We bought a bottle, more to support a fledgling local business than anything else, but in hindsight I would not have done so. It does not work particularly well in a G&T but it does fare better in mixed drinks. It can certainly stand up against Campari in a negroni, so I guess that’s how I’ll be using it up. “Average” : 75/100 (2.5 stars)