Botanica Spirits and Food Festival will feature demonstrations and workshops from distillers. Photo: Supplied, Arclight Event Co.
After a successful launch last year, the Botanica Spirits and Food Festival is returning to the Australian National Botanic Gardens in September. The focus is squarely on native botanicals, used to flavour uniquely Australian spirits.
The festival will once again feature a range of distillers from around the region and beyond. Blue Mountains-based Karu Distillery will be bringing its Wilding: Jubatus Dry Gin which took out The World’s Best Contemporary Gin at the International Wine and Spirits Competition in 2023! Other award-winning gins include World’s Best Signature Navy Strength Gin 2021 from Ester Spirits.
Local distillery Ambrosia was a popular stall at last year’s event. Photo: Supplied, Arclight Event Co.
Event organiser Charlie Rose said the team was excited to be bringing the festival back to Canberra.
“We choose Canberra for our initial events because of the growing market of discerning foodies and cocktail enthusiasts and there are some fantastic local distilleries creating some really inventive and exciting flavours. Canberra locals Ambrosia Distillery for example were extremely popular last year,” she told Region.
“Gin and spirit aficionados can look forward to some limited edition releases and event exclusive offers at this year’s Botanica!”
Local gin offerings include North of Eden, a South Coast-based distillery that uses local ingredients including oyster shells, seaweed, citrus grown on their own property and Australian juniper berries. Distiller Gavin Gillin from Hold Fast Distillery at Braidwood makes his spirits in the cellar of the historic Braidwood Hotel and brings a maritime flair to his creations. Tara Distillery from Nowra will bring its copper pot still spirits including poitìn: a traditional Irish spirit made with local barley, oats and pure Shoalhaven rainwater.
The event will take place on the Eucalypt Lawn at the National Botanic Gardens (with a sensible wet weather backup plan) although last year’s event was beautifully sunny.
“We have a great, long-standing relationship with [the Botanic Gardens] after running The Sunset Cinema on the Eucalypt Lawn for over 10 years and love working with their team. The location is also the perfect setting for the theme and ethos of Botanica and is part of what makes the event so unique,” Charlie said.
Each ticket to the festival gives you access to one of two three-hour sessions or a four-hour session on Sunday. The idea is to give patrons plenty of time to sip some water and enjoy a meal from one of the local food vendors in between tastings.
“For our first-ever Botanica Festival in Canberra, we were thrilled with the response from the community and our vendors. We wanted each distiller to have not only a beautiful event to engage with customers but also a profitable weekend,” Charlie said.
“Due to the popularity of the event we will be increasing our capacity by adding more sessions, there will now be two on Saturday and one on Sunday to allow more patrons to attend and reduce queuing for vendors.”
Visitors can explore an increased range of other stalls, selling native spices and ingredients, locally made chocolates, candles and more. This year’s festival will also feature live music and an even bigger selection of food vendors.
Tastings are provided throughout each session. Photo: Supplied, Arclight Event Co.
Once you’re done with tastings, sit back, relax, and enjoy a cocktail from the Fever Tree Bar.
The full program is still to be finalised and more stallholders, workshops and presenters will be announced soon. Early bird tickets are available on the Botanica Spirits website for a limited time.
The Botanica Spirits and Food Festival will be held on 7 and 8 September at the Australian National Botanic Gardens, Clunies Ross St, Acton.
Visit the Botanica website for tickets and more information, and follow the event on Facebook or Instagram to hear about stallholders as they are announced.
Original Article published by Lucy Ridge on Riotact.
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