I've got a lot of feelings about Southern Wild and they're all positive. Let me see if I can articulate them. The distillery first hit my radar when I saw the bottles on the shelves of great bars down south in Hobart. Three different coloured bottles for three different gins, all from the one distillery. Bit adventurous and bold, isn't it? Why not just one? Because George Burgess, the head distiller, is a mad scientist/proud Devonportian/marketing genius I am in awe of (at least mildly since reading about him, even more so since meeting him). Dasher+Fisher is the name of the gin, different to the distillery so they're ready to branch out and release other brands whenever they like. The three gins I'm talking about are D+F Mountain, Ocean and Meadow, all named for the champion botanical in each--pepperberry, wakame seaweed, and lavender. The differentiation goes beyond the botanical though... and the absolute best way to discover this is by dropping into the distillery to do a tasting. Southern Wild is currently set up to provide all the booze you need, with food brought in from a nearby Italian place (you order and pay at the bar, they do all the running around). Live music on the weekends while you're surrounded by the buzzing of the distillery doing its thing--the big copper still, Emily, sits proudly in the corner next to a few huge drums of booze. George will probably be tinkering with blends upstairs because the gins are a living, breathing, seasonally evolving recipe. What a time to be alive. Soon enough there will be a big, beautiful new food pavillion called Providore Place just down the road from the current distillery, and George will expand the venture--and provide all the eateries of Providore Place with some excellent spirits. I can't wait to visit the new space to see what they've done with it! In the meantime, I'm quite comfortable with my three choices... and no, I can't name a favourite. You're just going to have to try them all. read more

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