How Never Never craft their products

Never Never Distilling Co started out in 16 square metres of shed, basically a distillery on a wall, but today their production all takes place in their newly-built production facility and cellar door in McLaren Vale – one of Australia's most famed wine regions.

Everything at Never Never is all based on the science of flavour – the brand's founders are bona fide geeks when it comes to constructing taste through distillation – and despite small beginnings, they always intended on setting up shop in the region. When it comes to generating flavour, it's all about concentrated character and pumping their gins with bold botanical intensity. Here's how they manage to do it.

Wendy & Nancy

In the brand's story we mentioned founder's Tim, George and Sean came together and invested in a 300L pot and column hybrid still which they named Wendy. This was in late 2016. By 2020 Wendy was running overtime, twice a day, seven days a week to keep up with demand.

Wendy's replacement was part of the upgrade into the new Chalk Hill distillery. From 300L, Never Never invested in a state of the art, 1,000L hand-hammered, copper pot and column hybrid still, made in Germany by Carl. The boys called her Nancy, after Tim's granny, the one on the Gilbey side of the family and the main reason he got into distilling in the first place.

Never Never production method | Triple Juniper Process

Never Never describe their Triple Juniper as a love letter to the juniper berry. The aim of the gin is to extract each element of the berry's unique flavour, from the skin which is tannic and dry, to the flesh that's oily and bright and finally, the piney and earthy seed found deep within its core.

Triple juniper is just that, concentrating those flavours using a triple juniper infusion process. First, juniper is steeped in a neutral spirit for 24 hours. They then add fresh juniper into the steep with their other carefully selected botanicals before distilling. Finally, even more juniper is added into the vapour basket to make sure that all the fresh and floral top notes are captured.

The eight other signature botanicals include coriander seed, angelica root, orris root, lemon peel, lime peel, liquorice root, cinnamon and Australian pepper berry. This process forms the foundation of all of Never Never's gins and is what makes their signature Triple Juniper Gin so versatile.

You'll also notice, because of the copious amount of juniper oil in Never Never's gins, that they cloud when tonic is added. This clouding is evidence of botanical concentration and a guarantee of the "More Flavour" promise that Never Never makes to those who purchase their gins.

Juniper Freak navy strength production

Designed to capture the fresh, bright flavour from each year's juniper harvest, Juniper Freak Navy Strength is one of only a handful of annual seasonal release gins around the world. As soon as the berries are harvested, Never Never air-freight the juniper over and start distillation as soon as it has arrived.

The nose is a bright, pine-lime splice mingling with fresh pine needles and split gum leaf. The palate is fragrant and drying, with bold juniper making way to peppery menthol and an earthiness. The finish is long and oily, with bags of juniper and citrus oil remaining long after the alcohol evaporates.
Just like with the base level Triple Juniper, this gin clouds when mixed, but even more so, due to massively elevated juniper levels.

It's a big gin, something the brand cheekily make this known on the label with a very Australian and Never Never callout - 'We use concentrated Juniper character to deliver a seriously intense gin, because we're not here to f*** spiders'.

Southern Strength gin production

This savoury overproof expression of the Triple Juniper style is achieved by elevating the angelica root, coriander seed and lemon character. It was developed through several expressions as part of the brand's Dark Series and with meticulous bartender and consumer feedback it arrived at the current recipe and staple part of Never Never's core range.

The nose has pine, bright citrus and earthy angelica. Coriander seed elevates the citrus character. It's palate is oily, viscous and immediately savoury. Juniper still dominates, however is complimented with earthy notes of angelica root and coriander seed. Finishes with pepper berry spice and cinnamon warmth developing late.

Fancy Fruit Cup production

Made in collaboration with Marionette Liqueur, a much-respected producer of Australian liqueurs, this product combines Never Never's Triple Juniper Gin for a juniper backbone with Marionette's barrel-aged Orange Curaçao (a blend of navel, Seville and blood oranges), Australian and exotic spices, and Earl Grey tea for tannin structure – to create a uniquely Australian aperitif. It's about taking everything the English gave us and simply doing it better!

Ginache Gin production

Ginache Gin is Never Never's ode to their wine country home. The fruit is left to steep for up to a month, extracting colour and developing flavour before the skins are finally pressed and the final juice extracted. The result is a gin with a luminous red colour that develops into a bright hibiscus pink when diluted with tonic or soda.

Flavour-wise, Grenache is incredibly versatile. Its flavours bounce between bright raspberry and candied peel all the way through to dark plum and cinnamon, making it the perfect complement to the spice and citrus of the Triple Juniper gin.

Australia's most highly awarded gins

It is Never Never's laser focus on flavour and the classic London dry style of gin that has resonated with bartenders, competition judges, and ever-increasing gin consumers alike. After only four years of producing incredible gins they now claim to be Australia's Most Highly Awarded Gin Distillery.
From taking out the World's Best Classic Gin at the World Gin Awards in London in 2019 to being voted #1 and #2 Australian Spirit in the 2020 and 2021 Hottest 100 Aussie Spirit Countdown they continue to rack up globally recognised accolades. In 2020 Never Never Distilling Co. won Best in Class at the San Franciso Spirit Awards and also Champion Australian Distiller and Champion Gin at the Australian Distilled Spirits Awards.