With the perseverance and hard-working nature of the goldfields\u2019 women in mind, CEO Sara Quon said Sovereign Hill has released their own boutique line of gin.<\/p>\n
Named Sly Grog, it has been produced in collaboration with Ballarat\u2019s Kilderkin Distillery, and is generating funds which will contribute to the establishment of their Centre for Rare Arts and Forgotten Trades.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe worked with our head gardener Cherrie Neale around the botanicals in the gin, inspired by things that are grown here at Sovereign Hill,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Native lemon myrtle and banksia flowers are part of the Sly Grog recipe, alongside orange peel, coriander seed and rosemary.<\/p>\n
Juniper, which would have been introduced and used within Chinese mining camps, is also featured.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe grow rosemary in abundance at Sovereign Hill, and banksia flowers gathered from the site have been used in the distillation process,\u201d Ms Quon said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt really feels like it is genuinely of our botanicals on site, and Chris Pratt and Rebecca Mathews at Kilderkin are a phenomenal partner; they\u2019re as passionate about what they do, as we are about what we do.<\/p>\n \u201cSly Grog is a little bit of fun with a wonderful historical connection.\u201d<\/p>\n Ms Mathews said the collaboration has taken about six months, from the initial idea to the release of the finished product.<\/p>\n \u201cThey wanted something that was fairly traditional in terms of what Polly might have made back then, and I thought it would be great to include botanicals that grew here,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cBanksia flowers were a wonderful addition, which we haven\u2019t worked with before.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr Pratt said the recipe is \u201ctotally unique\u201d to anything Kilderkin\u2019s ever distilled in the past.<\/p>\n \u201cIt will remain a Sovereign Hill product, but I have to say, we\u2019re both really, really happy with it. It\u2019s a good gin, and we\u2019d love to have it in our own range,\u201d he laughed.<\/p>\n \u201cCollaborating with other Ballarat businesses is really important to us. I just hope people come on board and support Sovereign Hill.\u201d<\/p>\n Sly Grog was launched last Wednesday evening on the diggings, with the Kilderkin team, Sovereign Hill board members and supporters, the Committee for Ballarat and some of their members enjoying a performance of the Polly O\u2019Shea story by the outdoor museum\u2019s actors, and a taste of the product.<\/p>\n \u201cNow restrictions have eased for us, this was a chance to bring people together, just for an hour, to connect ahead of Christmas, and celebrate something good, in amongst what\u2019s been a pretty tough couple of years for everyone,\u201d Ms Quon said.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2021\/11\/IMG_5724-225x300.jpg\")