SmartCompany Holiday Gift Guide 2023: Simon Crerar recommends Never Never’s Oyster Shell Gin

I may or may not be a gin-a-holic – okay, I am – but in my defence I am only a summer gin drinker. And I live in Tasmania, so summer really is, at best, only a three month affair.

My gin appreciation began with my maternal grandmother, who loved a tiny bit of Bombay Sapphire and a lot of tonic at 5pm, and my paternal grandmother, who liked a Gordons and as little tonic as possible, as soon after midday as she could get away with. I certainly lean towards my mum’s mum, and am pretty abstemious.

I’ll happily drink a traditional G&T, but mostly I like my gins as unusual, innovative and grassroots as possible. Here in the Huon Valley, I love the small batches my local distiller Harry Moses makes at the Port Cygnet Distillery.

From elsewhere in Tassie I have also enjoyed Taylor & Smith’s awesome Gin (and am lusting after their new Honey Gin), McHenry’s traditional style Sloe Gin, and Section 44’s Lemon Myrtle Gin: “sex in a glass” according to the fella at the Huonville bottleshop.

But my recommendation for this holiday/summer season is from the mainland. Never Never’s Oyster Shell Gin has quickly – and rightly – become one of their most popular releases.

First released in late 2021 as a collaboration with swanky Melbourne restaurant Society – where it still features heavily on the cocktail and martini list – it combines enough unique ingredients to excite restless folks like me who are always looking for something unusual.

“Oyster shell is an ingredient which delivers minerality and a subtle sea spray character,” says Never Never Distilling Co. brand director Sean Baxter.

“It’s a flavour supported by the carefully considered inclusion of other coastal ingredients such as Geraldton wax, olearia, saltbush, and Tasmanian wakame.”

This is as avant-garde, bleeding-edge, contemporary as you can get in the gin category. So if – like me – you love your G&Ts tall over ice and absolutely packed with native Aussie flavour, you’ll find this new coastal classic really delivers.

Even more excitingly, this summer Never Never is collaborating with circular economy technology company ecoSPIRITS to make this Oyster Shell Gin more affordable to bars, restaurants and hotels by shipping it in ecoTOTE format.

“A gin like Oyster Shell Gin belongs in this circular packaging format,” says Baxter.

“It was a gin born from finding flavour in waste products and being more mindful about our ingredient selection,” he says.

Apparently ecoSPIRITS’ technology delivers a 60-90% reduction in the carbon emission footprint of premium spirits packaging and distribution and up to 95% less physical glass waste.

I’d love to cart one of these 4.5 litre beauties down to my local beach with a MASSIVE bucket of ice this summer, but sadly this format is just for the hotels, restaurants and bars that sell their gin.