Coinciding with April 1st (but no April fools here) was the UK virtual launch of the newest member of the Manly Spirits family – Lilly Pilly Gin. This “pink” gin isn’t your average sweet gin and you take part in the public online tasting on 10th April 2020. Read on to find out more about Lilly Pilly gin and it’s virtual launch in the era of Covid-19:
Lilly Pilly gin from Manly Spirits
*Full disclosure, I was gifted a bottle of Lilly Pilly gin to enable me to take part in the online virtual launch at home and tell you about it of course!*
Manly Spirits Lilly Pilly gin launch
Manly Spirits background
Co-founders David and Vanessa are based in Manly, the Nothern beach area of Sydney – with the distillery only a few blocks back from the beach. All their gins take inspiration from the local area and include locally foraged botanicals. Whilst David distills, Vanessa (a designer by background) has designed the most beautiful bespoke bottle to showcase their spirits.
Such a fabulous bottle with the Manly Spirits logo of the eastern blue devil fish
Even the bottle stopper has the eastern blue devil fish on it – the fish is found off the coast by Manly
I first heard about Manly Spirits and their gins at their UK launch in 2019. They also introduced their gins to the public at Junipalooza 2019, to great success. I’ve another post coming to cover all the different spirits they make, but lets just say they have a wide range!
With several awards for their gins already, I was really interested to join in the Lilly Pilly launch, even from the comfort of my own house.
Lilly Pilly gin virtual launch
So how do you launch a gin in a lockdown? Gone is the Harvey Nichols launch party and instead comes in the use of technology. Manly Spirits and their UK representatives, Boutique Bar Brands, sent a bottle of Lilly Pilly gin out to all of the attendees, along with a Zoom meeting invite. I was lucky to receive my bottle the day before, but some people were waiting right to the last minute to receive theirs.
Set up and ready to start the online tasting of Lilly Pilly gin!
With gin bottle in hand and some garnishes prepared as instructed, we all logged into the meeting on our laptops/phones. We were greeted by Charlie from Boutique Bar Brands, who welcomed us all and talked us through the programme. We were to have a talk from founder and distiller David dialing in from the distillery at 6:30am. Then we would all taste the gin together (neat naturally, at least for me!), before having a cocktail demonstration live from Andrei Marcu of Coupette, one of London’s best bars.
So how did it go?
Joining in with gin lovers around the UK, and David from Manly, Sydney!
A few technical hitches (as ever with video conferencing!), but we got there in the end. David was up super early to show us around the distillery and share the background to making Lilly Pilly, including it’s unique botanicals:
Lilly Pilly gin botanicals
Made from the base of London Dry gin (juniper, coriander, orris and angelica), Manly Spirits added locally foraged ingredients. In particular the pink flowers of sea fig (pigs face flower) and nasturtium flowers found in the sand dunes.
This photo from Manly Spirits shows the pink sea fig, or pigs face flowers that grow on the dunes, photo credit Manly Spirits
They added another native Australian plant – the berries of the Lilly Pilly and native limes, including Finger limes and Dessert limes.
Lilly Pilly berries on the bush – photo credit Milkwood.net
The Lilly Pilly is a bright pink berry that has a tart cranberry like flavour. With the addition of blood orange, hibiscus rosella flowers and fresh raspberries, the gin is balanced with floral, citrus, fruity and tart notes.
The pink colour comes from infusing the gin with fresh raspberries for 18 hours. So it’s all natural (and fades if the bottles are left out in the light – but to be honest I’m not sure mine will last that long!)
Tasting Lilly Pilly gin
We started by tasting the gin neat, with David having a neat gin for breakfast! On the nose you get the juniper, raspberry fruitiness and citrus. To taste you have the addition of some spice, fruit and floral notes, ending with a dry tart finish that David says comes from the Lilly Pilly berries. When I dilute with some water the fruit gets amped up along with the citrus notes from the limes.
Lilly Pilly gin perfect serve
When I tried Lilly Pilly in it’s perfect serve with Mediterranean tonic, with raspberries and a lime wedge, the first thing I noticed is that I could smell the coriander seed on the nose. However I didn’t taste this, I wonder if it was the tonic water that allowed the coriander notes to come through? Usually coriander comes out as a citrus flavour post distillation, however I should really try with a different tonic to check that. The fruity and floral notes come through with the tonic, a lovely flavour.
The verdict
Lilly Pilly makes a great lighter style gin and tonic, that is refreshing and can definitely be a session drink, perfect for BBQ’s (when we are allowed to have them again – I’m envious if you have your own garden!)
Pretty pink Lilly Pilly martini
All in all this is not a sweet pink gin, it’s a nicely balanced lighter style gin, with a beautiful colour. It’s very attractive as a gin and tonic, or a martini, and I still need to try the Lilly Pilly Sour and Pink Gin Sling serves.
The winner of the instagram competition is announced on Wednesday 8th April.
Join in the public launch on 10th April
To join in with the public launch online, order a bottle of Lilly Pilly from Gin Kiosk (use code LILLYPILLYLIVE for 10% off) or from Harvey Nichols. Get some limes, tonic and raspberries ready to make your pink gin and tonics and register for the 8:30pm meeting using this link:
[You can also play back webinars on demand!]
Hopefully I’ll ‘see’ you online!
The Lilly Pilly gin perfect serve: gin & tonic
The classic Lilly Pilly gin and tonic serve, from Manly Spirits Australia. Pin me for your Summer g&t inspiration!
Pin me for your pink cocktail ideas with Lilly Pilly gin
A bespoke bottle to showcase the lovely pink Lilly Pilly gin from Manly Spirits
Lilly Pilly gin from Manly Spirits, Australia. Pin me for your gin inspiration!
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Sally says
This is one of the prettiest bottles of gin I’ve ever seen. The label, the embossing and of course the colour. Gorgeous
Katie says
The bottle design is amazing Sally! (The gins pretty good too ?)
Heidi Roberts says
I always try to test a new gin neat – lets you get to know the gin first. I also don’t love tonic water which often overpowers the gin.
Katie says
It’s a great way to taste the flavours and then decide how you want to drink it – I’m totally onboard Heidi ?
Ashley says
Wow!! This sounds delightful!
Katie says
It’s a fab gin and a great addition to the Manly Spirits collection
gingeybiteseats says
I love their branding and have never heard of Lilly Pilly berries before, despite living in Australia for almost 7 months! Great that they went ahead with their launch and sounds like a lot of fun to be involved in!
Katie says
It was awesome that we could all still be involved!