The battlelines have been drawn and once again Australia is ready to take on England, but there’s no sport in sight; this time it’s all about craft gin.
While 2020 has been a year of isolation, the virtual world has been one way of bringing people together and now Warner’s Rhubarb Gin and Four Pillars Bloody Shiraz are set for a Facebook Live face-off.
Tom Warner and Stu Gregor will host an evening of gin, stories and insights into what has gone into making their leading craft gins.
Speaking about the event, Stu said: “The last time I saw Tom in person was at Junipalooza 2019 in London and I, literally, stumbled into a masterclass he was conducting and started heckling him from the bleachers.
“How good were them olden days huh? Until we can crash each others’ events in person again, it will have to make do with sledging over the screen. He’s a good guy, for a Pom, and he makes some bloody great gin, so it will be fun. See you on the Zoom machine.”
Tom will be first up in the face off, at 7.30pm UK time on Friday, 13 November on the Warner’s Facebook page.
Tom told Bars and Clubs he was looking forward to the event.
“We were hoping to be in Australia twice in 2020,” he said.
“In March (for Bars March) and in October (for Junipalooza Melbourne and The Fever Tree Sydney G&T festival). COVID sadly meant we had to cancel both those trips, so we immediately pivoted our focus in Australia to try and help the hospitality industry.
“We sponsored #hospohappyhour, allowing them to bring wellbeing and mental health advice to an industry under huge stress, and then we employed some great mixology staff to be G&T Ambassadors in Dan Murphy stores, to help consumers navigate the growing wall of gin.
“The borders understandably remain closed, but we wanted to try and personally say hello to our loyal fans in Australia, so what better way to virtually say hello than via ‘The Gin Ashes’.
“We are bloody thrilled to be doing this (pun intended). Warner’s Rhubarb Gin will go toe-to-toe with Four Pillars Bloody Shiraz in two ‘Ashes’ tests, one being played at our home, Falls Farm in the UK, the other being hosted at Four Pillar’s Lab in Sydney.
“Stu Gregor and I will have some festive fun, run perfect serve gin tastings, and keep the sledging above the belt (well we’ll try!)”
After the First Test, Stu will lead Australia in reply at 6pm Sydney time on Tuesday, 17 November – follow the Four Pillars session here.
