It was an incredibly proud night for our little distillery in Braidwood, with Hold Fast Distillery achieving our most successful result yet at the Australian International Spirits Awards at Melbourne Royal.
Our Man O’ War Navy Strength Gin was the standout, taking home the Trophy for Best Navy Strength Gin, a Gold Medal, a Silver Medal in the Contemporary Gin category, and ultimately finishing Runner-up for Champion Australian Gin.
For a small, independent regional distillery from Braidwood, to have one of our spirits recognised as one of the very best Australian gins in the competition is something our entire team is enormously proud of.
And the success didn’t stop there.
Our Sloe Gin was also awarded a Silver Medal, while our Bottled Negroni received another Silver Medal, making this our strongest showing at the Australian International Spirits Awards to date.
Man O’ War – a Navy Strength Gin with a difference
At 58% ABV, Man O’ War is our interpretation of a traditional Navy Strength Gin, but what makes it particularly unique is the combination of botanicals that give it its distinctive flavour and character.
At the heart of the gin are Grains of Paradise, an aromatic pepper from West Africa that brings warmth and spice.
We also use Cubeb Berries, an Indonesian spice often referred to as Javan pepper. Cubeb has a fascinating flavour profile that sits somewhere between a peppercorn and a clove, bringing both spice and aromatic depth to the gin.
We then balance those richer spice notes with fresh Yuzu that we grow ourselves, giving Man O’ War a bright, fresh citrus character.
Together, these botanicals create a gin with layers of pepper, spice, citrus and aromatics that remain powerful and distinctive even at Navy Strength.
It was never designed to be a quiet gin.
Man O’ War was created to be bold, complex and full of character, while still retaining balance at 58% ABV.
That makes the result at Melbourne Royal particularly special for us. To see a gin built around ingredients such as African grains of paradise, Indonesian cubeb and our own freshly grown yuzu go on to win Best Navy Strength Gin and finish Runner-up Champion Australian Gin is something we are incredibly proud of.
Recognition across multiple categories
One of the things that makes the Man O’ War result particularly meaningful is that it wasn’t recognised in just one part of the competition.
Along with winning the Best Navy Strength Gin Trophy and receiving a Gold Medal, Man O’ War was also awarded a Silver Medal in the Contemporary Gin category.
It demonstrates that while Man O’ War is unmistakably a powerful Navy Strength Gin, the balance, complexity and botanical character of the spirit also stood up strongly when judged alongside contemporary Australian gins.
That performance ultimately saw Man O’ War finish as Runner-up for Champion Australian Gin, placing it amongst the highest-ranked Australian gins of the competition.
A great result for the whole Hold Fast range
While Man O’ War may have taken centre stage, we were equally pleased to see other parts of the Hold Fast range recognised.
Our Sloe Gin received a Silver Medal, continuing to build recognition for a spirit that takes a very different approach to our traditional gin range.
Our Bottled Negroni was also awarded a Silver Medal, showing that the craftsmanship behind Hold Fast extends beyond our bottled spirits and into our ready-to-serve cocktails as well.
Altogether, our results were:
- Trophy – Best Navy Strength Gin – Man O’ War Navy Strength Gin
- Gold Medal – Man O’ War Navy Strength Gin
- Silver Medal – Man O’ War – Contemporary Gin Category
- Runner-up – Champion Australian Gin – Man O’ War Navy Strength Gin
- Silver Medal – Sloe Gin
- Silver Medal – Bottled Negroni
It is a result that represents years of experimentation, refining recipes, working with botanicals and continuing to improve what we do.
From Braidwood to the national stage
Hold Fast is a small, independent distillery based in the historic town of Braidwood, New South Wales.
We produce our spirits by hand in small batches, with a focus on flavour, craftsmanship and creating products that have their own identity and story.
Being able to take spirits made here in Braidwood and have them judged alongside some of the best producers in Australia and internationally is always an important opportunity for us.
Bringing home a major trophy, a Gold Medal, multiple Silver Medals and a Runner-up Champion Australian Gin result makes it even more special.
For a regional producer, recognition like this helps demonstrate that genuinely world-class spirits can be made outside the major cities.
More than medals
Awards are wonderful, but behind every medal is a huge amount of work that happens long before a bottle ever reaches a judging table.
It is the distilling, blending, testing, tasting, bottling, labelling, cleaning, packing and constant refinement that goes into every product.
These results therefore belong to the whole Hold Fast Distillery team.
They also belong in part to the customers, friends and supporters who have backed us along the way.
Whether you have bought a bottle from us at the distillery, visited us at a market or festival, come through our cellar door, attended one of our experiences, recommended us to a friend or simply followed the Hold Fast journey, that support has allowed us to keep producing and experimenting.
Bringing the trophy home to Braidwood
Perhaps the thing we are proudest of is bringing this recognition home to Braidwood.
Hold Fast was founded on the idea that a small regional distillery could produce genuinely exceptional spirits while remaining connected to its community, its heritage and the people around it.
The results from the Australian International Spirits Awards give us enormous confidence that we are continuing in the right direction.
To have Man O’ War Navy Strength Gin named Best Navy Strength Gin and Runner-up Champion Australian Ginis one of the proudest achievements in Hold Fast’s journey so far.
We are incredibly grateful to the judges, the organisers at Melbourne Royal, our team and everyone who continues to support Hold Fast Distillery.
There will certainly be a glass raised in Braidwood to celebrate this one.
Hold Fast.
