Close to the Great Ocean Road and those iconic stone apostles, Timboon Railway Shed Distillery is crafting something great. More than just a gin, this could help cure a disease.
Known for its remarkable single malt whiskies, Timboon Distillery has turned its hand to a new gin - the Ruby Seven. The distillery is joining the effort to raise money against a little-known disease called Friedreich’s ataxia (FA), a degenerative neuromuscular illness.
From every bottle sold of this exciting new gin, Timboon is donating $7 to FARA, the Friedreich’s Ataxia Research Association, to help find a cure.
Ruby Seven Gin by Timboon Distillery - tasting notes
On the nose, you’ll find fennel, juniper and sweet floral aniseed.
From the first sip, you’ll taste slightly earthy, perfumed and fruity notes that lead into delicious liquorice and rose petals and a rich velvety texture.
After-notes are full of orange and orange peel. A ripper with tonic.
Timboon Distillery, Ruby Seven and FARA - let’s dig deeper
To get the lowdown on this excellent gin and its connection with FA, we speak to Josh Walker - distiller-owner of Timboon Railway Shed Distillery and Leah Alstin - founder of Ruby Seven, an Aussie business dedicated to raising funds to cure for this dreadful condition.
- How long has it taken to come up with this gin recipe?
Josh - The recipe has taken us since around July so 4-5 months. Charlie my brand ambassador and myself worked on three different styles and presented Leah with them.
Leah then picked one and we worked on it to perfect it and has now ended up in a bottle!
The Gin is a traditional Dry recipe with juniper, coriander, pepperberry and orange as the primary botanicals.
We also have some orris and cinnamon for that perfume on the nose, and also a small amount of fennel and lime to round it out.
- What's your favourite way to drink it?
J- Look, it’s bloody good straight up on ice but you can’t go past a G&T with slice of orange and a sprig of rosemary on a post-25 degree day! (scorcher down here in VIC at the moment!)
- If you don’t mind me asking, what’s Timboon Distillery’s connection to FA?
J- We where at a friend’s wedding in WA early in the year and I got talking to Leah, who has FA.
I really wanted to find a way to help and we came up with the idea of making a gin and donating $7 per bottle to Fara - the research foundation.
Leah got a friend, who is a artist, to design the label (which every one is slightly different with a mosaic effect!) and the idea ran from there.
Leah - Josh and I met at a wedding and it’s quite easy to see my physical challenges. I use a walking frame and struggle to do basic things. This must have pulled on Josh’s heart strings and before the wedding parties were over, Josh had organised a meeting with me.
The ‘Ruby’ part is my daughter’s middle name and the ‘Seven’ is my son’s middle name. My kids are my biggest motivation to keep going. To fight this horrible disease.
- How did you come up with the Move.Sip.Cure. slogan and what are you hoping to achieve with it?
L- move.sip.cure is the slogan I came up with a couple of years ago for my business Ruby Seven. I design and sell reusable coffee cups, drink bottles and champagne cups.
I wanted something that was ‘Leah-friendly’ to drink from. Something that wouldn’t spill (the coffee cups have a lid), wouldn’t smash (every product is stainless steel).
This would allow me to ‘move & sip’. From every product sold I donate $5 to Fara Australia, the organisation who work tirelessly to raise money to find a cure for FA.
So far I’ve raised $20,000.
The slogan just happens to go perfectly with gin!
- What else can people do to support Fara?
L- Buy Ruby Seven products 😉 rubyseven.com.au [Ed. I've already bought some of your excellent Champagne glasses!]
Go on to the Fara Australia website and donate or organise a fundraiser (they have lots of ideas). Follow Fara Australia on Instagram. Awareness is so important x