Stone Pine Distillery in Bathurst

Mr L'Orange and I take Dog A L'Orange to obedience classes every Saturday morning in Bathurst with a distant hope that one day he might be well behaved.

Every cellar door needs a dragon sculpture

Given that Bathurst is 45 minutes from Orange and we do have to get up pretty early to make it to the class on time we have decided to start treating ourselves and the dog once the Obedience Training is finished.

This week we decided to head to Stone Pine Distillery to try some of their spirits and meet owner Ian, who also happens to have a lovely Scottish accent.

The cellar door has that country rustic charm that encourages you to try hard spirits at 11am and part with lots of money.  The copper still is right in the cellar door next to you whilst tasting, which really helps when Ian is explaining his distillation techniques.

Our first taste was the wild lime vodka made with finger limes which add plenty of flavour & zing. During production, all the botanicals added only release their flavours as the copper still is heated.

The dream gin maker

We tried the new Lucia Limoncello that has been made in partnership with 42 Bannermans Trattoria and Bar - it is tangy and refreshing without being overtly sweet and would be the perfect ending to any big Italian feast.

We got to try some of Ian's new gin blends that he is working on, the lemon myrtle and junipers are a match made in heaven and make the Stone Pine's gin totally unique. It means when adding tonic you don't have to worry about lemons or lime slices as the flavour is already in the gin - simply delicious.

A the tasting room table

Stone Pine also produce a range of lip smacking liqueurs including a choca-mocha, apple schnapps and summer berry liqueur. Alas we were already feeling pretty tipsy from the gin, vodka, limoncello we had consumed and decided to come back another day for liqueurs when someone else was driving.

Rustic toilet facilities

Located just 10 minutes outside of Bathurst, Stone Pine Distillery is a great cellar door to pop into if you happen to be passing through Bathurst. If the gin appeals and you are not planning a trip to Bathurst then fear not as you can always order online.

Frostfest in Orange

Frostfest started off well with a brilliant night at the Orange Civic Theatre seeing Julius Caesar. I caught up with some girlfriends beforehand and we enjoyed some delicious lime infused local gin and tonics made by Stone Pine Distillery in Bathurst. If you are a gin person, you definitely need to try some Stone Pines gin as it has a really interesting blend of botanicals that give the gin lovely lime & mint characteristics so you don’t have to worry about adding anything else. It is also very reasonably priced as far as gin is concerned, you can purchase a bottle at the Orange farmers markets or from their website.

So back to the play, the modern adaptation by the Bell Shakespeare Company went with a minimalist political setting that you could imagine Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard featuring in. If you have a free night this week, definitely buy some tickets and go along for a decent fill of culture. The seats in the Orange Civic Theatre were excellent and we could see and hear everything perfectly. It makes a big difference being able to get good seats for $50 versus poor seats for $80 - $100 in Sydney. The gin was having a serious drowsy effect, combined with the warm theatre and comfy chairs – my girlfriends were falling asleep on me! The older ladies behind us were actually snoring, which was pretty hilarious.

We stocked up on tea, water and snakes (unusual food item for a theatre but yummy) in the interval so we could be a bit more wide awake for act two. We needn’t have worried as the suspense and drama kept us on the edge of our seats. 10 minutes after the show finished we were home, if only it was that easy when we used to live in Sydney.

On Saturday night we headed to the De Salis Cellar Door to see the new Frostfest photographic exhibition by Alexis Withers from Sydney. We wrapped up warmly and enjoyed some tasty barbequed chipolata sausage rolls with homemade tomato sauce the perfect match for De Salis Fume Sauvignon Blanc 2010. We enjoyed a lovely evening thanks to Charlie Svenson’s hospitality and a good crowd of local wine makers and friends in attendance. The photo exhibition remains at the De Salis Cellar Door until the end of Frostfest, go and check out this awesome cellar door if you have the chance.