Christmas pudding is not something I'd expect to find in a glass of gin, even at this time of year with Yuletide festivities imminent. It was certainly not something I'd ever have expected to detect in any gin way back in July 1999 when I took part in my first (sort of) serious gin tasting with Vernon Chalker and Daniel Besen of The Gin Palace, which I wrote of last week and which has fuelled this column too.

In that line-up there was not a single local gin – Australian gin didn't exist as a category back then; that the Christmas pud bound in subtle wafts of juniper and anise to which I'm now referring is to be found in an Aussie gin makes it even more remarkable and inspiring. These are exciting times for fine white and dark distillates in Australia.