Peeling 40 oranges a week is a task that quickly becomes burdensome, no matter how sweet the juice. However, that orange peel is a crucial component in the warmth and fullness of Greg Deaker’s award-winning Tasman Dry Gin, which he crafts in the homemade still that sits pride of place in his converted carport in Tasman.
An engineer by trade, Greg has altered his still nine times and now has it working just as he would like. He also found an interim solution for his orange peeling ennui, fashioning an electric peeler out of an old windscreen wiper motor.
Meanwhile, the fermentation process is temperature-controlled with the help of an old Falcon radiator that is mounted to the shed wall.
Starting out with a weekly production of just three bottles, Greg is now screwing the lids onto 60 bottles of gin a week under his label, Deaks Tasman Bay Distillery. His small-batch gin is sold around the Top of the South, including in Motueka’s Super Liquor and Liquorland, and over the bar at Hotel Motueka.
About two years ago, Greg blew out his back at work and lost 90 per cent of the function in his legs. It was a slow recovery, and he needed a project to pass the time and distract himself. He tinkered with a tiny still, playing around with a few batches that lacked the smoothness that he was looking for.
“Warmth without harshness,” was the aim, he reckons, and so he began to create his own base alcohol – a step that only a handful of distilleries bother with nationally, as it means that the entire process takes four times as long. It’s well worth it though, according to Greg. His distilling removes the sinus-stripping methanol and acetone that are “a great window cleaner” but have no place in stunning spirits.
“That’s why the gin is so good,” he explains. “It’s very smooth and clean.”
As well as the orange peel, his recipe contains gin’s mandatory juniper berries, as well as coriander seeds, and angelica and liquorice root. The flavours are all natural – “no pour-ins,” he says. The exact recipe is a secret, but Greg estimates it was altered 30 times before he was completely satisfied. He’s currently perfecting a berry-flavoured version, with concoctions of blackberry and strawberry maturing on his worktop.
“It’s a lot of mixology,” he says. The judges at last November’s Junipers NZ Gin Awards obviously approved of his decisions – after their blind tasting, they awarded Tasman Dry Gin a silver medal in the award’s contemporary dry and New Zealand section.
Greg reckons he was “absolutely blown away”.
“I was hoping for a bronze, and I was at the top of the list for the silvers,” he says.
“It was a great outcome.” He’s hoping to get his product into stores nationwide before too long, although he might need to do a little more tinkering with his still to meet the demand.
As for his favourite way to drink the spirit, he won’t judge you for adding tonic, but just quietly, he reckons that the simple addition of lime and soda is what lets his gin shine best.
