Gifts for Wine and Spirits

A spring loaded foot valve for a bottle filler. The valve stays shut until the wand touches the bottom of the bottle, then opens and fills from below, which keeps splashing and oxygen pickup down. Spring loaded, so it closes the moment you lift out.

Check it against the filler wand you are using, or bring the wand into Laverton North or Epping and we will match it.

Small batch gin at home with no water connection needed. The Air Still Pro is air-cooled and comes with a botanical basket, and we’ve added the botanicals and flavourings to get you started. Everything here is something we sell on its own, bundled so you’re not standing in the aisle wondering what you’ve forgotten.

What’s in the kit

• Still Spirits Air Still Pro with Botanical Basket and foreshots collection vial
• London Dry Gin botanicals
• Top Shelf Select Blue Jewel Gin flavouring
• Profiles Gin Deluxe Gin Enhancer, 50 ml

Not included

• Your wash or base spirit
• Bottles. See our spirit bottles.

How it works

1. Set up the Air Still Pro as set out in the instructions.
2. Load the basket with your botanicals.
3. Run the still, following the instructions, and discard the foreshots vial.
4. Finish and bottle. Add flavouring or enhancer to taste.

Please note: alcohol distillation and owning distilling equipment are restricted in some places, and permits or licences may be required. For guidance or advice, contact your relevant local authorities.

New to it? Pop into Laverton North or Epping and we’ll walk you through it.

A handcrafted Italian copper alembic, bundled with glass bottles, cork stoppers and a test cylinder. It is a beautiful piece, made from food-safe copper with a hand-hammered finish.

What’s in the kit

• Italian Alembic Copper Boiler, 23 L, with detachable thermometer, alcoholmeter, serpentine cooling tank and condenser unit with copper coil
• 20 x 500 ml Euro gin bottles
• Black flat top port cork stoppers, 100 pack
• Hydrometer test cylinder, 270 ml

Good to know

The alembic is sold as a bar display ornament for a restaurant, bar or pub feature. As it holds more than 5 L, if you intend to use it for essential oil or spirit distillation you may need to explore your state laws and apply for a regional producer licence first.

The gear we’d put together for anyone making their first red. Everything here is something we sell on its own and use ourselves, bundled so you’re not standing in the aisle wondering what you’ve forgotten.

A 20 L batch fills around 24 to 26 standard 750 ml bottles once the wine is racked off its sediment. That’s enough to learn the process without committing a whole garage to it.

Not included

• Grapes or juice
• Wine bottles. See our wine bottles.
• A bucket or vat, if you’re crushing whole grapes

How it works

1. Clean and sanitise the demijohn, airlock and syphon with a metabisulphite solution.
2. Fill and pitch. Add your juice or crushed grapes, plus nutrient and yeast following the directions on each pack. Take a hydrometer reading before fermentation starts.
3. Ferment with the airlock fitted. Keep the demijohn somewhere with a steady temperature.
4. Check it’s finished. When the hydrometer reading stops changing over a few days, fermentation is done.
5. Rack the wine off the sediment with the syphon, and let it clear. Don’t rush this. Wine bottled too early tastes thin.
6. Bottle and cork. Fill your bottles, drive the corks home with the hand corker, and give it time.

New to it? Read our step-by-step wine making guide, or pop into Laverton North or Epping and we’ll walk you through it.

• Fabrication: Handmade Crystalline
• Care and Use Instructions: Hand wash only

A solid glass Excalibur whiskey flask decanter with a matching stopper, made in Italy. Its weighty base and clean lines make a handsome home for your favourite dram on the sideboard. A lovely piece for the whisky lover, and a fine gift.

The gear we’d put together for anyone making their first white. Everything here is something we sell on its own and use ourselves, bundled so you’re not standing in the aisle wondering what you’ve forgotten.

A 20 L batch fills around 24 to 26 standard 750 ml bottles once the wine is racked off its sediment. That’s enough to learn the process without committing a whole garage to it.

Not included

• Grapes or juice
• Wine bottles. See our wine bottles.
• A crusher and press, if you’re starting from whole grapes.

How it works

1. Clean and sanitise the demijohn, airlock and syphon with a metabisulphite solution.
2. Fill and pitch. For white wine, the grapes are crushed and pressed first, so only the juice goes into the demijohn. Add the nutrient and yeast following the directions on each pack. Take a hydrometer reading before fermentation starts.
3. Ferment with the airlock fitted. Keep the demijohn somewhere cool with a steady temperature.
4. Check it’s finished. When the hydrometer reading stops changing over a few days, fermentation is done.
5. Rack the wine off the sediment with the syphon, and let it clear. Don’t rush this. Wine bottled too early tastes thin.
6. Bottle and cork. Fill your bottles, drive the corks home with the hand corker, and give it time.

New to it? Read our step-by-step wine making guide, or pop into Laverton North or Epping and we’ll walk you through it.