ABOUT THE DISTILLERY
Blend Etiquette was founded by Lindon
Lark and Geordan Ellis from their love
of good booze, and from the very start
they have always championed quality
over quantity.
If the surname Lark rings a bell, it’s for a
good reason. Lindon comes from a long
line of renowned Australian distillers;
notably from Lark Distillery and Kangaroo
Island Spirits. Lark Distillery was founded
in 1992 by Lindon’s Uncle and Aunt, Bill
and Lyn Lark, and was the first distillery
in Australia to produce Single Malt
Whisky. Lindon’s father Jon also had
a strong interest in distilling and a
few years later he and his wife, Sarah,
started Kangaroo Island Spirits (KIS),
Australia’s first distillery to focus solely
on producing gin. Having descended
from Australian distilling royalty, it’s no
surprise that Lindon has also ended up
in the industry.
Lindon and Geordan met back in
high school, but things became more
serious when they began working
together at KIS. Under the guidance
of Jon, and drawing on everything
he’d learnt at KIS, Lindon founded the
Blend Etiquette brand in 2016 with the
release of their flagship product Snake
Oil Tonic Syrup. It was a traditional
style of tonic made from real cinchona
that did well in the market after
being bolstered by a successful crowd
funding campaign. Geordan came
on board early on and she has been
managing the production side of the
business ever since. Although the
crowd funding campaign for Snake Oil
Tonics went well, they made a rookie
error with the trademarking (or lack
thereof) and someone else ended up
sneakily taking their name…
Geordan and Lindon have always loved
the process and care that Australians
give to special bottles that are put
aside for special occasions, and they
often liken it to traditional Japanese
tea ceremonies. “One of the main
purposes of the tea ceremony is for
the guests to enjoy the hospitality of
the host in an atmosphere distinct
from the fast pace of everyday life.”
They were inspired by this and wanted
to build a business and a brand that
championed the process behind how
Australian’s drink as well as what they
drink, and the name ‘Blend Etiquette’
captured this sentiment perfectly.
They’ve been Blend Etiquette ever
since, and now operate out of a
350m2 warehouse in Darlington, just
30 minutes south of Adelaide.
In 2018, Geordan and Lindon decided
to deviate slightly from tonic and
head into spirit production with the
launch of their Yours & Mine Gin. By
this time, Lindon was working full
time as an Architecture Graduate and
really had no intention of working in
the distillery. The business looked like
it was just starting to take off when
Geordan fell pregnant with their
daughter Charlie - Lindon decided to
give notice to the Architecture firm
4 weeks prior to Geordan’s due date.
They thought that would be enough
time for him to ease into a role in the
distillery and for the two of them to
prepare for Charlie’s arrival. As always,
life had other ideas and Charlie arrived
the day after Lindon finished up – all
three of them ended up back in the
distillery just 7 days later to finish a
job in time for the Christmas rush! It’s
been chaos ever since, but they love it.
10-month-old Charlie does a wonderful
job of looking after customer relations
alongside Murphy, their Border Collie,
who also does a great job of keeping
the customers happy.
Since those early days, the business
has grown rapidly in every sense;
alongside the family of four now
sits three additional staff members
in production, one staff member
in the marketing space, a beautiful
300L copper pot still named
Frank[enstiene’s monster], and two
new delicious gins: Floral as Hell and
Strangely Savoury. When Covid hit, the
team branched into producing hand
sanitiser (along with just about every
other distillery in the country), before
pivoting their entire business into a
contract manufacturing distillery.
They still focus heavily
on their own craft
brand, but also now
produce hyper
premium
gins for a range of
clients that have a
vision but not the
tools or skills...
bespoke, of clients that have a vision but not
the tools or skills that are essential for
making great spirits. Most notably,
they recently teamed up with Maggie
Beer and her family to produce a range
of spirits, each a toast to one member
of Maggie’s family.
ABOUT THE GIN
Geordan and Lindon both grew up
on the coast and they share a love of
a good martini. When devising their
first gin release, it seemed only natural
to create something that they could
enjoy together; Yours & Mine Gin is a
coastal inspired gin that is nothing less
than perfect in a martini.
When the Blend Etiquette team
set out to develop their recipe, they
drew on the experience and advice
of Jon and Sarah Lark who set them
up with some initial homework. As
an exercise before starting anything
else, Lindon and Geordan were tasked
with sampling over 80 botanicals
from the Lark’s gin garden as well as
trialing their key botanicals in different
ways. Jon and Sarah’s advice certainly
seemed to pay off; Geordan and Lindon
finalised the recipe for the Yours &
Mine Gin on their first go and haven’t changed the recipe since. We’ve got to
admit, this was the first time that we’d
ever heard a distillery say they were
happy with their first recipe!
Like many other Australian distilleries,
it was important for the Blend
Etiquette team to feature native
Australian botanicals, but their
emphasis has always been on using
fresh ingredients. Featuring botanicals
such as angelica, coriander, long
pepper and vanilla, Yours & Mine Gin
was Lindon and Geordan’s ode to
gin. With heavy notes of juniper, it is
a wonderful traditional London Dry
gin with a slight twist that was made
with gin aficionados in mind. Yours &
Mine Gin features earthly flavours of
False Cardamom and Sea Parsley, with
lemon zest and native lemongrass
coming through followed by a gentle
spice. The gin is sophisticated, clean,
perfectly balanced and approachable
enough to be easily enjoyed as an
everyday gin.
While Yours & Mine Gin goes well with
just about anything, Geordan and
Lindon recommend trying it alongside
a good old-fashioned serve of fish and
chips by the water – “have a greasy
clean, perfectly
balanced and
approachable enough
to be easily enjoyed
as an gin
sophisticated,
everyday
plate of fresh, South Australian seafood
(oysters, prawns, squid, tuna) and then
sit back to a Seaside Martini. It’ll rock
your socks off!”
OTHER PRODUCTS
Just last year, the Blend Etiquette
team released what was going to
be their first take on a sloe gin, but
it turned out sweeter than they’d
originally intended. They balanced it
well with the addition of strong bitter
flavours from gentian root (a flowering
herb). It turned out to be a happy
accident; they ended up creating their
delicious Little Bitter Plum Gin which
sits about halfway between a sloe
gin and Campari (yes, for those who
are wondering, it makes a cracking
Negroni). At home, Geordan and
Lindon like to serve their 2021 vintage
of Little Bitter Plum neat over ice.
Little Bitter Plum vintage 2022 has just
been released and the Blend Etiquette
Team has partnered up with Mischief
Brew to create a limited release of Little
Bitter Plum Gin & Tonic cans. This year’s
vintage is sitting at a higher ABV of
38% - it sounds to us like those cans are
going to pack a punch and we can’t
wait to try some!
Of course, keep your ears open and
eyes peeled for upcoming releases
of whisky, rum, vodka, brandy and
vermouth. Geordan and Lindon are
itching for their new toys to arrive
from Germany so they can get
cracking on these! If recent council
applications go to plan, it sounds
like we might even have a distillery
door to visit by Christmas; the perfect
chance to try all of their new products
for yourselves!
