Images supplied
A tiny new Adelaide Central Market venue is bottling the feeling of the Adelaide Hills and pouring it into the heart of the world’s third-best market. Stall 55 in Adelaide Central Market is set to become part cellar door, part bottle shop, part apothecary, and part-time intimate eight-seat bar.
The multi-sensory space, Sensory House, is the new permanent stall showcasing Full Circle Spirits, With Grace Whisky, Rose Kentish Wines and Perfumer Three, bringing together the work of founder, head distiller, winemaker and perfumer Rose Kentish in a space that’s much bigger than its footprint.
Expected to open at full capacity in June, the new venue follows a successful run of pop-ups and producer in residence series in the Markets. It’s designed as a small but deeply layered retail and tasting experience. The idea is, as you arrive at Sensory House, the lively chatter of market walkways will fade, and you’ll enter an intimate world of extraordinary aromas, flavours, and visuals in a small pocket of calm away from the noise.
For Rose, the idea is about creating a pause button inside one of Adelaide’s busiest food destinations.
“I think the Markets are beautiful for their hustle and bustle and busyness. But it’s also then nice to sort of get out of the slipstream and into a little eddy,” Rose said.
“We created this botanical kind of hug of a space that was our pop-up, and we’ve tried to retain that whilst also putting our roots down.”
Sensory House General Manager Michael Haddad added, “I think there’s too much chaos in the world, and too much trying to be bigger than what things are. This is very intimate. It’s very decidedly an invitation to come and experience something true, sweet and beautiful, and take a little gift home for yourself or a friend.”
While the space will certainly have a retail component, Michael says Sensory House has been designed to move beyond the usual tasting experience.
“This is breaking the mould in the sense that you get to touch, taste and feel. It’s an experience, rather than just going in, having a taste, paying $10 and walking out.”
“You’re being welcomed really beautifully into a curated space. It’s designed so your senses go on a journey with you, through scent, taste, touch and feel. It allows all of you to be transported to the making space.”
The venue will showcase Rose’s spirits, liqueurs, whisky, wines and plant-based perfume range, alongside self-care pieces and curated gifting.
“So, we’ll have things that I make, and then also, so, wine, spirits, and perfume, and then also, some other things that wrap around the world, or that space,” Rose said.
“So that people can come in and enjoy, and taste and smell, but also, take some things away for themselves, or buy gifts, or take a bit of the Hills home with them.”
Friday nights are also expected to bring a tiny cocktail bar element to the space, with just eight seats available.
“We’re hoping to serve classic cocktails on a Friday night,” Rose said. “You can shop and grab a martini and then head off to dinner, that kind of idea.”
Within the Full Circle range, Rose says she makes all the components for classics like a Negroni or martini, making the bar a chance to show how the botanicals work together.
“So, by serving them and showing people how great they taste together when all the botanicals interlock and have been made to go together, then that’s a gorgeous experience,” she said.
After trialling the Sensory House idea in Hahndorf, Rose says the Adelaide Central Market felt like the right home for the next chapter.
“If they don’t get a chance to go to the hills, we’re bringing the hills down to them,” Rose said.
For Rose, the hope is that Sensory House becomes a place where you can connect on multiple sensory levels with where something has come from, and experience South Australian produce in a more human way.
“You don’t just see things, but you feel them, you touch them, understand them, and as humans, we take things in on many, many levels.”
“This is a way, in a busy market to create a time for people to stop and take a moment, and take it all in on a sensory level, which is a very human thing to do.”
Sensory House
Where: Adelaide Central Market, Stall 55
When: Expected to open in full capacity in June
More information:
Full Circle Spirits
With Grace Whisky
Rose Kentish Wines
Perfumer Three
