One of Never Never’s most celebrated collaborations is back, and it comes with coffee, cacao, Negronis and a link to the world’s best bar.
The award-winning McLaren Vale distillery has re-released its Coffee & Cacao Gin, a collaboration with Bar Leone, the Hong Kong bar that was named World’s Best Bar at the World’s Top 50 Bar Awards late last year.
The gin first launched in 2023 and quickly became one of Never Never’s most popular releases. Now, with Bar Leone recently opening a new version of its now-famous bar in Shanghai, Never Never has brought the bold bottle back.
“We sent a pallet of our original Coffee and Cacao Gin to Hong Kong,” says Never Never Co-Founder Sean Baxter, “and then it promptly sold out here in Australia.”
“Lorenzo couldn’t ship the original 500ml bottle from Hong Kong to China without going through the process of importation and paying duty taxes so we decided to re-release the product, again just for his new bar in Shanghai,” says Sean.
“When Hong Kong runs out, no doubt we will send it there as well,” Sean laughs, “but for now the new release will only be available in Bar Leone Shanghai and through our distillery door and website,” says Sean.
The re-release uses the same ingredients as the original, with roasted coffee bean, cacao nib, cacao butter, coconut cream and bergamot peel coming together in a gin that is rich, layered and built with classic cocktails in mind.
“Coffee and Cacao tastes like standing at a bar in Rome ordering an espresso and a sfogliatelle before midday,” says Sean, “it’s an exciting combination of roasted coffee aromatics and earthy cacao character, built for exceptional classic cocktails.”
Lorenzo Antinori, founder of Bar Leone, says the gin is a fitting nod to Italian flavour and drinking culture.
“I love the nod to Italy – these flavours are truly representative of both food and drinks tradition, this gin excites me because it carries a big body with lots of layers of flavours: toasted ones, umami but also citrusy and floral,” he says.
Coffee & Cacao Gin also holds a special place in Never Never’s line-up as the first gin the distillery created specifically to make exceptional Negronis. Since then, the team has gone on to make its bottled Panettone Negroni, which won World’s Best Contemporary Cocktail at the World Gin Awards in London.
“If we’re making a gin aligned to the very best that Italy and now the world has to offer it better make a damn good Negroni,” says Sean. “We wanted to build a gin whose purpose was to create delicious coffee and chocolate forward Negronis and work with the dark earthy flavours found in Italian sweet vermouth,” he says.
To create its rich texture, cacao butter is ‘washed’ into the gin, adding a decadent mouthfeel that lets the coffee and chocolate notes linger into darker spice and soft vanilla. Distilled coconut cream is also added to boost the palate weight.
“Washing spirit with fats is definitely something very prevalent within the bar community,” says Sean, “however it’s still largely something that doesn’t occur as a production technique within gin,” he says.
The bottle itself is just as tied to Bar Leone’s personality, with bright colours and a checkerboard design that nods to the venue and the Roma football team’s famous orange and maroon strip.
Coffee and Cacao Gin was re-released as part of Bar Leone’s visit to Adelaide for Bartenders Weekender, which also marked the beginning of Never Never’s 10th anniversary celebrations. While the private industry event at Latteria has sold out, the venue will continue serving a cocktail featuring the gin for a limited time on its cocktail specials menu.
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