It has been a busy 15 months for the award-winning winemaker.

In November 2014 Short turned his hand to making spirits, in addition to wine, at his McLaren Vale winery, Maximus Wines. Since then he has produced four varieties of gin and two liqueurs; only weeks ago he released what he believes is South Australia’s first vodka; and last weekend he bottled some of his first batch of Moonshine. The rest was put into barrels for ageing and will ultimately become Settlers Single Malt Whisky.

“Single malt whisky has to age in a barrel for a minimum of two years – anything less and you can’t call whisky – it’s an international regulation,” explains Short. “There’s a whole lot of names I could have used, but I thought Moonshine was the most easily recognisable.”

Until the Settlers Moonshine has been labelled and distributed, those who are keen for a taste can head down to Short’s Foggo Road cellar door. There he has built a solera system for barrel ageing the whisky, slowly rotating the liquid through a pyramid system of barrels allowing the flavours to soften and the colour to intensify.

“Right now the Moonshine is so young but it’s lovely,” says Short. “It has a sweet caramel and honey flavour like a Violet Crumble bar.”

Short has distilled his Moonshine from locally produced malted barley, but he says the advantage of growing your own grapes and making your own wine is that gin and vodka distillation can be built into the wine production cycle.

Winemaker and spirits producer Rowland Short.

“This week we’re picking one of our Shiraz blocks specifically to make into wine spirit,” says Short.

“The first part of the process is just like making wine – first you ferment the grape juice to convert the sugar from the fruit into alcohol, then you put the resulting alcohol into a still to produce the wine spirit. We distil it three times to give it absolute purity.

“We actually use the ‘saignee’ method, where we drain off 10 per cent of the fermenting grape juice to make the wine spirit and the rest of it we use to make wine.”

The solera system for barrel ageing the Settlers Whisky.

Also available for tasting at the Maximus Wines cellar door are the recently released Settlers Vodka & Goji which is flavoured with reconstituted dried goji berries and vanilla bean.

“Once goji berries are reconstituted they taste a lot like cranberries,” says Short. “The vanilla bean is added as the last part of the process and that’s what finishes on your palate.

“It makes a great vodka, lime and soda, but it will also make the best Bloody Mary you’ve ever tasted.”

Settlers Vodka & Goji.

Having been a sailor in a previous life, it was only natural that Short started his distillation production with gin. The first gin he produced was Settlers Rare Dry Gin, a classic London style with a juniper, coriander, caraway, cucumber and muntrie berry base overlaid with aromatics of orange and lemon myrtle and finishing with native pepper berry.

He also produces an aged version of the Settlers Rare Dry gin which has spent some time in oak barrels, adding further complexity.

Around eight months ago, Short released a further two gins: Settlers Old Tom and Settlers Sloe Gin.

Old Tom is a spicy style of gin that has its roots in the Gin Craze of 18th-century England when the British government tried to curb high gin consumption with prohibitive taxes and licensing causing production to go underground. Old Tom gin is slightly sweeter than the London Dry style.

“Back then, the off flavours of bootleg gin were disguised with licorice root to add sweetness and an aniseed flavour,” Short explains. “I wanted to make a spicy gin for winter, so I added licorice root, cinnamon, nutmeg and clove. I distil each of the botanicals separately before blending, which results in bright crisp and clean flavours.

“The Old Tom is my favourite as a basic gin and tonic garnished with lime and sage. It’s also where the ‘Tom’ comes from in a Tom Collins cocktail and the base of the Martinez (a mix of Old Tom gin, Maraschino cherry liqueur and bitters) and the Aviation (a mix of Old Tom gin, Maraschino cherry liqueur and violet liqueur).

“No-one in Australia makes Maraschino cherry liqueur or violet liqueur so I decided to make them, too – the labels for the Settlers Violet Liqueur are being printed right now.”

Settlers Rare Dry Gin and tonic with orange zest and rosemary.

As well as buying in frozen cherries and dried violets to make the liqueurs, Short imports frozen sloe berries from Tasmania to make classic English sloe gin.

“Sloe berries grow on box thorn bushes and they’re in season right now,” he says. “Unfortunately the South Australian climate here is too hot for us to grow them.

“To make sloe gin you have to puncture the berries – legend says you must not use silver – and steep them in your best gin. I steep them in Settlers Rare Dry Gin for a minimum of three to six months, turning them every day in the barrel to make sure the flavour is well-infused.

“My Settlers Sloe Gin is unlike the imported Plymouth and Haymans products available here. Mine is a vibrant red colour and you can still smell and taste the juniper and coriander of the gin along with the lovely bright red fruits of the berries.”

Rowland Short is holding three Settlers Gin masterclasses over the next week. The first is being held as part of Jazz and Tonic at Walford Anglican School on Friday, April 1, the second at the Stirling Hotel Gin Club on Saturday, April 2, and the third at the Edinburgh Cellars on Tuesday, April 5. Contact the respective venues for bookings and details.