“There’s four of us full time at our distillery and we’ve been pretty much non-stop 24/7 for the last four days – we’re all pretty shattered,” Sean Baxter tells Living Proof podcast in an interview recorded just days after Never Never’s Southern Strength Gin was named the World’s Best Classic Gin at the recent World Gin Awards in London.

The distillery, just a couple of years old, is the first Australian gin producer to win the accolade and Baxter says that the impact for a small business is significant.

Immediately after news broke, Never Never was fielding calls from places wanting to stock the gin, with Baxter joking that head distiller Tim Boast was “chained to the still, producing”.

“That’s a really exciting vibe to have at a small distillery … it’s like a madhouse right now in our distillery and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

In his interview with Living Proof hosts Nicole Haack (The Message Pod) and Marcus Motteram (Hains & Co), Baxter says that unlike many modern gins, the Southern Strength is a classic spirit created with some of his favourite gins in mind.

“My favourite gins have this vegetal texture, this richness, the oiliness … they sing from a songbook that was 150 years ago – they’re in every essence classical.”

In the podcast (listen above), Baxter shares the story of Never Never Distilling Co’s origins and rise to success, as well as talking about the anticipated impact of the award win and what’s next for the distiller – including the plans for its new distillery door in McLaren Vale.