From the moment Sean Baxter arrives with glassware and botanicals for a proper gin education, this episode becomes something special. The co-owner of Never Never Distilling Co doesn’t just pour drinks, he crafts an experience that transforms how we think about gin, taking us from Triple Juniper through the coastal complexity of Oyster Shell to the life-changing intensity of Juniper Freak Navy Strength.
Beyond the tasting lies a remarkable South Australian success story. Three acquaintances pooled resources for a broken still from a brewery equipment manufacturer, set up shop in a dusty grinding shed with no running water, and built a brand that caught the attention of global beverage giant Asahi. Their secret wasn’t chasing novelty natives but perfecting the London Dry style with an Australian soul.
The musical pilgrimage celebrates The Violets’ upcoming 30th anniversary reunion show at The Gov, featuring their raw 1996 live recording “Somewhere” from the Lion Arts Bar during Adelaide’s vibrant mid-nineties music scene.
You can navigate episodes using chapter markers in your podcast app. Not a fan of one segment? You can click next to jump to the next chapter in the show. We’re here to serve!
The Adelaide Show Podcast: Awarded Silver for Best Interview Podcast in Australia at the 2021 Australian Podcast Awards and named as Finalist for Best News and Current Affairs Podcast in the 2018 Australian Podcast Awards.
And please consider becoming part of our podcast by joining our Inner Circle. It’s an email list. Join it and you might get an email on a Sunday or Monday seeking question ideas, guest ideas and requests for other bits of feedback about YOUR podcast, The Adelaide Show. Email us directly and we’ll add you to the list: [email protected]
If you enjoy the show, please leave us a 5-star review in iTunes or other podcast sites, or buy some great merch from our Red Bubble store – The Adelaide Show Shop. We’d greatly appreciate it.
And please talk about us and share our episodes on social media, it really helps build our community. Oh, and here’s our index of all episode in one concise
page.
Running Sheet: Never Never Underestimate Sean Baxter
00:00:00 Intro
Introduction
00:02:52 SA Drink Of The Week
This week’s SA Drink becomes an extended Never Never Distilling Co masterclass as Sean Baxter guides Steve through three distinct gin expressions, each revealing layers of complexity that challenge preconceptions about the spirit category.
Triple Juniper Neat Tasting
Sean begins with Triple Juniper, explaining the three-stage juniper manipulation: steeping for deeper, earthier flavours, pot distillation for additional layers, and vapour basket treatment for the lightest citrus and pine resin notes. “The vapour touches is kind of the first thing you taste,” Sean explains as Steve immediately identifies the citrus peel lifting from the glass.
The neat tasting reveals gin’s textural potential. “Some of the flavours you’ll find immediately at the front are root driven,” Sean notes, describing how angelica root, liquorice root, and orris root land along the palate’s sides, while spices create warmth sensations in the middle. Steve’s poetic response captures the experience: “It’s like tire tracks leaving warmth on the road, and little critters looking up after it’s passed.”
Triple Juniper With Coastal Tonic
Adding Strange Love’s coastal tonic with lemon and lemon thyme transforms the experience entirely. The salinity in the tonic connects with multiple citrus compounds, creating what Sean calls “a thing of beauty.” Steve describes the dilution effect as moving from aggressive light show to “Aurora across the horizon,” softer but bigger.
The garnish selection proves crucial. Lemon thyme adds familiar yet unexpected notes, while the lemon provides what Steve characterises as an “echo chamber effect.” The finish reveals angelica root’s savoury qualities, part of the celery family and used worldwide in stocks and soups.
Oyster Shell Gin Experience
The second gin immediately establishes its distinctive character. “Oyster shell gin makes everything taste like seafood for a significant amount of time,” Sean warns, explaining why distillation schedules matter. The neat tasting surprises Steve, who expected fishiness but discovers instead a coastal complexity featuring wakame seaweed and native Australian botanicals.
“It’s whacked up a quick sandcastle across my palate,” Steve observes, finding nothing fishy but something entirely different from Triple Juniper. Sean’s botanical selection includes Elysia coastal daisy bush, native rosemary-like Florio, saltbush, and Geraldton Wax from Western Australia, which creates “almost like a lemongrass, lime leaf note.”
With coastal tonic, lime, and lime leaf, the gin becomes what Steve describes as “icy poles at swimming carnivals.” The lime performs like a beach rake, cleaning the palate fresh. Sean emphasises this as “salted coastal citrus style,” designed to pair perfectly with Society restaurant’s raw bar in Melbourne.
Juniper Freak Navy Strength
The final gin represents Sean’s philosophy of amplification over innovation. At 58% ABV with no different ingredients from Triple Juniper, Juniper Freak concentrates every flavour element. “There’s so much juniper oil in it,” Sean explains, demonstrating how the spirit louches when diluted, releasing visible oils.
Steve’s reaction proves transformative: “I think this is my spiritual home of gin.” The viscosity, evident in the glass’s legs, promises intensity that delivers. “That was one plus one equals 77,” Steve declares, referencing the oyster shell martini experience while finding his gin revelation.
With pink grapefruit and rosemary garnish, the navy strength gin maintains its prominence while allowing other flavours to complement rather than compete. “You are probably the first person on the planet that’s been able to make rosemary a team player,” Steve observes, noting how the herb plays wingman rather than overwhelming the juniper.
The tasting concludes with Steve’s pledge: “Juniper Freak gin will be a mainstay of my small bar from this day until the day I pass.” Sean’s response captures the distiller’s satisfaction: “Well, turns out you’re a freak, Steve, so there you are. You’re in the freak club.”
00:53:38 Sean Baxter
What begins as Steve expecting “two little jug glasses” for a simple tasting quickly escalates when Sean arrives with proper glassware, botanicals, and the confidence of someone who knows their craft inside out. His Sunday morning setup includes everything needed for a proper gin education, because as Sean puts it, “This is a regular Sunday morning to me.”
The conversation starts with World Gin Day celebrations at Hains & Co, where Sean’s oyster shell martini served in actual oyster shells created what Steve describes as “one plus one equals 77” rather than simple addition. The technique involves grinding actual oyster shells into the distillation process, adding minerality and salinity that recreates “the fresh rock pool that’s almost just been born, not the dodgy one at midday.”
Sean’s background reveals the hospitality industry’s hidden career potential. Despite his mother’s investment in “eight years of tertiary education,” Sean chose bartending, eventually becoming a Johnny Walker brand ambassador. “I always felt so connected to the idea of hospitality and service,” he explains, emphasising that memorable experiences come from people who understand their value in making others feel welcome.
The Never Never origin story defies conventional startup wisdom. Three men who weren’t close friends pooled money for a broken 300-litre still that was actually a shop floor model from Spark Brew. “It didn’t actually work. It wasn’t made to work. It was made to measure,” Sean recalls. Located in Big Shed Brewing’s grinding shed without running water, Tim Boast had to carry 20-litre containers of filtered water 20 metres for every distillation run.
Their decision to focus on London Dry style rather than native botanicals proved prescient. “What didn’t exist was a gin that celebrated London style, but was Australian,” Sean explains. While others explored native ingredients, Never Never perfected juniper-forward gins that bartenders understood instinctively. The strategy worked: in 2019, they won World’s Best Classic Gin, and in 2022, World’s Best London Dry for their Triple Juniper.
The recent acquisition by Asahi represents validation of a decade-long vision. “The year before, we had to go through redundancies. We were struggling to keep the lights on,” Sean admits. The transformation from near-closure to global expansion opportunities makes him emotional: “We built a brand in the back of a shed in a western suburb of Adelaide for nothing.”
Their label evolution from angular, colour-based designs to cleaner, more readable bottles reflects practical lessons learned. The original 500ml bottles and low-light illegible labels worked for small-scale operations but hindered growth. The new tall bottles with clear branding support their global ambitions while maintaining the “horizon line” concept that embodies Never Never’s philosophy.
Sean’s passion for blended whiskey reveals industry prejudices worth questioning. His father’s collection of unopened Johnny Walker bottles, hidden because he “didn’t think he was good enough to drink it,” illustrates how perceptions of premium products can create unnecessary barriers. “Johnny Red is someone’s premium whiskey,” an elderly gentleman once reminded Sean during a seminar, a lesson that shaped his inclusive approach to spirits.
01:26:13 Musical Pilgrimage
In the Musical Pilgrimate, The Violets return to mark 30 years since their debut album “Leased Regret” with a reunion show at The Gov on Friday 29th August. The original supporters Batteries Not Included and The Jaynes share the bill, creating what promises to be “nostalgia with driving guitars.”
The featured track “Somewhere” captures The Violets live at Lion Arts Bar in 1996, during the venue’s peak as a showcase for Adelaide’s most promising acts. The raw energy and guitar-driven sound defined much of Adelaide’s music scene through the nineties and early 2000s, when venues like Lion Arts Bar provided crucial platforms for emerging talent.
Batteries Not Included’s inclusion adds perfect symmetry, as they gave The Violets their first gig at Limbo Nightclub in 1992. The reunion represents one of those full-circle moments that happen regularly in Adelaide’s tight-knit music community, where relationships forged decades ago continue to shape current events.
The tenuous gin connection acknowledges the Navy Strength Juniper Freak’s influence on Steve’s commentary, though the real connection lies in how both The Violets and Never Never represent South Australian creativity finding its voice and reaching beyond local boundaries.
Support the show: https://theadelaideshow.com.au/listen-or-download-the-podcast/adelaide-in-crowd/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
