A quince has a short season. A bottle gives it a longer life.
At Melbourne’s Saison Aperitifs, that relationship between produce and preservation is the starting point. Founded in 2020 by chef and Embla co owner Dave Verheul, Saison brings a kitchen’s attention to ingredients into the business of making bitter drinks.
Each release begins with a central ingredient picked at its peak, layered with herbs, fruit and flowers from small growers and the wild. Australian grown wormwood is part of that toolkit, and Saison prepares its ingredients by hand without using flavour essences. The work begins with the produce, well before anyone reaches for a cocktail shaker.
Fallen Quinces gives the approach a particularly good introduction. Fresh and wood roasted pineapple quinces are layered with saffron, bay leaf and dried blood orange. Working with the fruit in different forms builds brightness and depth around the same ingredient.
There is patience involved, too. The vermouth combines fresher material with a portion aged from earlier years in old pinot noir barrels. Nearly 18 months in the making, it brings together the character of a new harvest and the depth of older stock. That is quite a bit of preparation before you have even found a glass.
The treatment changes with the ingredient. Spring Rhubarb uses fresh stalks infused into moscato, alongside magnolia, lavender and violet blossoms. Two Australian wormwoods provide bitterness before the vermouth rests on roasted rhubarb and fresh lilac. Raw stalks bring sourness; roasting introduces another side of the fruit.
White Flowers takes a different route through jasmine, elderflower, white rose and chrysanthemum, with white peaches grown on Melbourne’s outskirts. Victorian moscato and frontignac form the base, and the vermouth is aged in stainless steel. The choice of vessel matters: Fallen Quinces incorporates older barrel aged material, while White Flowers follows its floral ingredients in another direction.
That kitchen sensibility extends to the amaro. Artichoke Vin Amaro begins with organic globe artichokes and wild holy thistle, joined by cascara, Meyer lemon and lavender. Blended with Victorian moscato, it spends nine months in French oak before bottling. It is a distinctly savoury set of ingredients to find waiting in your drinks cabinet.
Saison suggests drinking it neat, with ice and tonic, or in a cocktail. A simple serve gives you a chance to understand what all that preparation has produced.
Across the range, seasonality becomes something practical: different ingredients, different treatments and different lengths of time. Flowers go into one vessel, roasted fruit into another, and some bottles take considerably longer to reach the table.
A short harvest can leave a rather lasting impression.
Explore the range at saisonaperitifs.com and follow @saisonaperitifs.