Gin Meets Gelato – Discover The UPPside’s Gin & Gelato Tasting Experience

Gin and gelato might not be the first pairing that comes to mind — but perhaps it should be.

At The UPPside European Restaurant & Wine Bar, our Gin & Gelato Tasting Experience brings together locally handcrafted Clare Valley gin and refreshing European-inspired artisan gelato and sorbet in a tasting experience that is fun, unexpected and unmistakably Clare Valley.

Created in collaboration with our friends at Sawmill Gin in Sevenhill, the experience features three carefully selected gins, each matched with a complementary house-selected sorbet flavour.

It's part tasting, part dessert and entirely designed to be enjoyed slowly.

Welcome to a different way to experience the Clare Valley.

Where Clare Valley Gin Meets European Inspiration

The UPPside has always been about bringing the flavours and traditions of Europe together with the exceptional produce, wine and spirits of our home in the Clare Valley.

Our Gin & Gelato Experience is a perfect example.

Rather than presenting gin as a traditional tasting flight, we've paired three distinctive local gins with vibrant sorbets, creating combinations where botanicals, fruit, citrus, sweetness and acidity play off one another.

Each pairing has been chosen to highlight different characteristics within the gin while allowing the sorbet to become an important part of the tasting rather than simply an accompaniment.

The result?

Three gins. Three sorbets. Three completely different flavour experiences.

The Three Pairings

Gypsy Gin + Blood Orange Sorbet

We begin with a pairing that's bright, vibrant and beautifully refreshing.

Sawmill Gin's Gypsy Gin is matched with our Blood Orange Sorbet, bringing together botanical complexity with the bittersweet citrus character of blood orange.

The sorbet provides freshness and acidity while the gin brings aromatic depth, creating a pairing designed to awaken the palate.

It's a bold and refreshing way to begin the tasting.

Mr Wriggles Gin + Passionfruit Sorbet

Next comes something distinctly tropical.

Mr Wriggles Gin meets Passionfruit Sorbet in a pairing that combines the gin's botanical character with the sweet-tart intensity and fragrance of passionfruit.

The sharpness of the fruit cuts beautifully through the spirit, while its natural sweetness rounds out the botanical flavours.

Fresh, aromatic and playful, this pairing sits right at the heart of what the Gin & Gelato Experience is about — discovering flavour combinations you may never have thought to try.

Sebastopol Gin + Lemon Sorbet

The final pairing returns to one of the great flavour companions for gin: citrus.

Sebastopol Gin is paired with our refreshing Lemon Sorbet.

Clean, bright acidity brings freshness to the palate while allowing the botanical character of the gin to shine through.

Simple ingredients don't necessarily mean simple flavours.

This is a crisp, elegant finish to the tasting flight and a pairing that demonstrates just how naturally gin and sorbet can work together.

More Than Just Three Glasses of Gin

The Gin & Gelato Experience isn't simply a gin flight with dessert on the side.

It's designed as a guided flavour experience.

Alongside the three gin and sorbet pairings, guests are provided with Mediterranean tonic, water and tasting notes, allowing you to explore each gin in different ways.

Taste the gin.

Try the sorbet.

Taste them together.

Add a little tonic.

Return to the sorbet.

You'll begin to notice how temperature, sweetness, acidity and botanicals change your perception of each flavour.

There is no complicated tasting etiquette and certainly no test at the end.

It's about experimenting, tasting and enjoying yourself.

Celebrating Local – Sawmill Gin, Sevenhill

An important part of The UPPside philosophy is supporting the producers, growers, winemakers and makers who help make the Clare Valley such a remarkable food and beverage destination.

That's why we're proud to showcase gin from Sawmill Gin, located just down the road from us in Sevenhill.

The collaboration allows us to combine two different approaches to craftsmanship — locally produced small-batch spirits and The UPPside's European-inspired food philosophy — into one experience.

For visitors exploring Clare Valley wineries and cellar doors, it also offers something a little different.

Because sometimes your Clare Valley tasting itinerary needs a break from wine.

Inspired by the European Love of Gelato

Gelato is one of Europe's great simple pleasures.

Whether wandering through an Italian piazza on a summer evening or stopping at a neighbourhood gelateria, it is about slowing down and enjoying something made purely for pleasure.

That relaxed European spirit is something we wanted to capture with our Gin & Gelato Experience.

The cold, intense fruit flavours of sorbet also happen to work exceptionally well with gin.

Citrus enhances botanicals. Acidity provides balance. Fruit introduces sweetness and aroma. And the frozen texture changes the way flavours develop across the palate.

What begins as a fun idea becomes a surprisingly interesting tasting experience.

The Perfect Clare Valley Afternoon Experience

Our Gin & Gelato Experience is designed to be enjoyed without rushing.

It makes a wonderful addition to a day exploring the Clare Valley — perhaps after visiting a few cellar doors, before lunch or dinner, or simply as an experience in its own right.

Take a seat.

Enjoy the Clare Valley surroundings.

Work your way through the three pairings.

Compare favourites.

Experiment with the tonic.

And decide which combination wins your vote.

It's perfect for couples, groups of friends, gin lovers, visitors to the Clare Valley and anyone looking for something a little different from the traditional tasting experience.

A Taste of The UPPside

While our restaurant is known for traditional European cuisine, the Gin & Gelato Experience represents another side of what we love doing at The UPPside.

We want dining and tasting experiences to be memorable.

Sometimes that means an eight-course European degustation.

Sometimes it's a generous Chef's Feed Me Menu accompanied by a bottle of Clare Valley wine.

And sometimes it's sitting down in the afternoon with three local gins and three delicious sorbets and discovering that passionfruit and gin are surprisingly good friends.

Food and drink should be taken seriously enough to make them well — but enjoyed enough to have some fun with them.

The Gin & Gelato Experience is exactly that.

Discover a Different Side of the Clare Valley

The Clare Valley will always be famous for its wine — and rightly so.

But our region is also home to distillers, growers, farmers, chefs and small producers creating experiences that extend well beyond the cellar door.

Our Gin & Gelato Experience celebrates that evolving side of the region.

Local gin.
European inspiration.
Refreshing sorbet.
Clare Valley hospitality.

All served together at The UPPside.

Gin. Gelato. Clare Valley.

Three locally crafted gins.

Three refreshing sorbets.

One very enjoyable tasting experience.

Whether you're a passionate gin drinker or simply looking for something different to experience during your visit to the Clare Valley, our Gin & Gelato Tasting Experience is an invitation to taste, experiment and indulge.

So which pairing will be your favourite?

Gypsy + Blood Orange?
Mr Wriggles + Passionfruit?
Or Sebastopol + Lemon?

There's really only one way to find out.

Come and experience Gin & Gelato at The UPPside European.

Book Your Gin & Gelato Experience

The UPPside European Restaurant & Wine Bar
Penwortham, Clare Valley, South Australia

Featuring gin handcrafted locally by Sawmill Gin, Sevenhill, paired with three refreshing sorbets and served with Mediterranean tonic, water and tasting notes.

Perfect as a standalone Clare Valley tasting experience or as part of your lunch or dinner visit to The UPPside.

Bookings are recommended.

The UPPside European Restaurant & Wine Bar — Clare Valley's home of traditional European cuisine.