This Easter, leave the chocolate eggs to the kids and reach for the booze instead because 78 Degrees and Loving Earth have made a limited-edition Chocolate Gin.

The distillery took the waste cacao husks from Loving Earth and combined it with high-proof gin, distillates of sweet orange and roasted wattleseed.

“It’s quite different to how you might imagine,” says head distiller Sacha La Forgia. “It’s delicate, sophisticated and surprisingly light on the palate, with a lingering spiced finish.

“The wattle seed, with its rich nutty character, further elevates the husks’ flavour and gives the gin a uniquely Australian style.”

To make the most of the unique flavour profile, drink it either neat with ice and a slice of orange or with tonic and a slice of chocolate-dipped dehydrated orange to emphasise the orange and chocolate notes.

In keeping with 78 Degrees’ sustainable, closed-loop approach, they repurposed the waste from the chocolate-making process – the cacao husks.

“We worked with fair-trade chocolate makers, Loving Earth, a Melbourne-based company, whose passion for regeneration is aligned with our Crafted for Better philosophy,” La Forgia says.

“We respect the fact they buy cacao beans directly from the Ashaninka community in Peru, and have helped the growers establish their own co-op to ensure fair pricing and guaranteed volume each harvest season.

“This is our first collaboration with Loving Earth, but we hope that this special limited edition will become an annual release.”

Loving Earth’s co-founder and creative director, Martha Butler, is excited about seeing its premium, fair-trade cacao in liquid form. “It’s rich and smooth with notes of dark chocolate, roasted nuts, vanilla and jaffa. It’s the perfect complement to our chocolate,” she says.

There are only 500 bottles of 78 Degrees Chocolate Gin available. A 700ml bottle retails for $90 and ABV is 42 per cent. Treat yourself at 78degrees.com.au.

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