Lake George Winery’s Sarah McDougall sampling the CSCC 50th Anniversary Shiraz. Photo: Thomas Lucraft.
The Canberra Southern Cross Club has teamed up with local businesses to make limited edition products to sell as part of its 50th anniversary celebrations.
Businesses such as Underground Spirits, Lake George Winery, Capital Brewing Co and Lonsdale Street Roasters will come together to show their support with a special selection of unique wines, spirits and coffee to commemorate the milestone.
Canberra Southern Cross Club food and beverage general manager Anurag Gautam said this was a once-in-a-lifetime celebration for the venue.
“We started from humble beginnings and we’ve now grown so much in 50 years,” Anurag said.
“We’ve now got around 80,000 members with us, and from a city of 400,000 people, it shows us how much we have achieved and the responsibility we have to the Canberra community.
“Now it’s time for us to party. After the last few years we’ve had, everyone in Canberra needs a party.”
Underground Spirits CEO Claudia Roughley said it was exciting to work with Anurag and the team at Canberra Southern Cross Club to celebrate the 50th anniversary, as they had worked alongside each other for the past 17 years.
“It’s not every day you achieve massive milestones like that, so it’s a great reason to celebrate by sharing beautiful spirits with the club,” Claudia said.
“We wanted to incorporate those elements of good-quality food, drinks and good times with family and friends and really build them into this collaboration.
“To have that acknowledgement that we do produce beautiful things here in Canberra is really great and we can’t wait to be involved.”
Claudia Roughley from Underground Spirits. Photo: Underground Spirits.
Claudia said Underground Spirits was producing a limited edition collaboration gin for the anniversary.
“We are just pulling up the final ingredients,” she said.
“It’s going to be called the Golden Anniversary gin to celebrate their massive milestone.
“The key flavours of the gin are yuzu and green apple, with other flavours including rosella, lime and myrtle and Thai basil and apple.”
Claudia said the Canberra Southern Cross Club was an institution, and to have the venue support local businesses such as themselves was phenomenal.
Sarah shows off the anniversary shiraz at Lake George Winery. Photo: Thomas Lucraft.
Lake George Winery owners Sarah McDougall and her husband, Anthony, will also be producing limited edition products for the celebration.
“This year we’ve done a special shiraz and a special riesling,” Sarah said.
“It’s been 50 years since the vineyard was purchased too, so my husband and I are really excited to be part of the celebrations.
“Both of us also grew up celebrating milestones like birthdays and baptisms at the Canberra Southern Cross Club and we’ve brought our own kids to celebrate occasions too, so it’s just nice to kind of stop and celebrate together.”
Sarah said she and Anthony had worked with the Canberra Southern Cross Club since they bought the winery in 2018.
“It’s been a wonderful relationship for us to work together to host a special wine dinner and to be part of one of their milestones,” she said.
“They showcase local products and they love working with local owner-operators.
“Their focus is paddock to plate and supporting local, so we really kind of fit in with that as we share the same values.”
For the celebrations, they have created a shiraz and a riesling.
“Our beautiful shiraz combines an eight-months-mature red wine in a mix of new and old French oak. We’ve made it exclusively for the Canberra Southern Cross Club,” Sarah said.
“We’ve only done 40 cases, so it’s a limited run.
“As for our riesling, it is made by one of our head winemakers, Nick O’Leary. Again it’s a small bunch, but we’ve done about 80 cases of it.”
Anurag Gautam casts a discerning eye over the CSCC 50th Anniversary Shiraz at Lake George Winery. Photo: Thomas Lucraft.
The Canberra Southern Cross Club is selling unique, custom-made products for the celebration through its website and at one of the four venues in Canberra – Jamison, Woden, Tuggeranong and Yarralumla. The yacht club reopens in early August.
Anurag said Canberra Southern Cross would also hold a gala event on 26 August, with 400 members, guests and business partners expected to attend.
It will also produce a special-edition cookbook titled A Recipe for Success.
”This will include the recipes of some iconic dishes from the Canberra Southern Cross Club’s history, which have helped build our reputation for quality dining,” Anurag said.
“We’re getting really excited as we love partnering with passionate local businesses.
“It’s very hard to find people that contribute to the community and who want to keep supporting it.”
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