It may not have a sting, but the native bee has the home of gin abuzz about a distiller on the New South Wales mid-north coast.

Key points: An Australian gin distiller from Allworth, NSW, has topped the silver-medal category at the London Spirits Competition

An Australian gin distiller from Allworth, NSW, has topped the silver-medal category at the London Spirits Competition Kylie Sepos has been distilling her product for less than a year on the family farm under the label The Farmer's Wife

Kylie Sepos has been distilling her product for less than a year on the family farm under the label The Farmer's Wife The gin incorporates home-grown botanicals as well as honey from native stingless bees, which give it a unique edge

Kylie Sepos may have been distilling gin for less than a year, but she has topped the silver category in the recent London Spirits Competition.

While her juniper-based gin is influenced by tradition, honey from native bees also plays a part in creating her take on "mother's ruin".

She also uses indigenous botanicals grown at the family farm at Allworth, 60 kilometres north of Newcastle, where she runs The Farmer's Wife Distillery.

"I am a bit of a traditionalist," Ms Sepos said.

"Gin should predominately be juniper.

"There's 13 botanicals in our gin and we use a lot of traditional botanicals such as coriander and cardamom. Those form the base for what a traditional gin tastes like.

"From there the creative part is taking botanicals, a lot of those being natives, which are not necessarily in the traditional gins, [and] using them to create something that is quite unique."

Botanicals grown on family farm

To get that unique taste, Ms Sepos has established a garden consisting largely of native botanicals.

It is planted outside the shed that once housed farm machinery but now is home to the still.

A garden outside the distilling shed has native botanicals used for the unique taste. ( ABC Rural: Michael Cavanagh )

All of this is set up amid a large free-range egg operation and Angus cattle on the family farm.

The farm was started by her husband's grandparents, who emigrated from Hungary.

Ms Sepos proudly acknowledges the situation, which is reflected in her business name.

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Her love of gin was established many years ago.

However, it was a holiday to Tasmania about six years ago, while visiting several distilleries, that spurred the desire to create her own.

"It reignited my passion for craft spirits and I thought, 'Why not?'" Ms Sepos said.

That passion must be working, as she sent off one bottle of her first batch to the London Spirits Competition.

"It was a contemporary gin, steeped in tradition but with unique characteristics," Ms Sepos said.

"To top the silver medal category alongside some amazing distilleries I have always looked up to, to receive the award alongside those people, was a dream come true."

Native bee honey adds unique flavour

Some of those "unique characteristics" include using honey gathered from native stingless bees.

"Native bee honey is amazing," Ms Sepos said.

"When I first tasted it, I was just blown away. It has a beautiful citrus sweetness.

"Unlike European bee honey, which has that more sugary sweetness, this is more intense."

Approximately 50 metres from her botanical garden bed, a native bee hive is located some 10 metres up a tree.

Presently this is insufficient to provide enough honey for that distinctive taste that has people salivating.

Gin can be tasted in the converted farm machinery shed on the family property, which also produces eggs and Angus cattle. ( ABC Rural: Michael Cavanagh )

"Native bees only produce a kilo of honey per hive per year so it's quite rare and we do use quite a bit in our gin," Ms Sepos said.

"It gives our gin a lovely feel of viscosity, which is why a lot of people say our gin feels quite soft."

Until they have sufficient stocks, Ms Sepos gets it from another native bee honey producer.

Friends help out in blind taste-tests

The successful combining of tradition with unique Australian botanicals and the honey is also due to relying on friends.

Ms Sepos had numerous blind tastings involving friends to gauge if she was heading in the right direction.

"There were some recipes that the friends and I decided were not quite worth drinking," she said.

The friends may soon be called upon again.

Not only did the trip to Tasmania inspire her to make gin, it also reignited her interest in whiskey.

She intends on turning her hand to also distilling the drink most identified with the Scots.

To be labelled whiskey, there are strict guidelines.

Given her success combining tradition with Australian botanicals and native bee honey to make an award-winning gin, soon there could be more than a 'wee dram' in the workshop's copper still.