2023 has been an extremely busy 12 months for Hawkesbury spirit-crafters Karu Distillery. Since Hills to Hawkesbury Community News final talked with Karu in March, they've continued to rack up acclaim worldwide for their high-quality products.
Their world-class Morita Chipotle Vodka emerged as the only platinum spirit within the Infused/Flavoured Vodka category on the latest Las Vegas Global Spirit Awards; their three different signature drinks additionally took home platinum scores. Their just lately debuted Orsa Coffee Gin liqueur took house Best Liqueur and Best in Show at the Tasting Australia Spirit, and the Distillery won a Hawkesbury Business Award and was a finalist in the Australian Women’s Small Business Champion Awards.
For Karu’s head distiller Ally Ayres, who based the Distillery in 2018 along with her husband Nick, says this yr being Karu’s busiest so far has also made it top-of-the-line. She says: “We’ve taken on extra workers, we’ve received a warehouse in Richmond now, we’re producing more spirits – and we’re in a position to get back out there after not being able to for so lengthy prior to now 4 years!”
Orsa is one other spirit from Karu that would only be made in the Hawkesbury, due to a collaboration with Darren Gerbasch’s Little Coffee Co in the Blue Mountains. “We met Darren at a tourism beverage trail assembly a quantity of years in the past, and he’s simply as keen about coffee as we're spirits. We approached him and we asked him to show us a bit about coffee experience. He made a custom brew for us, and it was two or three months of R&D from seriously getting started with it to the place Orsa is right now.”
Karu Distillery Delivering Quality Community Spirits
Head distiller ally ayres with karu products and awards
Although the Karu team have been travelling all around the country and accumulating awards on the international stage, they’ve continued to extremely worth the role of the neighborhood in their success. “Because Orsa was very much a collaboration of local businesses, it’s been properly received by the group – and we love to do these types of issues,” says Ally. “It’s actually cool that after the quantity of stuff the neighborhood and industry has gone via the last couple of years, we’ve been in a place to get the spark again a bit and produce one thing that’s truly a neighborhood spirit!”
Reflecting on the year that’s passed by, Ally has been able to find plenty of pleasure among the many busyness. “We’ve had more occasions than traditional, extra distillation and ferment days, extra barrels than usual – and we’re having an actual enjoyable time with that. We’re getting back out there and cementing Australia as a spot of high quality and having the medals and trophies to prove that. It’s been really good!”
Ally, KARU Delivering Quality Community Spirits and the Karu group have been exhausting at work creating loads of spirits for the vacation season, while additionally planning a variety of different products for 2024. Keep updated with the world-class native Distillery here: https://www.facebook.com/KaruDistillery
To hear more from Ally about Orsa, keep an eye on our web site and Facebook for a video interview coming within the subsequent week.