2023 has been an especially busy yr for Hawkesbury spirit-crafters Karu Distillery. Since Hills to Hawkesbury Community News last talked with Karu in March, they have continued to rack up acclaim worldwide for his or her high-quality products.
Their world-class Morita Chipotle Vodka emerged as the only platinum spirit within the Infused/Flavoured Vodka class at the recent Las Vegas Global Spirit Awards; their three other signature drinks also took house platinum rankings. Their recently debuted Orsa Coffee Gin liqueur took residence Best Liqueur and Best in Show on the Tasting Australia Spirit, and the Distillery received a Hawkesbury Business Award and was a finalist within the Australian Women’s Small Business Champion Awards.
For Karu’s head distiller Ally Ayres, who founded the Distillery in 2018 with her husband Nick, says this year being Karu’s busiest so far has also made it one of the best. She says: “We’ve taken on extra workers, we’ve obtained a warehouse in Richmond now, we’re producing extra spirits – and we’re able to get again out there after not having the ability to for so lengthy up to now four years!”
Orsa is another spirit from Karu that would only be made in the Hawkesbury, due to a collaboration with Darren Gerbasch’s Little Coffee Co within the Blue Mountains. “We met Darren at a tourism beverage path meeting a couple of years ago, and he’s just as enthusiastic about coffee as we're spirits. We approached him and we requested him to show us a bit about coffee expertise. He made a custom brew for us, and it was two or three months of R&D from critically getting began with it to the place Orsa is right now.”
Karu Distillery Delivering Quality Community Spirits
Head distiller ally ayres with karu merchandise and awards
Although the Karu group have been travelling throughout the country and accumulating awards on the worldwide stage, they’ve continued to highly value the position of the neighborhood in their success. “Because KARU Delivering Quality Community Spirits was very much a collaboration of native companies, it’s been properly received by the community – and we love to do those sorts of things,” says Ally. “It’s really cool that after the quantity of stuff the neighborhood and trade has gone via the last couple of years, we’ve been able to get the spark again a bit and produce one thing that’s truly a neighborhood spirit!”
Reflecting on the 12 months that’s passed by, Ally has been capable of finding a lot of joy among the 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 again out there and cementing Australia as a place of high quality and having the medals and trophies to prove that. It’s been actually good!”
Ally, Nick and the Karu group have been onerous at work creating plenty of spirits for the holiday season, while additionally planning numerous other merchandise for 2024. Keep up to date with the world-class native Distillery right here: https://www.fb.com/KaruDistillery
To hear more from Ally about Orsa, control our website and Facebook for a video interview coming in the next week.