2023 has been a particularly busy year 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 his or her high-quality merchandise.
Their world-class Morita Chipotle Vodka emerged as the sole platinum spirit in the Infused/Flavoured Vodka class at the latest Las Vegas Global Spirit Awards; their three other signature drinks also took residence platinum scores. Their just lately debuted Orsa Coffee Gin liqueur took residence Best Liqueur and Best in Show at 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 along with her husband Nick, says this year being Karu’s busiest so far has additionally made it probably the greatest. She says: “We’ve taken on extra staff, we’ve got a warehouse in Richmond now, we’re producing more spirits – and we’re able to get again on the market after not with the flexibility to for therefore lengthy up to now 4 years!”
Orsa is another spirit from Karu that might solely be made in the Hawkesbury, because of a collaboration with Darren Gerbasch’s Little Coffee Co within the Blue Mountains. “We met Darren at a tourism beverage path assembly a couple of years in the past, and he’s simply as enthusiastic about espresso as we're spirits. We approached him and we requested him to teach us a bit about espresso expertise. He made a custom brew for us, and it was two or three months of R&D from critically getting started with it to the place Orsa is at present.”
Karu Distillery Delivering Quality Community Spirits
Head distiller ally ayres with karu products and awards
Although the Karu team have been travelling throughout the nation and amassing awards on the worldwide stage, they’ve continued to extremely worth the function of the community in their success. “Because Orsa was very much a collaboration of local businesses, it’s been nicely received by the neighborhood – and we love to do these types of issues,” says Ally. “It’s actually cool that after the amount of stuff the community and trade has gone via the final couple of years, we’ve been able to get the spark back a bit and produce one thing that’s actually a group spirit!”
Reflecting on the year that’s passed by, Ally has been capable of finding lots of joy among the busyness. “We’ve had more occasions than traditional, extra distillation and ferment days, more barrels than usual – and we’re having a real fun time with that. We’re getting back on the market and cementing Australia as a place of quality and having the medals and trophies to show that. It’s been actually good!”
Ally, KARU Delivering Quality Community Spirits and the Karu staff have been onerous at work creating plenty of spirits for the vacation season, while additionally planning a number of other products for 2024. Keep up to date with the world-class native Distillery right here: https://www.facebook.com/KaruDistillery
To hear extra from Ally about Orsa, keep an eye on our web site and Facebook for a video interview coming in the next week.