Karu Distillery is an independent, multi-award winning distillery that is hidden away at the mouth of the Devils Wilderness NSW. Behind Karu Distillery is Nick & Ally, the husband and wife team building their own opportunities to be creative with flavour via their two gins. Karu Distillery really wanted to challenge consumers to drink their spirits neat and prove that you don’t necessarily need a mixer.
Their first release was Affinity Gin which follows the Australian contemporary approach using native botanicals and local produce as well as growing a few at the Distillery. This will be the juniper forward, semi-sweet citrus, floral and naturally sweet gin’s second Summer in action. Affinity Gin’s mission statement was to provide established gin drinkers with something a little bit new and to encourage a new wave of non gin drinkers to start at least exploring the Australian gin genre.
Following Affinity Gin is their Double Gold winning navy strength Lightning Gin. True to the name the striking gin is 3 tiers of citrus such as herbaceous, bitter and sweet. The gin was designed around the Rose Geranium Plant that Ally had growing up and the specific strain is believed to be over 70 years old making it heritage. Double juniper creates the perfect platform for this gin to demonstrate how special it is with a diverse range of tonic waters.
With Affinity’s success in 2018 gave way to a new cocktail concept for gin and tonic, G & Tea premium Cocktail Infusions. The idea was to have an effective garnish for their gin (and many others) using a cocktail tea bag infusion at room temperature. Simply by placing the bag in a glass and pouring gin over the top having the alcohol strip the bag of colour and flavour before adding ice and tonic water, again changing the colour and flavour but still staying true to Summertime’s classic drink. Vermilion G & Tea is their softer and more floral bag which offers toasted sweetness from Honey Bush tea, Orange peel amplifies the orange already in Affinity Gin whilst the Rosella and the rose petals pair perfectly to offer bright colour and a softness. Amethyst is described more of a sweet and sour approach to gin and tonic but overall a bit louder. With the crowd favourite butterfly pea flower providing the royal blue colour (which changes to purple) whilst lemongrass and ginger root counteract the Earthy profiles of the flower itself making Amethyst G & Tea a stunning cocktail.
The duo at Karu Distillery are working their copper pot still “Calcifer” overtime producing what will be Rum. A sample was taken the annual NSW Distillers meet up earlier this year to be tried by some of NSW’s finest distillers and spirits enthusiasts captivating intrigue. This soon to be Rum is a labour of love for head distiller Ally Ayres, using NSW Molasses, Pot Distilled in an Australian made Still aged in Ex-Australian “Whiskey” casks — get ready for some seriously tasty Australian rum.
Good things certainly do come to those who wait and sneak peeks of their “rum” will be released as teasers via chocolate bars prior to the spirits release, estimated in 2021.
