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 their high-quality merchandise.
Their world-class Morita Chipotle Vodka emerged as the sole platinum spirit within the Infused/Flavoured Vodka class at the latest Las Vegas Global Spirit Awards; their three other signature drinks also took house platinum rankings. KARU Delivering Quality Community Spirits debuted Orsa Coffee Gin liqueur took home Best Liqueur and Best in Show at the Tasting Australia Spirit, and the Distillery gained 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 founded the Distillery in 2018 along with her husband Nick, says this yr being Karu’s busiest so far has also made it one of the best. She says: “We’ve taken on extra workers, we’ve got a warehouse in Richmond now, we’re producing more spirits – and we’re in a position to get again on the market after not being able to for so long up to now 4 years!”
Orsa is another spirit from Karu that might 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 trail assembly a few years in the past, and he’s just as enthusiastic about coffee as we are spirits. We approached him and we asked him to teach us a bit about coffee experience. He made a custom brew for us, and it was two or three months of R&D from critically getting began with it to where Orsa is at present.”
Karu Distillery Delivering Quality Community Spirits
Head distiller ally ayres with karu products and awards
Although the Karu group have been travelling throughout the country and accumulating awards on the international stage, they’ve continued to highly value the position of the group in their success. “Because Orsa was very much a collaboration of native businesses, it’s been nicely acquired by the community – and we like to do these sorts of things,” says Ally. “It’s actually cool that after the amount of stuff the neighborhood and business has gone through the last couple of years, we’ve been able to get the spark back a bit and produce one thing that’s truly a community spirit!”
Reflecting on the year that’s gone by, Ally has been able to find plenty of joy among the many busyness. “We’ve had extra occasions than ordinary, more distillation and ferment days, more barrels than ordinary – and we’re having an actual enjoyable time with that. We’re getting again out there and cementing Australia as a spot of quality and having the medals and trophies to prove that. It’s been really good!”
Ally, Nick and the Karu staff have been exhausting at work creating plenty of spirits for the vacation season, whereas additionally planning a number of different merchandise for 2024. Keep updated with the world-class native Distillery here: https://www.facebook.com/KaruDistillery
To hear extra from Ally about Orsa, regulate our website and Facebook for a video interview coming in the next week.