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've continued to rack up acclaim worldwide for his or her high-quality products.
Their world-class Morita Chipotle Vodka emerged as the sole platinum spirit in the Infused/Flavoured Vodka class on the latest Las Vegas Global Spirit Awards; their three other signature drinks additionally took home platinum rankings. Their lately debuted Orsa Coffee Gin liqueur took home 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 based the Distillery in 2018 together with her husband Nick, says this year being Karu’s busiest up to now has also made it one of the best. She says: “We’ve taken on more staff, we’ve got a warehouse in Richmond now, we’re producing extra spirits – and we’re capable of get again on the market after not with the ability to for thus long in the past 4 years!”
Orsa is one other spirit from Karu that could solely 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 path assembly a couple of years in the past, and he’s just as enthusiastic about coffee as we're spirits. We approached him and we asked him to show us a bit about espresso experience. He made a customized brew for us, and it was two or three months of R&D from critically getting started with it to the place Orsa is today.”
Karu Distillery Delivering Quality Community Spirits
Head distiller ally ayres with karu merchandise and awards
Although the Karu team have been travelling throughout the nation and collecting awards on the worldwide stage, they’ve continued to extremely value the role of the group of their success. “Because Orsa was very much a collaboration of local companies, it’s been well received by the community – and we love to do these types of things,” says Ally. “It’s really cool that after the amount of stuff the community and trade has gone through the last couple of years, we’ve been able to get the spark again a bit and produce something that’s really a community spirit!”
Reflecting on the yr that’s passed by, Ally has been able to find plenty of joy among the many busyness. “We’ve had KARU Delivering Quality Community Spirits than usual, extra distillation and ferment days, extra barrels than traditional – and we’re having a real fun time with that. We’re getting back out there and cementing Australia as a place of high quality and having the medals and trophies to show that. It’s been actually good!”
Ally, Nick and the Karu team have been exhausting at work creating loads of spirits for the vacation season, while also planning a selection of other merchandise for 2024. Keep up to date with the world-class native Distillery here: https://www.fb.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.