Queensland farm releases Australia’s first “tequila” style spirit
Australia has its first ever locally grown and produced version of a globally popular Mexican spirit, but nobody is allowed to mention the T-word. Here’s why.
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A Queensland farm has created Australia’s first tequila – grown and produced here in the Sunshine State – you just can’t call it tequila.
Top Shelf International took over the 450-hectare plot of land in the Whitsundays, between Bowen and Airlie Beach, five years ago in the hope of making Australia’s answer to the hugely popular white spirit.
They planted a whopping 600,000 agave plants – the main ingredient in tequila – and with the climate and conditions precisely mimicking those of tequila’s homeland Mexico, the plants took off.
The result is the company’s first tequila-style product “Act of Treason”, called as such because Mexico’s Tequila Regulatory Council prohibits any other region outside the Central American country from calling the agave spirit “tequila”.
While it may not be able to be called as such, Act of Treason is tequila in every sense of the word said Top Shelf International CEO Trent Fraser.
“The spirit that we have put in the bottle is of exceptional quality and I’m really proud and confident that it will stack up against some of the best in the world,” said Mr Fraser, who previously established tequila brands overseas.
In fact, it already has, with the trial version of the product receiving a gold medal and trophy for Alternative Spirit of the Year at the Australian Distilled Spirit Awards in Melbourne, as well as bronze medals at the San Francisco and London international spirits competitions.
“I do see this beautiful lifted pear and pineapple but a real grassiness,” said Mr Fraser.
“It has this soft minerality and balance and elegance to it and I think people will be surprised by the approachability of it and I have to put it down to the terroir.”
The first official release of the agave spirit will go on sale on January 17 through the company’s website, before being available at top-end tequila bars and restaurants throughout Australia, ahead of its launch into Endeavour Group bottle shops in a few months.
“We’re only doing a few 100 bottles [initially]. It’s a small run and a small harvest while we get our sea legs,” said Mr Fraser.
Once fired up though, the farm has the capacity to be one of the largest agave spirit producers in the world.