Welcome to Australia’s golden age of distilling: Nick Ryan’s Top 20 spirits
Absinthe from McLaren Vale? Hot Chip Potato Vodka? Nick Ryan’s list of craft spirits will knock your socks off.
If you’re wondering why energy consumption is spiking around the country, the answer may lie in the distilleries strewn across this wide, whisky-brown land. We are living in a golden age of Australian distilling, the quality and diversity of which is more compelling than ever.
We included spirits in our annual Halliday’s Top 100 issue for the first time last year. Given the enthusiastic response from readers we’ve expanded our coverage this year, with a heavy focus on locally produced spirits.
While the international benchmarks that have long colonised our liquor cabinets are, mostly, as good as ever, we frequendly found it hard to pass up the chance to shine a light on an exciting Australian-made spirit.
The gin juggernaut continues apace. If you were to find yourself stuck in a lift with 10 strangers, chances are four of them make gin. But there seems to be some separation from the pack with the best producers. Several, but certainly not all, are featured here.
Australian whisky, across a range of styles, is in rude health. Industry pioneers who cannily stashed away in their early days are now able to release whiskies with age statements hitherto unseen. This industry is truly coming of age.
Rum is a good bet for those wanting to punt on the next big thing, while the very interesting absinthe we’ve included this year is probably clever exploration of a niche - rather than being a sign that we’re turning into a nation of cloudy-headed artists and poets.
We have some way to go in our understanding of agave and its potential, but the debut of an Australian agave spirit using raw kangaroo meat in the distillation is an exciting sign we’re on our way.
HALLIDAY'S TOP 100
Drink like James Halliday with this offer
The Australian Wine Club is offering a mixed dozen from James Halliday’s Top 100 - including a 99-point sensation - for $27.99 a bottle. Find out more.
Australia’s top 20 champagnes and sparkling wines
Pop the cork! We’ve launched Part One of James Halliday’s Top 100 wines. Celebrate with a glass of affordable Tasmanian bubbles or a sparkling 2013 vintage Dom Perignon.
The best 20 premium red wines
Which wine has James Halliday called ‘the greatest Australian pinot noir I’ve ever tasted’? Discover this all-time great among his pick of Australia’s best reds of the year.
Cheers! These are the Top 20 beers of 2023
Whether you want a pale ale, a dark ale, a strong ale, a lager, a Pilsner, a sour, a stout or a non-alcoholic drink, then Peter Lalor has you covered. It is, as a beer drinker, the best time to be alive.
Top 20 white wines over $30
Discover a 99-point Margaret River blend with perfect balance, two delicious Hunter Valley 2017 semillons and an irresistible Clare Valley riesling. These are Halliday’s top picks of 2023.
Best Australian spirits of 2023
Absinthe from McLaren Vale? Hot Chip Potato Vodka? Nick Ryan’s list of craft spirits will knock your socks off.
The best alcohol-free cocktails and spirits
I used to write New York’s hottest column about bars - now I’m off alcohol altogether. Here’s what I drink instead.
Australia’s best white wines … and they’re all under $30
One varietal above all others is offering the best value wine in today’s market. Find out which, and discover 20 of the tastiest budget drops James Halliday has judged in 2023.
Best Australian red wines under $40
Australia’s premier wine critic James Halliday has selected the very best value Australian red wines on the market – and it includes a ‘beautifully-balanced bargain’.
Let’s just hope it all doesn’t crumble under the weight of the highest spirit excises on Earth, levied as a price on each litre of pure alcohol. Since August this year, Australia has become the only nation that pays a triple-figure tax on alcohol – $100.05 per litre. In the US, it’s $14.54. We can only hope a collision of life’s two certainties doesn’t see the death of Australian distilling through taxes.
TEQUILA & MEZCAL
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lma Tepec Licor de Chile Pasilla Mixe
Pasilla Mixe chillies from the mountains of Oaxaca in Mexico are smoke-dried in earthenware ovens then macerated in a sugarcane distillate. The result is an incredible merger of fragrant sweetness and smoky heat in this luscious, rounded liqueur. There’s mesquite smoke and a softly vegetal seam, the whiff of wetsuits warmed in the sun and the dark caramel sweetness of Mexican Coca-Cola. I fear for my ability to restock my own stash once you lot find out about it.
■ 40%, $99 (700ml)
■ agavelux.com.au
There are more than 30 types of agave used for mezcal production, with the troublesome and low-yielding Scabra among the rarest. But those with the know-how, like “Master Mezcalero” Gilberto Roldán Quezada, can conjure from it distillates of subtle smokiness and herbal beauty. This is a mezcal of depth and soul, redolent with scents of cut hay and smouldering fireplaces, with a minerality to the palate that suggests hot stones in the desert sun. A drink made for quiet contemplation.
■ 48.2%, $169 (750ml)
■ agavelux.com.au
El Cristiano Reposado XR
Reposado is the classification for tequila rested in wood for anywhere from 60 to 364 days. After 5½ months in old bourbon barrels, this XR is transferred for the same slumber in ex-Bordeaux wine barrels. The result: a beautifully balanced and finely layered tequila of languid length and assured momentum, with hints of coriander seed and clove, hot sand and white peppercorns. Sugar at the point of burning, candied orange rind and vanilla. Lick and sip this? You suck.
■ 40%, $219 (750ml)
■ agavelux.com.au
Black Snake Pechuga
One day Stephen Beale and Rosemary Smith looked out at all the Agave americana growing wild on the farm near Narrabri in northern NSW and saw an opportunity. They’ve created something really special with this distillate in the Mexican “Pechuga” tradition, in which fruits, nuts and raw animal protein (usually turkey or chicken) is added to the still. This being Aussie Pechuga, they naturally went with ’roo. The result is a clean, softly creamy spirit with spice and citrus top notes and the faintest gamey hint.
■ 48%, $129 (500ml)
■ blacksnake.com.au
The perpetual innovation machine at McLaren Vale’s Never Never surges ever onward even when it looks to the past. Absinthe, the drink of choice for artists and writers of the Belle Epoque era, is here interpreted as a romp through fields of fennel fronds and wormwood, lemon balm and sage, lavender and hyssop. It’s one for adventurous hearts, and well suited to drinking neat. Or go traditional and drip water into it over a sugar cube on a slotted spoon.
■ 55%, $97 (500ml)
■ neverneverdistilling.com.au
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Forty Spotted Classic Tassie Gin
The Lark distillery in Hobart has long been a source of some of this country’s best whiskies, so it should come as no surprise that a toe dipped into the rising waters of Australian gin delivers something as good as this. It begins with a burst of citrus – both lemon zest and lemon drops. Tucked in behind that, you’ll find some lime leaf exoticism and a dry pepperberry spice note. It’s a beautifully balanced gin, a pointer to a new kind of uniquely Australian classic dry style.
■ 40%, $80 (700ml)
■ fortyspotted.com
When three mates who operate a couple of the country’s best bars dive into distilling, expectations are high. And they’re exceeded in this complex and intriguing gin with an eye out to sea. There’s lemon zest and rosemary, sea spray and white pepper, and a dry herbal note like a coastal garrigue. It’s not shy – but nor should it be, with its flavours and aromas so beautifully balanced. That makes it a great martini gin. Like most things in life apart from bathrooms and bombs, the dirtier the better.
■ 40%, $86 (500ml)
■ brighterlater.com.au
The biggest impact of the boom in Australian craft distilling is the way we’re showing the world a whole new way to think about gin. This is a case in point: it’s a phalanx of flavours, some the framework for traditional styles – juniper, citrus, coriander seed – and others like finger lime, lilly pilly, Dorrigo pepper leaf and macadamia. It’s familiar and game- changing all at once. It’s bowler hat and boardies, a gin that knows The Tube is both mass transit and a solitary surfer’s dream.
■ 46%, $82 (700ml)
■ capebyrondistillery.com.au
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Ginfusion Blood Orange and Japanese Yuzu
When compiling this list I’m always looking for something new to slot into my ”Lazy Summer Drinking” roster. It doesn’t need to be the most complex, or the most likely to impress a hipster bartender. It just needs to be something delicious I can slug into a pint glass full of ice, top up with soda and inhale by the pool. This year, it’s this gin liqueur with the enlivening addition of blood orange and yuzu. It’s a naturally delicious drink in a category where so much seems forced. Maximum yum, minimum fuss.
■ 30%, $68 (500ml)
■ originalspiritco.com
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Husk Rare Blend Rum
When it comes to Australian rum, the big bear from Queensland is ubiquitous – and not without its charms – but in recent years a few brave cane crushers have stepped out from its shadow. This rum from northern NSW uses two fermentable sugar sources – free-run cane juice and the more concentrated cane honey – to create a fragrant and supple spirit delivering richness with a delicate touch. It ripples with grilled mango and pain d’epices, coconut caramels and lime leaf, and glides across the palate with real finesse.
■ 40%, $72 (700ml)
■ huskdistillers.com
BRANDY
Lobo Lobodos Apple Brandy
When a winemaker born in Somerset meets a generational apple grower from the Adelaide Hills, cidery dreams take flight. Warwick Billings and Michael Stafford make brilliant cider under their Lobo label, and in this apple brandy their artistry gains a beautiful potency. It delivers both the spices that top an apple crumble and the fruit beneath, an oak maturation character that suggests a pile of packing boxes in the orchard shed, and a lovely dryness tapering through the finish.
■ 41.5%, $125 (700ml)
■ lobocider.com.au
Sinfany Brandy
Vaughn Dell was a visionary Tasmanian winemaker who died too young in 2020. Dell’s friends Mathew and Julie Cooper at the Fannys Bay Distillery distilled a small batch of pinot noir that didn’t make the grade for Dell’s Sinapius label and all profits go to support Vaughn’s family. On the palate there’s toffee, orange cake and almond meal, and a faint hint of dry bay leaf. It has a lovely taper and finishes with a fine dryness like water evaporating instantly from hot cement.
■ 46.7%, $160 (700ml)
■ fannysbaydistillery.com.au
Walk into any pub in Australia, order a brandy and dry and you’ll see a bottle of dear old St Agnes pressed into service. The Angove family has been distilling for five generations, and this is their crowning glory: a Rolls-Royce ride through every place you want aged brandy to take you. Clove-studded oranges, panforte and gingerbread, Medjool dates and praline. Half a human lifetime sitting in old oak has refined and etched the spirit, layering it and draping a sheath of fine, nutty rancio.
■ 43%, $950 (700ml)
■ stagnesdistillery.com.au
VODKA
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SoHi Potato Crisp Vodka
Vodka is the Switzerland of spirits: the whole point of it is neutrality, so writing tasting notes is like painting pictures with only white paint. But every now and then one pops up that demands closer attention. Built on a base of potatoes from NSW’s Southern Highlands, this is a vodka with magic hiding in its subtle details. It has a clean, energetic lift from the glass, some white pepper high notes and a hint of petrichor, and an almost creamy mid-palate suggesting buttered white bread.
■ 42%, $79 (500ml)
■ sohi.com.au
WHISKEY
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There are those who, for reasons known only to themselves, choose to drown good whisky in soft drink. The Lark distillers get their revenge here: before filling, casks are seasoned with a house-made homage to chinotto, the great Italian citrus soda. The whisky eventually released from the casks smells like a crate of spiced oranges, citrus leaves and pie crusts placed over a peaty fire. It’s graceful, supple and smoother than a chest wax performed with melted Steely Dan records.
■ 44%, $200 (500ml)
■ larkdistillery.com
Founded in Tasmanian whisky’s early days by a dairy co-op looking for a pivot, Hellyers Road has always produced more spirit, and squirrelled more away, than any of the island’s other distilleries. This whisky shows the fine etching that comes with age. There’s clove- studded orange, white chocolate, celery leaf, pink peppercorn and bruleed banana. Time has laminated this like croissant dough, folding it in on itself over and over, creating a multitude of fine layers.
■ 62.4% $1350 (700ml)
■ hellyersroaddistillery.com.au
This whisky, named after Tasmania’s great wilderness area, leans into the woodier elements but builds on that framework with sweet and spicy notes.The use of Huon pine when smoking estate-grown barley has imbued it with the distinctive character of the butcher’s smokehouse built from freshly milled timber. Weave around that some wild sage, dark toffee, sweetened espresso and fruitcake, and you have the perfect liquid to fill the hip flask on a journey into the rugged wilds.
■ 50%, $199 (700ml)
■ lawrenny.com
Sullivans Cove Rare Double Cask Whisky DC114
The whiskies from Sullivans Cove are a masterclass on the interaction of spirit and wood. Here, both American and French oak are deployed, their previous inhabitants including tawny, bourbon, chardonnay and red wine. It’s a complex matrix that requires skill and insight to pull off, and the result here is a whisky of poise and grace, smelling of lemon pith and salted toffee, sun-warmed grain and scorched brûlée. It’s beautifully layered and long.
■ 47%, $250 (700ml)
■ sullivanscove.com
Archie Rose Rye Malt Whisky
The complex spiciness of good rye whiskies has always drawn an admiring crowd. Malting that rye, as Archie Rose has done here, doubles down on all that goodness and takes it prowling on the dark side of the street. Aromatically, it’s all grain bins, spiced oranges and dark fruit bread spread with salted caramel. It has a lush lozenge sweetness at its core and a fine dryness tapering the finish. Great ryes make great cocktails, too. The Manhattan of your dreams is in this bottle.
■ 46%, $119 (700ml)
■ archierose.com.au
Fleurieu Distillery The Hunting of the Snark Single Malt Whisky
Like the Lewis Carroll novel from which it takes its name, this is a whisky that takes the drinker on a wildly wonderful journey. Multi-faceted and complex, it entwines the nutty sherry cask sweetness at its core with the more bracing characters that speak of its estuarine origins on the Murray River. Peat, tobacco leaf and a briny breeze all swirl around a full, almost fleshy core of praline and spiced orange. Its rambunctiousness is becalmed by a fine taper through the finish.
■ 47%, $198 (700ml)
■ fleurieudistillery.com.au