Rogue Society Gin; the kiwi spirit in the black bottle

Drinks, Indie Spirits Tasting
Two guys from New Zealand who didn’t know each other until one married the others sister and then they did. A year sitting in bars and lounges discussing how they always wanted to make their own gin. This is how two brothers-in-law and a part time musician got in to a lot of debt and created a Rogue Society Gin that won gold in London & San Francisco.

Canefire Rum: built over a decade and two generations

Drinks, Indie Spirits Tasting, Products
" It took us over a decade and two generations to simply establish our credibility and professionalism as independent distillers. With the emergence of many more craft operators the market has received a heap of attention which has brought more people away from the standard mainstream imported brands to try our products and those of our peers," says Ryan Passmore, from the Kimberley Rum Company.

Hamish Goonetilleke on the journey from bar owning to booze-making

Drinks, Events, Indie Spirits Tasting, Products
"For us it's been a very organic process - having the bar in fitzroy, The Rum Diary Bar, we've always created our own house products such as ginger beer and a spiced rum. The popularity of the rum kept growing over the years, so we kept tweaking and improving it, as time went on people kept asking to buy it for home, so we increased production and started selling it to customers and then into other bars," says Hamish Goonetilleke the man behind Rum Diary Spiced Rum

Largest line-up of Indie brands rolls into Perth in 3 weeks

Events, Indie Spirits Tasting, Products
This is not just your run-of-the-mill tradeshow. The Indie Spirits Tasting is unique in that it's solely for small, independent brands that are not stocked on every backbar or in every bottleshop. Come along and find something new to show off to your friends or maybe even add it to the menu in your bar. All of the exhibitors at the event will be sampling a handful of brands with many of the distilleries bringing along their master distillers to chat about their products.

From industrial distilling to making award-winning gin; here’s how Ironbark got started

Drinks, Indie Spirits Tasting, People
Master Alchemist and Ironbark Distillery Director is Reg Papps who opened the distillery with his wife Greta just three years ago. Their vision is to produce high-end spirits with a distinctly Australian twist. Reg honed his craft over a career spanning 26 years in industrial distillation, but when he was made redundant from Shell, he took the opportunity to transfer the skills learned to a much smaller scale and Ironbark Distillery was born.