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What’s so special about our distilled products? It all starts with the fruit. We have complete control over the quality of our fruit, because we grow it. We use only natural farming methods and pick the fruit ourselves, at optimum ripeness for full flavour. Distillation does not create alcohol. Distillation separates substances from a liquid mixture through boiling and condensation. Alcohol is produced through fermentation. The fermented wash that is distilled already contains the alcohol that will be extracted. Not all distillers produce their own alcohol, and not all liqueur makers distil their own spirit. They buy a fermented wash or neutral spirit that has been produced somewhere else. We use fruit wash made from fruit grown and fermented on our farm. We distil the ferment ourselves to make a base spirit at a strength that will allow the ‘right’ amount of the ferment flavour to shine through, and complement the final product. For example, the kirsch base used in the Barrington Blue was 92.5% abv. As the herbs are the hero of Herbfire, the ferment was distilled to 77% abv, leaving a strong herby flavour. There are many terms used in the alcoholic beverage world, and they can have different meanings for different people. Our double distilled base spirit made from fruit can be called eu de vie (French), obstler (German), rakija (Balkan), or palinka (Hungarian). When it is made from cherries, it is a kirsch. When we infuse fruit into our base spirit, it becomes a schnapps (eg Raspberry Kirschwasser), and a liqueur when we add a sugar syrup. Our liqueurs are different to many other liqueur products. Cheap liqueurs are usually a mass produced neutral base spirit with added fruit syrup. Other ‘liqueurs’ are a fortified fruit wine. Our liqueurs are a spirit infused with whole soil grown chemical free fruit. It’s as ‘wholefood’ as an alcoholic beverage can be! We are pretty confident that at an average of 50 bottles per batch, our distillery is one of the smallest commercial operations in Australia. We don’t try to replicate any product exactly - we want them to vary with the terrior of our farm - weather, climate, season, and our moods. For example, we currently have a Limoncello made with Summer ripened lemons available. In the next couple of weeks we will be bottling a batch made with Winter ripened lemons. We are confident that they will taste different.
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