Karu Distillery's Morita Chipotle Vodka has been awarded World's Best Infused Vodka at the World Vodka Awards, announced in the UK late last week.

"Winning World's Best Infused/Botanical Vodka, especially for such a specific product such as Morita, solidifies again that we really favour quality. We were very firm that we didn't want Morita to be a gimmick product and this award definitely proves it isn't," said Head Distiller, Ally Ayres.

"Morita Chipotle Vodka is special because it is just very unique. It has a strong purpose which reflects a lot of what we personally enjoy, which is Mexican food and beverage. We didn't just want this product to be very obvious flavours. We took what we learnt from gin distillation and applied them to Vodka and created a journey of familiar flavours if you're also a lover of Mexican food. It's a very playful and versatile spirit given its specific image and we love creating and being surprised by it." 

Ally Ayres runs Karu Distillery with her husband, Nick in Grose Vale. She distils the spirits and Nick runs the business at Karu, including the recently opened bar, House of Spirits, set deep among the bushland.

In an interview with Drinks Trade, Ally said that women have a natural talent to make spirit because they have honed palates able to pick up subtle nuances and delicate characters sometimes lost on their male counterparts. 

“We have different palates and pick up things, I can pick up notes Nick can’t and vice versa,” she says.

The distillery has also just released its first rum, Outcask Rum - four years in the making.

Produced on the Tasmanian-made copper still ‘Calcifer’,using NSW Molasses, and ex-Australian Whiskey casks, Outcask Rum is an all Australian rum, that began with seven months of research before the barrel maturation process could start. Once the recipe and spirit were spot on, the new-make spirit was left to hibernate peacefully for the next few years in the tranquility of the Blue Mountains.

Ayres road-tested the rum last year has at the Bartender’s Rum Brunch at Brix Distillers to great acclaim. It is the first rum to make its way out of the Blue Mountains/Hawkesbury regions; it begins with sticky sweet NSW molasses fermented for two weeks, then distilled and aged for two-three years to bring out the big aromatics and bold flavours.

Other Country Winners at the World Vodka Awards are:

  • Best Flavourd Vodka: Country Winner: Hepburn Australia Cask Aged Organic Potato Vodka
  • Best Neutral Vodka: Country Winner: Grainshaker Australia Corn Vodka
  • Best Varietal Vodka: Country Winner: Spring Bay Grain Vodka

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