Distilleries, breweries, wineries, an abundance of fresh produce and a rapidly growing and exciting food scene – this is Australia’s capital city, Canberra, and it just keeps on getting better.
I was first introduced to Canberra-based distillery, Underground Spirits, on a tour with Dave’s Brewery Tours last year. We visited the boutique distillery in Kambah, and sampled their range of top-quality spirits. We were also treated to a cocktail and a tour (of the very small space) with the charismatic Andrew Galbraith, Underground Spirits Co-Founder and Sales Manager.
The caramel vodka was dangerously delicious and although I’ve never been one to stomach straight vodka, I sampled theirs and it was honestly the best vodka I’ve ever tried. It was smooth, pure and easy to drink. It’s not how I would describe a typical vodka and I didn’t feel like I wanted to bring it up as soon as it went down…
Their gin is another specialty and it’s not just me who thinks highly of their quality products.
Since then, Underground Spirits have grown by leaps and bounds and they aren’t showing any signs of slowing down.
They have recently won a number of awards at two highly acclaimed international spirits awards, making them Canberra’s most awarded spirits business.
The team collected a Silver for Gin & Vodka, a Silver in the Vodka & Tonic category, and a Bronze in the Gin & Tonic category at the 2018 International Wine and Spirits Competition (IWSC).
The IWSC is the world’s oldest and most highly-regarded wine and spirits tasting competition, with entries received from nearly 90 countries worldwide.
Underground Spirits also received a Double Gold for its Vodka, and a Silver medal for its gin at the 2018 San Francisco World Spirits Competition, regarded as one of the most competitive and influential competitions in the spirit world.
“These recent award wins have seen Underground Spirits become Canberra’s most awarded spirits brand. We have now won eleven awards for our gin, and seven awards for our vodka both here in Australia and internationally which is just phenomenal,” said Underground Spirits Co-Founder Dr Toby Angstmann.
Soon after the awards were announced Underground Spirits revealed a complete rebrand. The modern bottles that hold the spirits now have new labels that reflect the Canberran landscape, and feature a stylised map of Canberra.
“Our new brand will help launch and expand Underground Spirits globally, while firmly cementing our Canberra roots through the design and brand identity,” said Dr Angstmann.
And if that isn’t enough, the team launched their coffee vodka on Monday 20th August. The newest Underground Spirits edition is a collaboration with Bellerophon Coffee, a specialty cold brew coffee house in Canberra.
I was lucky enough to receive a bottle of the vodka as part of their recent launch. I’m a coffee lover and espresso martinis are one of my favourite cocktails. So you can only imagine how happy I was to receive this gift.
I’m yet to try it (crazy I know!) but I’m looking forward to making some caramel espresso martinis. A tip from Alex Leech, Owner of Bellerophon Coffee, is to enjoy the coffee vodka with some tonic and a slice of orange as a garnish.
The vodka with cold brew coffee is described as having flavours of nuts and dark chocolate with red fruits. There’s no added sugar apart from the natural sugar that occurs in the cold brew process so it’s not a sweet product.
I’ll share some more information about the coffee vodka after I whip up some cocktails and I’ll report back then.
The story behind Underground Spirits is a unique one. Co-Founder, Dr Toby Angstmann is a man of many talents and the process of how the spirits are made is fascinating. Toby is also a leading fertility specialist and a robotic surgeon so of course his medical background played a role in developing the processes behind Underground Spirits.
You can read more about Underground Spirit’s story on their website.
All images have been supplied except for the coffee vodka image.
Amelia Bidgood
Amelia is the Founder and Editor of Eat Canberra and the Founder and Managing Director of Eat Canberra Food Tours. She's a qualified journalist, presenter, freelance writer and also runs a boutique communications agency working with small business owners on all things social media, content creation and marketing. She's taught cheesemaking classes, judged hospitality and tourism awards, completed the WSET Level 1 Award In Wines, loves to cook and has travelled to 23 countries. She's also passionate about mental health and has recently started studying to become a Counsellor.