A decade ago, if you’d told me Canberra would become an interesting place to drink spirits, I’d have laughed. The brewing scene was finding its feet. The wine industry sat outside the ACT, in Murrumbateman. Spirits were what you ordered when you’d run out of patience for beer.
That changed quickly. Three things happened, in roughly this order: Underground Spirits showed up with a cold-distillation rig that nobody else in the country was running. Big River Distilling started laying down whisky barrels in earnest. And the local wine industry’s smaller producers began making fortifieds and amaros that found a real audience.
What’s actually good
Underground Spirits’ signature whisky is, on the latest release I’ve tried, the best thing they’ve made. The cold-distillation process leaves a softer mouthfeel than you’d expect from a whisky aged this young. Their gin program is also quietly serious — three core releases plus a rotating seasonal.
Big River Distilling Co. is the longer-game whisky house — they’ve been laying down barrels since 2017 and the difference between their first release and current release is enormous. If you’re a whisky drinker, this is the one to track.
Pialligo Estate’s home distillery quietly does a small-batch program of estate-grown botanicals. They don’t market it heavily; you have to ask the bar staff or come on a tour.
What’s worth skipping
The supermarket-tier “Canberra gin” brands. There are three or four that do tourist-aimed distribution but aren’t actually distilled here. Ask any local bartender and they’ll tell you which to avoid. (Hint: anything in a frosted bottle with a kangaroo on it.)
How to taste them properly
Spirits tastings are unforgiving — overdo it and you’ll write off the rest of the day. The standard etiquette across all three of the local distilleries is small pours (15ml), generous water, and a pacing of about one spirit per ten minutes. Eat first; eat between.
We run a Capital Triple Treat Friday through Sunday that builds in the pacing automatically — a brewery, a winery and a distillery in four hours, water on the coach, and pours sized for tasting rather than drinking. It’s the safest way to taste your way through the scene without writing yourself off.