The best

• red wine
• white wine
• champagne
• rosé
• whisky
• spirits
• beer

deals in Australia

Australia's first spiced agricole rum. Designed to reflect the salty coastal rainforests of the North Coast of NSW, Spiced Bam Bam starts as a 3-4 year old barrel aged sipping rum. It is then infused with whole native & traditional botanicals including wattleseed, native ginger, citrus (mandarin & orange), cinnamon quills, Tahitian vanilla beans and sea salt. The result is a softly spiced rum that actually tastes like rum, perfect to sip on the rocks, mix with ginger or in any rum cocktail.

Handcrafted in Cairns, containing thirteen botanicals. The dry botanicals are steeped overnight - juniper, coriander seed, anjelica root, cinnamon, lemon myrtle, Tasmanian pepperberry, cardamom and macadamia. Locally sourced ruby grapefruit, mango, finger lime, lavender and mint are vapour infused in the gin basket.The result is a perfectly balanced citrus-for-ward summer gin. Perfect mixed with soda and a wedge of grapefruit

Co-created by one of Scotland’s most awarded Master Distillers, Jim McEwan, together with Cape Byron Distillery Co-founder and distiller Eddie Brook are two new Australian takes on a classic Scottish single malt. Many readers will already know of Jim McEwan who has more than fifty years of experience in the whisky business, having worked at Bowmore for 38 years, before overseeing the rebirth of Bruichladdich and most recently helping to get new Islay distillery, Ardnahoe, off the ground. Two editions are on offer: A Chardonnay barrelled limited edition, and this, the Cape Byron 'Original', aged in Scotland's traditional vessel of choice: American oak x-Bourbon casks. Says Brook, “They go together like a match made in heaven. [The whisky is] not overly dominated by the oak, it’s letting the spirit sing, and we’re seeing this marriage.” What partly accounts for the distinctive style is that the pair have resisted the temptation to use smaller barrels to ‘accelerate’ the ageing process. It's the opposite approach of most Australian distillers. “...We’ve got this climate that gives us faster maturation. Now that’s great, but it can also get too much, you can get too much tannin and then over-oaking in your whisky, ” Brook explains. "To avoid this, we only mature in full format barrels, between 200 to 300 litres in size". Specially designed warehousing facilities further offset Byron’s temperature extremes. According to McEwan, another factor is the distillery's proximity to the coast. “Walk down the barrel room... you’re getting that marine character and influence coming through" he says. "That moisture is falling on the oak staves, and slowly but surely, there’ll be a residue of salt and eventually as the whisky moves in and out, as the temperature increases, the alcohol will expand and it will touch the salt, and pull it back, and that brings a unique marine freshness to the spirit – quite different from anything else...” No surprise that McEwan reckons fans of Bruichladdich might taste some similarities in the Cape Byron spirit. “They’re not dissimilar. There’s no peat, [Eddie’s] using American oak, I used a lot of American oak Bourbon casks as well. I’ve used wine casks – and you’ve got all the wine casks there. There’s a similarity there between what I was doing in Islay and what Eddie’s doing here." As for the taste? Can't say there are many like this - either here or abroad - but you can appreciate why McEwen draws comparisons with Bruichladdich. Cape Byron's Original is a creamy, near voluptuous malt that defies its age. Peaches and cream come through with sweet barley and shortbread on the nose. The co-mingling of dried mango and juicy malt with the Bourbon vanilla aspects is nicely done, and there's a spicy edge adding vibrancy. At the finish, more peaches and cream, dried mango and a little grilled pineapple, pepper and coastal freshness develop. It's a whisky less about overt complexity, all about generous mouthfeel and precocious flavour. No doubt that equation will change over time. Right now, the creative forces behind the project have guaranteed one of the more compelling Aussie releases in recent years. Matured for three years in 200 litre ex-Buffalo Trace Bourbon casks. 47% Alc./Vol. Non chill filtered. Batch 001 tasted. Notes from the producers... The colour of a Byron Bay sunset. The palate offers soft vanilla, creme brulee and biscotti characters, layered over distinct notes of pear, coconut and buttery macadamia.

Ink Gin is a beautifully delicate modern Australian gin. Lemon myrtle & orange citrus, soft floral & fresh pine notes are followed by a spicy pepperberry finish. Pot distilled with a blend of 12 Australian native, traditional & exotic botanicals before being infused with an exotic blue flower which imparts smoothness and all natural indigo colour. The flower is pH sensitive, mixing from indigo to blush pink with the addition of tonic, lemon or lime.

In the 1920s Prohibition Era, a Blind Tiger was an establishment known to illegally sell alcohol, with a focus on celebrating the exciting flavour and taste of liquor cocktails, many of which were Gin based. Blind Tiger Organic Gin is distilled in small batches and is a complex, yet elegant and aromatic gin.

A 100% rye made in Brunswick, Melbourne from all-Australian grain grown in the Mallee. Following double distillation the whisky is matured in a two-storey tall bespoke solera system composed of new American oak and x Australian wine barrels.

XXII the connoisseurs' range from 23rd Street Distillery explores rare territory with our signature adventurous spirit. This 100% Australian Single Malt Whisky has been patiently biding its time. Australian Pale Malt, distilled in our towering twin copper pots and aged in first-fill ex-Bourbon American oak. Matured to an assertive, balanced complexity over four Riverland summers. Due to its Southern hemisphere birth, swirl anti-clockwise in the glass to waken its slumber and unlock sensory treasures including honey, tangerine, cardamom and brioche.

A small batch Australian gin distilled uniquely with Kangaroo Island native juniper (Myoporum insulare). Fashioned in the style of a London Dry, this contemporary expression contains fresh limes, mint as well as pink pepper, ginger, mace, cassia, and cardamom. Traditional vapour distilling maximises controlled quality of this award winning Australian spirit. Served as a G&T garnished with strawberries and lemon thyme.

Distilled in Melbourne. Brogans Royal Blood Gin is the savoury sensation that is her navy strength gin. Something a bit special, complex with a lingering cardamom heat, at 57.2% it has a bit of a kick. Herbal aromas and flavours from the rosemary and bay leaf are seasoned with Australian sea parsley, saltbush and roasted wattle seed giving plenty of good mouthfeel. Tasting Note Juniper forward, dry, slightly citrus, and extremely savoury. With herbal and aromatic characters of fresh vapour distilled rosemary leaf, supported by bay leaf, olive leaf and black peppercorns, that are amplified by the Australian natives of spicy mountain pepper leaf, fragrant and savoury salt bush and salty sea parsley. A bold amount of roasted native wattle seeds lengthens the finish and exaggerates the heat of green cardamom. A winner in a dry Martini and a Dirty G&T with a slice of apple to garnish.