ONE FOR THE ROAD

The cocktails that put the most considered Australian craft spirits to good use, with recipes from the best bartenders in the country.

You wouldn’t normally associate vodka with the hot climate of Australia, but nevertheless we found this lovingly crafted drop in Tasmania, a state that seems hell-bent on becoming the craft spirit capital of the world. We dropped into Kentucky Rain, attached to smokehouse The Tickled Rib (currently on the move to a new and improved location in North Hobart), to sample Hellfire Vodka from Hellfire Bluff Distillery. “Hellfire is a potato farm and it uses its excess potatoes to produce this vodka,” says manager Lewis Rands. “It operates with a ‘paddock to bottle’ ethos to produce a vodka in the traditional way, while reducing waste. The cocktail is the combination of sweetness from the elderflower and tartness from the blackberry and lemon without taking away from the vodka’s unique taste.”