Five To Try: Aussie-Made Agave Spirits (‘Cos They Can’t Call It “Tequila”)

Tequila and mezcal are some of Mexico’s most iconic cultural exports. And like champagne and Scotch, their names are protected by law. That hasn’t stopped a small vanguard of inventive Australian distillers from giving the famous agave spirits a crack, alongside lesser-known cousins like pechuga, also made from the same family of succulents. Here are five brands to look out for.

Act of Treason

Tequila is (mostly) made in the Mexican state of Jalisco, produced with the famed blue weber agave. For Aussie spirits group Top Shelf International, the best place to grow the same plant Down Under was (obviously) at the same distance from the equator as Jalisco – only 20 degrees south instead of 20 degrees north. It means you’ll find a massive agave farm not far from the Whitsundays in Far North Queensland. Here, agave spirit is made under the Act of Treason label. It’s not called tequila (they are very clear on that) and the spirit has its own Aussie spin. The oldest in the range (Extra Barrel Aged) is rested in oak that once aged Australian whisky, giving it richness and depth. The unaged Blanco, by contrast, is citrussy, vegetal and a little tropical.

Black Snake Distillery

For Narrabri farmers Stephen Beale and Rosemary Smith, the idea of making agave spirits came from happenstance. Their daughter returned from a trip to Mexico with an enthusiasm for the stuff, and incredibly, they discovered agave growing wild on their property, 500 kilometres north-west of Sydney. After their own research trip to Mexico, the couple returned home to make a local interpretation of mezcal, whereby the agave is roasted in an underground pit prior to fermentation. The headliner at Black Snake, though, is pechuga – a lesser-known spirit traditionally distilled with a small amount of meat. Black Snake’s Australian pechuga uses kangaroo, naturally, which imparts a subtle gaminess to the 50 per cent ABV spirit. Black Snake also offers a more traditional mezcal-style spirit (the smoky, fruity, funky Ensamble) as well as a range of aged and unaged tequila-style spirits.

Demoiselle Distillery

Talk about small batch. The first agave spirit from Demoiselle totalled just 45 bottles when released in late 2024. While the Central Tablelands (NSW) distillery is best known for its absinthe (it bills itself as “Australia’s only dedicated absinthe distillery”) and gin, it’s been quietly growing and harvesting agave for nearly a decade. The result of the patience is Vivipara (named for the agave vivipara from which it’s made), a spirit which sees the agave pit-roasted for three days (as in traditional mezcal) and bottled straight. More is on the way.

Agave Australis

Mark Watkins’s Mt Uncle Distillery sits among countless banana plantations in Queensland’s Atherton Tablelands. While Watkins has spent years perfecting his range of gin, whisky and rum (as well as boasting the world’s first marshmallow liqueur – named Sexycat), since 2022 he’s been releasing his own agave spirits under the Agave Australis label. Like Far North Queensland neighbours at Act of Treason, Agave Australis spirits are made from the lauded blue weber agave, with which Watkins makes three spirits. There’s silver and “rested” spirits but, at the top of the tree is Agave Australis’s aged incarnation, which spends two years in American oak barrels picking up rich flavours of vanilla and caramel to further its deep complexity.

Echuca Distillery

Every agave spirit mentioned so far has been made using the most traditional method – that is, they’re all produced directly from a harvested agave plant. That’s all well and good if you’re growing your own agave (or live near an FNQ farm), but there are other ways to get a quality agave spirit. For Echuca Distillery, the key is agave nectar – a sweet syrup made from agave sap. The less traditional starting point doesn’t necessarily mean Echuca avoids making classic agave spirits (its Silver spirit is a fairly classic blanco style) but there are plenty of detours. For some, the Silver is just a base for infusions (coffee, passionfruit and a gin-like blend of wattleseed, pepperberry and saltbush) while the Honey Agave spirit sees honey and agave nectar co-fermented and distilled for a properly unique spirit.