Recipe Aussie Berry Bliss: The Cocktail Australia Made for Itself
The cocktail
Australia made for itself.
Brookie's Byron Slow Gin from Cape Byron Distillery. Cold-infused native berries, native citrus, wildflower honey. Earthy, tart, slightly floral. Sessionable at 9% ABV.
For most of the twentieth century, Australian bartenders made other countries' drinks. We learned to build a Negroni the way they built it in Milan, a Daiquiri the way they built it in Havana. The classics were Italian, French, Cuban, American. None of them were ours. The Aussie Berry Bliss is not a riff on any of those. We just wanted a cocktail that tasted like the country we live in.
Four things,
made here.
A short list, by design. Everything in the pouch was chosen to let the native fruit do the work.
Cold-Infused Native Berries
Unique native berry varieties, cold-infused for full-spectrum flavour. Not extract. Not flavouring. The actual native berry character — the way the fruit tastes if you eat it off the bush.
Brookie's Byron Slow Gin
From Cape Byron Distillery, on the Brook family's macadamia farm in the Byron Bay rainforest. Distilled by Scottish master Jim McEwan with Byron local Eddie Brook. The Slow Gin steeps native Davidson Plum in Brookie's Byron Dry Gin. IWSC Silver, Gin Masters Gold.
CitrusFresh™ Citrus
Australian citrus varieties preserved fresh — the brightness without the bitterness of bottled juice. Lifts the berry character on the front palate.
Native Wildflower Honey
Barely there, perfectly placed. Wildflower honey adds a thread of floral sweetness that ties the berry and the gin together — without ever turning the drink sweet.
Why we chose
Brookie's Byron Slow Gin.
Cape Byron Distillery sits in the Brook family's subtropical rainforest — a macadamia farm the family has nurtured for over 35 years, surrounded by some of the rarest plant species in Australia. The distillery is a collaboration between Byron local Eddie Brook and Scottish Master Distiller Jim McEwan — the man who built Bruichladdich and Bowmore on Islay before bringing his distilling legacy to Byron Bay.
Brookie's Byron Slow Gin steeps native Davidson Plum — a sharp, tart rainforest fruit native to the area — in Brookie's Byron Dry Gin. The plums sit in the spirit for weeks, drawing out a deep ruby colour and flavours of rose, watermelon and bright plum. The result is a Slow Gin in the English tradition, made entirely from Australian rainforest ingredients.
The gin has won International Wine & Spirit Competition Silver (2023), The Spirits Business Gin Masters Gold (2022), San Francisco World Spirits Competition Silver (2022), and SIP Awards Gold & Consumers' Choice. It is one of the most decorated Australian gins of the decade.
Made because
no one else had.
The Aussie Berry Bliss is not a riff on any famous cocktail. There is no Soho story, no 1950s blueprint, no London bartender whose name we mention with respect.
We just wanted a drink that tasted like the country we live in. Built around Brookie's Byron Slow Gin from the Byron Bay rainforest, lifted by native citrus and wildflower honey, made with berries that grow in the same soil you're standing on right now.
Feel it first,
in three sips.
When it hits your lips.
It doesn't taste like any cocktail you've had. The native berry character is earthy, tart, slightly floral — nothing like the berry flavourings you know. Brookie's Slow Gin brings the Davidson Plum depth.
Halfway through.
The balance opens up. The tartness gives way to a soft sweetness that's never cloying. The Slow Gin's rose-and-watermelon notes settle into the seam between the berries and the honey.
The last sip.
A clean, fresh finish. The kind of cocktail that feels honest. Australian, through and through.
Three sips. Three parts of the same drink.
That's what cold infusion and slow-gin steeping do — they stretch the fruit character across the whole pour rather than packing it into a single note up front.
Open. Shake.
Pour.
No bartender required. The cocktail is finished in the pouch — it just needs activation.
Aussie Berry Bliss
In the Pouch
- Cold-Infused Native Berries
- Brookie's Byron Slow Gin
- CitrusFresh™ Native Citrus
- Native Wildflower Honey
Method
- Chill the pouch in the fridge for 2 hours, or the freezer for 20 minutes.
- Shake the pouch for 10 seconds to redistribute the cold-infused berries.
- Pour into your nearest cold glass.
- Optional: drop in one large ice cube. Avoid crushed ice — too much dilution at 9%.
- Drink within five minutes — cold-infused fruit loses its top note quickly out of the pouch.
cocktail in your fridge.
Final Pour
We made the Aussie Berry Bliss because no one else had. Four ingredients, all from this country. Brookie's Byron Slow Gin from the rainforest. Cold-infused berries, native citrus, wildflower honey. The cocktail that tastes like where you're from.
Australian, through and through.