Top Shelf International is crafting the world’s favourite spirits with a distinctly Australian character – nothing better! The portfolio of brands includes GRAINSHAKER Australian Vodka and NED Australian Whisky. As of this month, they welcome their new agave brand – ACT OF TREASON.
There has been significant investment to build their Aussie business across distillation, maturation, production, packaging and more. Employing over 80 people, Grainshaker Vodka recently won “world’s best vodka” at the international awards, and now it’s the turn of ACT OF TREASON to raise “the bar.” We spoke with Top Shelf International CEO Trent Fraser.
How unique is agave in Australia?
While agave can be found throughout Australia growing wild or in gardens, 100% Blue Webber agave that produces (tequila) the spirit is much more of a rarity. This is the very strain of agave that we have planted over 600,000 into the ground at our Eden Lassie farm.
How are you growing agave?
Our farm is located in Bowen, northern QLD. This is the ideal climate for our agaves to thrive as it loves an abundance of sunshine. Our farm is purposely positioned 20o South of the Equator, as exactly 20o North is where Jalisco Mexico is, the home of Tequila. We have identical climatic conditions including sunlight, humidity and rainfall.
We have a very scientific approach to getting the very best out of our Australian agaves. We have invested significantly into land and plant management to nurture the growth process which is not really practiced historically. Our chief Agronomist, Chris Monsour, in conjunction with Adelaide University, have been conducting numerous studies, trials and experiments to monitor and maximize plant health. This comes in many forms including soil nutrient, mulch, irrigation, canopy trials, carbon sequestration, to name a few. We have invested into both plant and liquid to ensure we make a spectacular spirit for the world to try.
How important is local production of ACT OF TREASON to the success of the business?
Our brand proposition is all about provenance. That is Australia, and specifically the Region of Bowen and Northern QLD. This is the heartbeat of our brand and critical to not only the production but the roots and DNA of the Act of Treason. The local community has been incredibly supportive and the reason why we will launch in Airlie Beach/Whitsundays areas first. This is as much their brand as it is ours. I hope Australians feel equally proud and patriotic to get behind this pioneering and challenger brand.
What are some of the obstacles you faced in recent years to get ACT OF TREASON going, and how did you overcome those obstacles?
Do you mean outside us building a ginormous farm and distillery in a remote part of Australia?
The CRT is the governing body of Tequila in Mexico and will not allow products outside of their nominated jurisdiction to be called Tequila. So, you can look at this in two ways, a significant roadblock, or, a great opportunity to lean in and make it work for you. As a result, we have aptly named our brand “Act of Treason” as it plays into this challenge and opens the conversation as to why.
We often use the wine analogy, that the same grape variety as Cabernet is made beautifully all over the world. From Margaret River, Coonawarra, Napa, Bordeaux. It’s the same grape variety just done differently and beautifully. In the 80’s, wine faced a similar challenge that the best supposedly only came out of France or Italy. Our Australian agave is no different, it’s just a new
out of the box idea for consumers. Equally, we have boldly called it out on our bottle that it is Australian Agave. We are super proud of this how good the liquid is.
What are your short and long term plans for the success of ACT OF TREASON?
The singular focus right now is to make the best spirit in the world that competes with the very top. As shared earlier, we will be launching in our local area of Airlie beach, Hayman Island and select on premise venues only to begin with. There’s a lot of Tequila and Agave loving bar tenders and venues so we would like to engage and share our new brand and spirit with them first. We will then be launching into Dan Murphy’s in March to support retail and consumer trial.
How big is the agave spirit in terms of opportunity for Top Shelf International?
It is a big blue ocean out there and the opportunity is immense. Tequila has been flying in North America for decades and has risen to prominence as the hottest and largest category. This triggered rapid acceleration around the world and in Australia, doubling and tripling in shipment numbers. Naturally we want to ride that wave and bring a local Aussie twist to this exciting trend.
