Every morning, I start my day by tasting wine, beer or spirits. Sounds like fun. Sometimes I go to my office and set up some 30-40-odd bottles in brown paper bags in neat rows.I pour glasses, then I sniff, swirl and spit until I find the drinks worth talking about. While most people are munching through their Corn Flakes, I’m halfway through a line-up of chardonnay. If you add this up over a year, then times that by visits to wine regions, meetings with winemakers, mass tastings, wine judging, it starts to equate to high four-digit numbers, which often comes as a surprise. I liken it to Olympic-level sports training: take too much time off and you lose form; keep at it and you’ll be at peak fitness. Wine tasting is my number-one athletic achievement. One of the most prominent things I’ve noticed this past year is the sheer diversity of local wine, beer and spirits. Australia is excellent at producing fermented and distilled drinks. Though I like drinking broadly, I’m also thinking about which of the best things I have tasted (or drunk) that have come from Australia. First of all, there’s now a wealth of Australian farmer-grower-producers who turn their own soil, grow their own grapes or grain, then make something with that primary product you and I can drink. Like the idea of paddock-to-plate dining? How about paddock-to-glass drinking? Then there are those who have honed their craft to a point that world-leading examples are being equalled or surpassed by our local products. Try 2014 Hunter Valley shiraz, 2015 Yarra Valley, Gippsland and Macedon pinot noir, 2014 red blends from McLaren Vale. In the spirits world, I’ve sipped more character-filled Australian craft gins this year than in a lifetime. I’ve also swallowed complex Tasmanian single malt and fascinating organic rums. I’ve even delved into some of the headier, exotic craft beers coming out of our microbreweries. It’s a great time to look at Australia’s best fermented, brewed and distilled things to drink.

An immediate sense of high quality. Jeez, this smells decadent in stone fruit and citrus, rich with spicy wood, lively with flinty mineral character. For your best roast chicken ever.

Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier is a cult wine and effectively put the Canberra District onto the national wine map. This 2015 release is one of the best ever. Full stop. It should cellar over three decades, too.

A quiet revolution is at hand in Queensland with top producers eking out some wonderful drops. This mourvedre is lavish in dark fruit, sweet spice and peppery perfume. Ideal with charred barbecue meats.

I’ve overlooked Mornington Peninsula in the past, but this drew me in. Supple, soft, alive with cherry fruitiness, but given complexity from dried herb. Best sipped from huge glasses.

The Feral Brewing Company produces some of Australia’s most exciting, weird, delicious beers, and do so mostly under the radar. Full of dark malt character, but with zesty fruitiness. Try with chocolate.

There is a raft of amazing distilleries in Tasmania, but this gin caught my eye. It’s produced using sloe berries that distillers forage from hedge rows and distil with pure Tassie water. Amazing with soda and lime.