St Peters’ new small-batch distillery, Otter Craft Distilling (OCD), is raising the country’s vodka game with a series of white spirits designed to be sipped and savoured, rather than sloshed with mixers.

A taste of the distillery’s Pure Vodka reveals none of the usual burning notes, but rather the sweet aromatics of roasted almonds and grains alongside the well-rounded flavours of butterscotch, star anise and bush honey.

The new distillery makes both premium whiskey and vodka, with the key point of difference being their lengthy fermentation times, which allow deep, rich flavour profiles to develop.

“The entire range is made for sipping,” says OCD co-owner Julie Otter. “That includes the vodka, which people are telling us makes for a great aperitif”.

Also in the range is a cocoa vodka, made from traceable cocoa nibs supplied by Blue Mountains chocolatier, Zokoko. The nibs are steeped in the spirit for 10 days to impart intense flavours of fudge brownie, raisins, dates and bittersweet chocolate.

They also make a coffee vodka, heady with ristretto flavours, anise and lingering spice. Both flavoured vodkas only use 10g of panela per litre, which is around one-tenth of the sugar content that you’ll find elsewhere in the industry.

Looking to test it out for yourself? You can find the spirits lining the back bars of some of the city’s finest venues (think Quay, Bennelong and O Bar and Dining), or you can pick up a bottle from Dan Murphy’s online or the OCD website, where the vodkas will set you back $95 or $300 for the whiskey.

The St Peters distillery has also just started a number of tasting tours and masterclasses for the vodka connoisseur. For more details, head to ocdistilling.com.