The cooler months are s commonly matched to red wines you’d be readily crucified for busting out a crisp sauvignon blanc or even glancing at a tropical fruit cocktail. Cue the fireplace, bear skin rug, the slow-cooked foods and all the woollen garments you own worn at once, then the big, rich red slides in alongside. While all that sounds well and good, I assert that the spirit world also has a couple of handy tipples for defrosting humans and adding value when Jack Frost comes knocking. What most people overlook is how good spirits can be as a complement to dining, a talking point during a meal, or as an aid for digestion. My ideal cooler month dinner party features a raft of spirits. I usually kick off with a cocktail, but something that won’t slap jelly-soled boots onto visitors. A starter that brings a gentle warmth is a hot toddy. Stay with me here, I’m not serving up nanna’s remedy for scurvy and chickenpox rolled into one, instead I’m focussing on high-quality whisky splashed into a warm “tea” of honey, cinnamon and cloves. Most people reach with auto-response to bottles of wine during a meal, but why not try something different? At Chinese restaurants, I’ve seen tables diving into cognac with braises and hot-pots, which got me motivated to try it out. Snap. Great match. Cognac’s savoury spice is a clever pairing for slow-cooked meats. While there’s no one-size-fits-all for spirit matching, there’s some general rules of thumb. Firstly, think about how flavours work in harmony. If you’ve got delicate flavours, try something delicate: vodka goes with borscht like bacon goes with eggs, while cured fish and gin are a surprisingly good combination. For heavier slow-cooked dishes, check out fuller flavoured, darker spirits like whisky (lamb shoulder), rum (herb-crusted rib eye) and Armagnac (game meat and mushroom). Sure personal taste comes into play, but as that draught blows frosty through the kitchen, raise a spirit, red wine can always wait.

With whey leftover from their cheesemaking, artisan dairy Grandvewe have turned their hand to distilling. This vodka is as good as it gets: silky in texture, lightly spicy with subtle pear-like flavours. Make a fancy, warm, whole milk White Russian with it.

Not content with making amazing whisky, Belgrove also produce a range of artisanal spirits with locally-grown produce. This spirit (which they describe as “ginger beer on steroids”), combines gentle sweetness with a piquant hit of ginger.

Melbourne Gin Company winemaker-distiller Andrew Marks has refined his offering and increased the botanical impact. This is wildly complex, utterly delicious stuff in the herbal spectrum of dry gin. Try it chilled, neat.

The crew at Hoochery Distillery in remote WA are serious about rum. This is one of Australia’s great rum producers working with local sugar cane and producing complex, rich spirits. It’ll warm the cockles, but try in a flaming Blue Blazer.

The price might raise an eyebrow, but this is no run-of-the-mill whisky producer. This single cask, American-oak-matured whisky is incredibly complex, smooth and lavish in treacle, toffee and light saline. Best for sipping in front of a fire.

Moonshine sounds like what you might sip then apply as alligator repellent in the deep south of America, but these distillers make it a deeply-flavoured, fragrant spirit best sipped from heavy-based tumblers.