Delivered
Fast forward a couple of years and all five friends find themselves in Los Angeles and missing their London days.
“It was like, okay, what gins did we like in the UK that we couldn’t get here?” McNamara said. “So we had an idea: what if—just for fun—we tried making our own batch? Just so we can have our own party? Everything went from there. In the beginning we were just trying to have a little fun.” and do something different.”
Mixing work and pleasure
Most people would advise going into business with friends. The creators of Papa Salt aren’t most people.
“Friendship always comes first,” Robbie said. Marie Claire Australia by email. “This business is just a happy by-product of that. If it ever stops being fun, we’ll stop!”
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In fact, the biggest argument among the group was over the side dishes. Ackerley continued to insist on dill; the rest were less than interested.
“That was the only major disagreement,” Riskas said. “I think dill could be quite divisive.”
Fortunately, the final product does not contain dill. Instead, it uses Australian botanicals and oyster shell to add minerality, creating a smooth, round gin that can be enjoyed with either ice or tonic. “We wanted something tasty and refreshing,” Riskas said. “We wanted to evoke the feeling of a nice Australian beach day: you have a little salt on your skin, you’re drinking and laughing with your friends. The word we kept coming back to was “session.”
Although Robbie is the only Australian in the group, Papa Salt is a uniquely Australian offering. Not only is it made here (at the zero-waste Lord Byron Distillery in Byron Bay), but it is also being launched in Australia first. “Margot has always said that she thinks Australians are the most discerning gin drinkers,” Riskas said. “She thinks – and we all agree – that if our gin does well there, then we have a hope of being successful.”
How drunken ‘chemistry sessions’ led to the creation of an award-winning gin
Delivered
In 2023, celebrities often launch an alcohol brand (or call it after themselves). Kendall Jenner has 818 Tequila, Ryan Reynolds has Aviation Gin, and even Kylie Minogue has a range of wines. But the story of Papa Salt is really the story of five friends having fun and creating something together – it just so happens that one of these five friends is an actor and producer of the first magnitude, Barbie star Margot Robbie.
“At first we were like scientists,” Riskas said. Marie Claire Australia with laughter. She and Maas would show up on Robbie and Ackerley’s doorsteps with “cases” of their favorite gins, which turned into lively discussions about the merits of each. Maas’s family works in the distillery industry and therefore sends them various gin formulations and distilled botanical extracts to sample.
“It was never an urgent process,” McNamara added. “It was very much a labor of love.” Plus, he admits, “You forget you’re drinking alcohol, and by the end you forget what you tried or what you mixed it with.”
This activity of scientific experimentation and pandemic came to an end when Maas secretly entered Papa Salt into the LA Spirit Awards, and it won in the gin category. “It gave us a feeling that maybe we had something really special here,” McNamara said. If not for the award, Riskas adds, “we would still be working.”
Papa Salt is now available in stores across Australia. You can order a bottle here.