SA-first locally grown spirit gets its first shot in Adelaide bars
An Adelaide distillery is releasing an SA-first spirit saying it promises to open a new chapter for ag in the state.
Craft spirit distillery Hidden Trove Distillers has released its latest range of spirits which are distilled from two unique, locally grown agave varieties last week.
Hidden Trove head distiller Chris Dix is claiming the Acre 96 release is arguably South Australia’s first locally produced agave spirit made from the tequilana variety. A spirit more commonly linked with South America.
And it turns out it is quite the time-intensive process. The tequilana is originally planted in Langhorne Creek before being sent off and planted in the subtropical area of Carnarvon in Western Australia for finishing. It takes up to seven years before the agave is ready for harvest.
The other variety is crafted entirely from locally grown Americana agave piñas which have grown wild around Adelaide since the 1850s and Hidden Trove Distillers also collects them from Langhorne Creek.
Adelaide-based Chris says the distilling method had taken “quite a few years” to master.
“It’s a little bit more complex than making wine, rum, brandy or whiskey,” he says.
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“We need to convert the agave into a fermentable product, so it involves quite a bit of steaming for two to three days, and then a crushing process to make it into a pulp, and then a fermentation and distillation process.”
He says the Americana variety was first successfully distilled in September 2024 and tequilana in September 2025.
The distillation follows a years-long collaboration between Hidden Trove, the Australian Agave Association, Goodfellow Agave nursery and University of Adelaide to assess the feasibility and viability of agave as a commercial crop in SA.
Chris hopes the success from the latest range would usher in a new wave for the state’s locally grown agave spirit industry.
“We’re working to build up a little industry here as a bit of a niche thing, so distillers have got opportunity down the track to produce some of these locally made agave spirits.
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“There’s certainly three or four other [distillers] who are very interested, some are planting more of the material, obviously it’s still a five to six year wait for them to be harvest ready” he says.
“It’s the beginning of a new agricultural chapter for South Australia.”
Outside of alcoholic beverage purposes, Chris says that agave plants have “many uses” including as a sustainable aviation fuel, silage and biomass.
“The plant is quite drought tolerant, doesn’t mind a bit of salinity, and once it’s established doesn’t need a lot of water, fertiliser or pesticides at all,” he says.
“We’re trying to get farmers and landholders to do some trial plot and put some in — about 15 different agave varieties.”
Hidden Trove is releasing Acre 96 as part of a “bar-only” range only available at a select group of tequila and mezcal-focused bars around Adelaide.
Despite the similarities in taste, the release is labelled as agave-based spirits, as strict Mexican laws prohibit spirits produced outside the country to be labelled tequila or mezcal.
The products can be found at BAR BAR on Pirie Street, Burdette on Union Street and Nineteen Ten on Hindley Street.
Chris says the distillery plans on “harvesting more and scaling up” operations in March to produce more bottles.
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