exploring the terrific world of food and drink is all about the delicious discovery of new produce and places to sample it. We love nothing better than sharing our discoveries with you, so here are our most current 5 Foodie Finds.

When it pertains to food and drink, there’s often a battle between the two for dominance. but in this edition of 5 Foodie Finds, for once we’re letting the booze speak uninterrupted.

We’ve found some remarkable things either to get the party started recently and we’re ecstatic to tell you about them.

So here are our most current 5 Foodie (or must that be ‘Drinkie) Finds:

Stone want seasonal gin

We’re huge fans of stone want Distillery in Bathurst, NSW. Ian Glen, the head distiller and owner of this beautiful little craft distillery is not what you’d expect of a mad scientist genius. quietly spoken, unassuming and both eyebrows intact and unsigned, it’s always a pleasurable surprise to see what magic has come from his dazzling brain.

His regular gin is beautifully smooth, his black spiced rum Dead Man’s Drop is a work of art and I’m quite partial to the grappa he makes too.

However, it’s the seasonal gin releases he makes annually that we take pleasure in the most. Last year he made this, the Orange blossom gin. This year, he’s made a truffle gin from real Aussie truffles he’s foraged himself. This stuff’s so new we don’t even have a picture of it… yet!

Secret Bottle

Joining a white wine club can be a great way to explore new wine, and expand your white wine knowledge and collection without having to worry about the research. However, you never know if you’re going to take pleasure in the bottles they send you.

That’s how secret bottle is different. instead of paying to have bottles of unknown white wine sent to you, these people send you samples first. You get a box of three gigantic glass test tubes, which are a but like very long white wine bottle necks minus the body.

Each tube has a sample of that edition’s wine, which you can get a lot more of if you like it. What’s more, the wines the people at secret bottle curate for you are all from little, undiscovered wineries from across Australia.

There are so lots of under-represented winemakers who don’t have a big enough yield or turnover to have a cellar door in Aus, yet their products are absolutely astounding.

Tumut River Brewing Co – Squealing Pig & SCBW

Perhaps like you, we’d never heard of the little town of Tumut (that’s “Chew-met”) about 20 minutes from the amusingly named river town of Wagga Wagga (that’s “wogga-wogga” not “wagger wagger”) before. and that’s fair enough.

But thanks to Sydney Craft Beer Week, which has been going considering that 2011, this rural new South Wales town is now on our radar. A tiny brewery there, run by two Aussie blokes, is turning out some extraordinary beer.

We were introduced to their Squealing Pig APA recently and, I need to say, it was love at first sip. full of flavour that lasts forever, a beautiful creamy body and a hoppy head, this beer is now top of my list to drink as much of as I can find!

Burrow Bar

If there’s one thing we love, it’s finding a new little hide-away bar to prop up and take pleasure in a reliable cocktail at. and that’s exactly what we’ve got here with Burrow Bar.

Tucked well away in the heart of Sydney’s financial district and looking a lot more like a loading dock doorway than a speakeasy is Burrow Bar. It’s owned and run by four friends whose focus is on great service, delicious food and well-crafted drinks.

Nailed it! plus the interior of this tiny hidden city gem is cosy and full of old world charm. just what you want in a small bar, and in such contrast to the fast-paced, shiny modern world of CBD life going on all around them.

You can get all sorts of drinks here, but the cocktails – especially the classics like my best gin martini – are really where these people sparkle. A must-try here in Sydney city.

Pisco and La Puerta

We’re always keen to learn about new types of alcohol. We knew nothing about pisco until recently. Pisco is a grape-based alcohol that the Spanish brought to Peru in the 17th Century to replace the arujo brandy they missed from home.

Now it’s become the national drink of Peru – and Chile too – and has started appearing in a lot more and a lot more cocktails around the world. The good old Pisco Sour is a much-loved of many, but there are lots of other ways to use this versatile and underestimated spirit.

Click here if you want a bit a lot more info on pisco.

One of the crucial places to try this drink in Sydney is in our new much-loved South American restaurant La Puerta in Neutral Bay. La Puerta is run by a husband-and-wife team Oscar and Catherine Espinola, and they’re focus is bringing standard South American food up to date and bringing it to life in Sydney.

And that includes creating some awesome pisco cocktails of course!

Have you discovered anything delicious to drink recently? have you heard of or tried any of this edition’s Foodie Finds? tell us all about it in the comments below!