Ally Ayres

Coming Up

Since 2018, Karu Distillery has had Ally Ayres as co-founder, co-owner and head distiller, with the work shaped by a steady hand rather than noise. That mix of roles matters in distilling: it ties production, decision-making and house style together in one set of priorities. In Ayres’ case, the result is a body of work that reads as deliberate from the first bottle to the last detail around it.

Where They Are Now

At Karu Distillery, the craft sits at the intersection of control and expression, and Ally Ayres has been central to keeping that balance intact. As co-founder and co-owner, she has helped define a distilling practice that treats spirits as more than technical output. Since 2018, that approach has given the house a clear identity: measured, built with intent, and anchored in the culture of the place she calls home.

Signature

Ally's signature wines include outcask wild rum, Morita Chipotle Vodka, Lightning Gin, and Affinity Gin. Read as a set, they show a distiller working across contrast: depth in outcask wild rum, smoke and heat in Morita Chipotle Vodka, and a cleaner register in Lightning Gin and Affinity Gin. The range suggests a clear aim to make spirits with distinct identities that still belong under the same house style.

In Their Words “All I really wanted from this was to create something that I liked and hopefully others would too and start to bring more of that cocktail and spirits culture to where I am from.” That is a straightforward brief: make something she would drink, then put it in front of a wider audience. The point is not self-expression for its own sake, but a local culture-building project, with cocktails and spirits used as the vehicle. For an artisan, that is a practical ambition — one built around use, place and uptake. The line places the work inside a broader trade network, where support matters as much as output. Ayres names the women and men who have made room not only for her, but for other women in the industry as well. That kind of acknowledgment is part of the trade too: it marks the difference between working alone and working in a field that can hold more people in it.