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Though she travels the world working with some of Hollywood’s greatest talents, Margot Robbie always struggled to order a good drink. “Even in some of the best restaurants in Los Angeles, we couldn’t find a high-quality gin,” she mused as we chatted about her unexpected business venture, Papa Salt. The brainchild of Robbie, her husband, Tom Ackerley, and their friends/former housemates, Josey McNamara, Regan Riskas and Charlie Maas, Papa Salt Gin started as an experiment amongst mates. Heavily inspired by Robbie’s recounts of lazy afternoons by the Australian seaside—often recreated with tropical-themed parties in Robbie, Ackerley and McNamara’s old London flat—the gin enthusiasts eventually looked to a distillery, where they began to try their hand at making their own.
But the process wasn’t as effortless as its inspiration. It took around five years and 59 different variations before they landed on the secret sauce. As the group admits, they were only too happy to keep ‘experimenting’ during boozy taste-testing meetings, but Maas’ secret submission of Papa Salt into the LA Spirit Awards—and the gin’s category victory—finalised the recipe we have today.
“My partners in this endeavour are all artists; they love to tweak, edit, and refine,” explains Maas. “That mentality is perfect for filmmaking; there’s a firm due date for a movie, so you work on it until the last minute. But we didn’t have a due date, so I needed to find some way to get them to stop tweaking and say, ‘We’re done!’
What better way than to win an award?
“I knew the product was good and thought it would stand out, but I’ll admit I was a little shocked when we won the entire gin category,” he continues. “There are hundreds of amazing gins, and I hoped to show that ours could stand up with the best of them. Winning the best gin in the show certainly did that; as a bonus, we could only keep the award if we kept the recipe, so the tweaking phase was over.”
While it could have been more logistically simple to produce a gin in the USA, Robbie and Co. decided that Papa Salt belonged in Australia, amongst Australia’s high spirit standards, and it found a home at Byron Bay distillery Lord Byron.
With ingredients that reflect the coastal influences—including Australian oyster shells for minerality, roasted wattleseed, pink peppercorn, hibiscus and citrus peel for a subtle zest—the final iteration goes down as easily as a summer sunset by the water, which was exactly the point, according to Ackerley.
“We knew when creating Papa Salt we wanted to make something versatile, something that would pair great with tonic, mix a martini and hold up with soda water. What we weren’t expecting was just how much fun bartenders could have with it,” he shares. “We’ve seen takes on the Margherita, the Paloma and many others, and they all outclass the more traditional pairings for those cocktails!”
The joy that went into creating Papa Salt is palpable in its taste and unfussy packaging. Reminiscent of sea glass, its matte blue bottle was designed to be effortlessly passed around, not collecting dust like other stuffy spirits. Though some might say never to mix business with pleasure, it seems to be a winning combination for some of the group, as Robbie, Ackerley and McNamara also work together on their production company, Lucky Chap, which produced Barbie.
“Many people would say that friendship does not translate into business compatibility, but I think that is what gives us our strength,” says Riskas. “We have approached every step of this journey with the idea that we have to be having fun along the way, and I think this has positively impacted our creativity and purpose… Our hope is that this ethos feels inherent to Papa Salt itself.”
Passion projects can easily become big business, but Robbie assures that this isn’t the point with Papa Salt. “There’s definitely a cheap way to do things, but we’ve set out to make this exactly how we want,” she said. When you factor in the costs to get this gin at the quality we want, as well as all the associated production fees, we barely break even.”
Naturally, the critics, myself included, agree: Papa Salt is a dynamic gin that holds its own within the competitive craft spirit scene in Australia.
Ahead, the founders share their go-to gin drink recipes for your inspiration.
- Josey: This may sound crazy, but Papa Salt makes a tremendous Paloma.
- Margot: Salt and soda with an orange rind and a crack of black pepper.
- Tom: Dry martini straight up with an olive
- Charlie: Papa Salt and Fever Tree Sparkling Lime and Yuzu—Yuzu is the best citrus, it’s not even close, and it pairs perfectly with Papa Salt.
- Regan: Papa Salt & soda with a juicy slice of blood orange and lots of ice
To find your local Papa Salt stockist, head here.
