Sydney has just scored its very first organic rakija distillery

What do you get when a mortgage broker and a trained lawyer get together and launch a new business? Turns out, it's not always what you think. Cousins and co-founders of DNA Distillery, James Projcevski and Monique Sutevski, come from five generations of rakija distillers. The twice distilled grape spirit is made using organic grapes from the Hilltops region of southern NSW.

No pesticides or chemicals are used on the vines, the grapes are carefully grown, slowly ripened, hand-picked and sorted and the ones that make the cut are fermented naturally to create an organic shiraz wine. The wine is twice distilled immediately using a specialty still flown in from Poland and Bob's your uncle (or Dedo's your great, great, grandfather), you've got rakija. 

The Macedonian moonshine is available to purchase on the DNA Distillery website here and is available in two varieties; the delicate classic and the richer barrel-aged gold version. You'll also find a bunch of recipes on the site for a bit of cocktail hour inspo - try a rakija Marg, Sour, or even a Cosmopolitan if you're binging a certain New York-based girly series.

Looking for more ways to wet your whistle? Check out our list of Sydney's best bottle shops here.