Last Hope Distillery

Yesterday Jess found a flyer for a free tour at a distillery, so we decided to check it out. Last Hope Distillery is the southernmost distillery in the world and is run by a pair of Australians, Matt and Keira, who noticed there was no whisky distillery in Chile and decided to open one despite never having distilled spirits before.

The distillery has been open almost two years and produces gin for drinking now and whisky for the future. They make two gins: a dry gin and a Calafate gin. Both are delicious! Matt and Keira prefer citrusy, fruity flavors to floral notes and both gins definitely reflect that preference. The calafate is a native berry that gives the Calafate gin a beautiful magenta color and a smoother, fruitier flavor. Incidentally, the region we are heading to next gets its name from this berry.

The bar is beautiful and serves delicious cocktails including a set of monthly specials. We used our last few Chilean pesos to try a cocktail each. Jess tried a January cocktail, the Archetype, with Cynar, an Italian artichoke liqueur, and Gancia Americano, an Argentinian wine-based aperitif the bartender described as tasting like flat Sprite. (Even though it doesn’t sound great, we have to agree with her.) Eric had the Mary Verde cocktail, a weekly special modeled on a Bloody Mary but green with celery juice. Both were artfully presented and delicious.

We were the only people there for the tour, so we got a free, private tour of the distillery from Matt. Jackie was in the back bottling the latest batch of gin very efficiently while Matt told us about the 12 ingredients in Last Hope’s gin. He had us smell each one and try to guess what it was. Some, like star anise and cinnamon were easy to identify; others, like maqui berries, we had never heard of. Matt told us all about their beautiful copper still and the distilling process and let us fill up a few bottles of gin using the fancy bottler at the end. We think we spent about an hour and twenty minutes with Matt asking him questions and giving him some suggestions to increase the alcohol content of the beer that goes into Last Hope’s whisky. We think it was the longest tour he has ever given, but we really enjoyed it.

If you ever find yourself in Puerto Natales, Chile, swing by Last Hope Distillery and check out Matt and Keira’s operation. They are awesome and the gin is good too!

And just like that we’ve done it. We’ve already checked off one of the eight countries on our South American tour. We may swing into Northern Chile again in a few months, but for now, this is all we have planned.

After two great days in Chile, we’re off to El Calafate to find Sol and Travis who have been waiting there patiently for us for a day.