Ex-AFL star's spirit company is soaring, including in Asia

Former AFL player Daniel Motlop knows a lot about kicking goals.

After a distinguished AFL career that took the Larrakia man from the Kangaroos in Melbourne to the Power in Port Adelaide, his post-football ambitions were distilled in the realisation that there was unfinished business in another field.

Motlop went on to develop spirit company Seven Seasons — a venture that has taken him well beyond Australia's borders and is now securing success in the Asian market, most notably in Japan.

But it's also taken him back home.

"Growing up in Darwin, and being so strong where we're from — that was sort of taken away from us wanting to pursue footy," Motlop said.

"You always want to go home, I guess. You're missing a lot of your culture."

Motlop's post-AFL trajectory has not been unlike the so-called "build-up season" in the Top End, during which humidity eventually produces deluge.

But his enthusiasm for distillation pre-dates his departure from footy —throughout the duration of his decade-long AFL career, Motlop loved sharing his part of the world with those around him.

"Teaching some of my teammates about eating certain native ingredients like magpie goose and Kakadu plums," he said.

"I always knew I wanted to get into business and Indigenous culture. It was a bit of a flow-on effect."

Bottling native flavours

Across seven drinks in seven bottles, Seven Seasons captures Larrakia knowledge of the Top End's weather patterns.

Those tropical seasons are determined by rainfall and visible changes in flora and fauna.

"When we're harvesting a native ingredient it goes into a bottle and we tell a story around why that season happens and what it looks like," Motlop said.

Think whisky infused with Larrakia paperbark smoke, monsoon barrel aged gin or the business's most unique product — green ant gin.

"The green ant gin is the world-famous one," he said.

"It's linked to the windy season, based on when we harvest that green ant for sustainability."

As Motlop said, the gin's renown is expanding, with Seven Seasons recently breaking into overseas markets.

The growing business made new links thanks to a federal government trade mission trip last year, which connected 12 First Nations businesses to buyers in Tokyo and Osaka.

Federal Trade Minister Don Farrell said the government had completed 186 trade missions since 2022.

"We're continuing to go out there and find new markets for wonderful Australian food, wine and spirits," Mr Farrell said.

Motlop said the initiative had opened more doors for his business.

"Most Australians don't know about some of our ingredients, let alone Japanese people over there," he said.

"Obviously a lot of people come over here and want the experience of Aboriginal culture.

"We can sort of give it to them in a bottle."

The spirit-maker hopes to take his product further afield to Europe, but because of some of its unique ingredients he faces quarantine challenges in some countries.

"Native ingredients are new, so getting it exported is tough," he said.

"Ants in a bottle are very different too."