What happens when the bar culture of Manila collides with Australian craft distilling? You get something that doesn’t quite fit any existing category, and that’s exactly the point. Stache House Beverage Co and chef Morris Danzen have bottled a love letter to the Philippines: a calamansi liqueur made with real fruit sourced straight from the archipelago, distilled right here in Victoria. It’s the kind of drink that makes bartenders curious and converts everyone else on the first sip.
Here’s Stache House’s Mark Rigby with the lowdown.
Give us the elevator pitch, Mark: what makes this stand out from all the other citrus liqueurs on the shelf?
Most citrus liqueurs are made from fruit you already know. This one isn’t. Ours is built around calamansi, the small, fiercely aromatic citrus that’s woven into everyday life in the Philippines, sourced directly from there and distilled in Australia. The fruit is macerated, triple filtered, and carefully balanced with just enough sweetness and acid adjustment to let the calamansi do exactly what it wants. The result is something with genuine provenance, not just a flavour on a label.
And for anyone new to calamansi, what does it taste like?
Imagine a lime and a mandarin had a baby, raised it in a Manila market, and sent it to one of the best bars in the city. It’s brighter than lemon, more aromatic than lime, with a floral backnote that sneaks up on you. Tart enough to wake you up. Complex enough to make you curious. If citrus had a volume knob, calamansi would be turned up to 11.
Who are you and what are you all about?
This is a collaboration between me, Mark Rigby of Stache House Beverage Co, and chef Morris Danzen of CMD Supper Club, and it’s anchored by a shared commitment to telling the Filipino story through drink.
For Morris, it’s personal. It’s heritage, memory, and the lived reality of the Filipino diaspora. Carrying culture across borders and finding ways to express it in new contexts without losing its core. For me, it began with time spent in the Philippines, immersed in the energy of Manila’s bar scene. It’s a place where creativity thrives on constraint and flavour is driven by instinct. (That’s a roundabout way of saying they’re not afraid of breaking the rules there.)
What connected us was a recognition that Filipino food and drink culture is underrepresented on the global stage.
Explain like we’re five: how do you make it?
We source real calamansi from the Philippines, the actual fruit, not a flavouring, not an extract. From there it’s macerated to draw out every bit of flavour, triple filtered for a clean finish, slightly sweetened, and then we carefully adjust the acids to bring everything into balance. The goal is a liqueur that tastes exactly like the fruit deserves to taste. Nothing added that shouldn’t be there, nothing taken away that should.
What excites you about this project?
The Manila bar scene is one of the most exciting in the world right now, inventive, deeply rooted in local produce, and criminally underrepresented on the global stage. This liqueur is our way of bringing some of that energy to Australia. And honestly, watching someone taste calamansi for the first time and immediately ask what it is? That never gets old.
What are the perfect conditions to enjoy your calamansi liqueur?
A table full of food and the people you love most. Filipino culture is built around eating together, the more dishes the better, and everyone reaches across everyone else. This liqueur belongs in that moment: poured before the feast, sipped between bites, lingered over long after the plates are empty. A spritz or a simple highball with soda works beautifully alongside food.
Is this here for a good time or a long time?
Long time. This started as a passion project but it’s become something with a much bigger story to tell. We took calamansi from the Philippines, distilled it in Australia, and now we’re preparing to take it back. Stache House is getting ready to export to the Philippines, bringing our take on a beloved local ingredient straight into the Manila bar scene. A full circle moment, and one we can’t wait for.
Where can I buy it?
Find us at stachehouse.coffee and follow along on Instagram at @stachehouse.distillery. We’ve got an exclusive discount we’d like to offer you, too; use the code MFW10 for 10 per cent off storewide at stachehouse.coffee.
Stache House x CMD Calamansi Liqueur is available now at stachehouse.coffee.