{"id":948081,"date":"2026-10-31T22:36:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T22:36:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/948081\/"},"modified":"2026-10-31T22:36:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T22:36:19","slug":"former-afl-stars-spirits-are-soaring-as-company-makes-headway-in-asia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/948081\/","title":{"rendered":"Former AFL star’s spirits are soaring as company makes headway in Asia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former AFL player Daniel Motlop knows a lot about kicking goals.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Motlop went on to develop spirit company Seven Seasons \u2014 a venture that has taken him well beyond Australia’s borders and is now securing success in the Asian market, most notably in Japan.<\/p>\n

But it’s also taken him back home.<\/p>\n

“Growing up in Darwin, and being so strong where we’re from \u2014 that was sort of taken away from us wanting to pursue footy,” Motlop said.<\/p>\n

“You always want to go home, I guess. You’re missing a lot of your culture.”<\/p>\n

\"Former<\/p>\n

Daniel Motlop enjoyed a distinguished AFL career with the Kangaroos and Port Adelaide. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

But his enthusiasm for distillation pre-dates his departure from footy \u2014throughout the duration of his decade-long AFL career, Motlop loved sharing his part of the world with those around him.<\/p>\n

“Teaching some of my teammates about eating certain native ingredients like magpie goose and Kakadu plums,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I always knew I wanted to get into business and Indigenous culture. It was a bit of a flow-on effect.”Bottling native flavours<\/p>\n

Across seven drinks in seven bottles, Seven Seasons captures Larrakia knowledge of the Top End’s weather patterns.<\/p>\n

\"Spirit<\/p>\n

For Seven Seasons, it’s a case of seven drinks for seven bottles. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

Those tropical seasons are determined by rainfall and visible changes in flora and fauna.<\/p>\n

“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.<\/p>\n

Think whisky infused with Larrakia paperbark smoke, monsoon barrel aged gin or the business’s most unique product \u2014 green ant gin.<\/p>\n

“The green ant gin is the world-famous one,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It’s linked to the windy season, based on when we harvest that green ant for sustainability.”<\/p>\n

\"Former<\/p>\n

Daniel Motlop has grand plans for the business. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

As Motlop said, the gin’s renown is expanding, with Seven Seasons recently breaking into overseas markets.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Federal Trade Minister Don Farrell said the government had completed 186 trade missions since 2022.<\/p>\n

“We’re continuing to go out there and find new markets for wonderful Australian food, wine and spirits,” Mr Farrell said.<\/p>\n

\"Former<\/p>\n

The growing business made new links overseas due to a federal government trade mission. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Motlop said the initiative had opened more doors for his business.<\/p>\n

“Most Australians don’t know about some of our ingredients, let alone Japanese people over there,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Obviously a lot of people come over here and want the experience of Aboriginal culture.<\/p>\n

“We can sort of give it to them in a bottle.”<\/p>\n

\"Former<\/p>\n

Daniel Motlop in Japan in 2025 during a trade mission.\u00a0 (Supplied)<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

“Native ingredients are new, so getting it exported is tough,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Ants in a bottle are very different too.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former AFL player Daniel Motlop knows a lot about kicking goals. After a distinguished AFL career that took…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":948082,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[35269,638,64,63,55,639,515729,89592,12888,177825,12618,413765,515731,515732,7555,87235,6082,395357,172723,85,11804,576,515730],"class_list":["post-948081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-aboriginal-culture","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-daniel-motlop","tag-don-farrell","tag-export","tag-gin","tag-indigenous-culture","tag-larrakia","tag-native-food","tag-native-ingredients","tag-osaka","tag-pafc","tag-port-adelaide","tag-seven-seasons","tag-spirits","tag-sports","tag-tokyo","tag-trade","tag-trade-relations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/948081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=948081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/948081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/948082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=948081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=948081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=948081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}