Meet Underground Spirits, the new boutique distillery from Canberra

A doctor, a bartender and a public servant walk into a bar.

This isn't the start of a joke, but instead the start of a business - a spirits business to be exact.

Underground Spirits is a brand new boutique distillery, running out of an unassuming shed in Kambah in Canberra's south - and the group has their sights set on creating some of the best spirits in the world.

The venture is the brainchild of self-confessed "giant nerd", Dr Toby Angstmann, and ultimately started from his love of science.

"I came back from a recent trip overseas to Scotland visiting distilleries and I just went, you know what, we've got all of these things here - we have really clean water, we've got an amazing environment, we've got these great regional producers - and I thought let's see if we can just put something together locally," Angstmann says.

"My background is as a medical doctor and a chemist, my first degree was chemistry, and so the technical side of distillation has always fascinated me."

Over a beer, he suggested the idea to two mates - eightysix bartender Andy Galbraith and public servant Jacob McMahon, and the business was born.

Their biggest point of difference is their distillation process. Angstmann has created his own technique - the patent is pending - which they combine with medical grade equipment and surgical precision.

"I'm an IVF doctor, I make embryos, and so we've borrowed very heavily from some quite advanced medical hollow fibre membrane filtration techniques," Angstmann says.

The process involves a submicron, subzero filtration technique - in layman's terms, extreme freezing, and the liquid gets so cold that they can remove the aldehydes from the liquor.

And you can taste the difference. The result is a much cleaner, smoother finish. It's more flavour, and less burning.

The Underground Spirits range currently includes a gin, a vodka, plus three flavoured vodkas - hazelnut, vanilla, and the indulgent caramel vodka, flavoured with caramelised sugar cane. All of the ingredients are sourced locally and there's nothing artificial added.

They've also barrelled their first whisky - you can expect it to hit the market in two years.

It's a passion project for the trio, who still all have full time jobs, but they're no less hands-on - each bottle is hand-poured, capped, sealed and labelled by one of the team.

"Every bottle we put out, someone has put their name to it - someone has signed, someone has taken responsbility for. And that's our ethos - we don't have anything that goes out without that," Angstmann says.

For now, the spirits are popping up at a number of Canberra bars, and will be available at bottle shops in the future. They are also available online. See undergroundspirits.com.au.