Off the back of a devastating year for Canberra vignerons, winemakers around the region are getting creative with plans to supplement their incomes.
Ravensworth Wines' Bryan Martin has begun producing a variation of mead that uses the waste produced from pressing out honeycomb, known as post-brew, from his friend Tim Malfroy's hives in the Blue Mountains and Central Tablelands.
The Murrumbateman winemaker first sourced honey to make vermouth. The two producers got to know each other and the apiarist suggested using the comb waste to make hydromel, a variation of mead, which is an alcohol made from fermented honey.
"It's more an experiment than a revenue source," Mr Martin said.
"I've tasted it at times and it's one of the wildest rides. If Tim could supply more post-brew I'd have a crack at making a barrel."
Ravensworth Wines will not produce a vintage this year after bushfire smoke rendered the grapes unsuitable for wine production.
"The fruit looks and tastes amazing, it's not affected flavour, the smoke-taint compound is bound to the sugars," he said.
With wine off the menu, Mr Martin has decided they're "going large" on fruit beers, with plans to collaborate with a Sydney brewery, Wildflower, to produce five varieties.
Through Marrickville-based brewer Topher Boehm, Mr Martin plans to produce about 10,000 litres of fruit beers, to be sold at the boutique-brewery's cellar door and independent bottle shops in 2021.
While currently at the initial planning stage, Carla Rodeghiero and Malcolm Burdett of Sapling Yard have proposed a Lambic beer venture to replace the 2020 vintage.
The winemakers will begin taste testing the barrel-fermented Belgian style beers of a local brewer to determine whether they'll source fruit for a bigger batch.
Ms Rodeghiero said all the grapes from their Braidwood vineyard were lost due to smoke damage.
The small vineyard at Charleys Forest was smothered in smoke from late November until after New Year's Eve. It was decided early on to leave the grapes to the birds.
Ms Rodeghiero said rosellas, bowerbirds and cockatoo populations suffered after the bushfires and the usually-pesky fruit lovers "had a party" with their grapes.
"I was, in a way, quite relieved to see the birds were still there. I'll probably have to net earlier next year though as a result," she said.
Sapling Yard also source grapes from Hilltops, Tumbarumba and Canberra growers - with several varietals currently being tested for smoke damage.
"It's not looking though," Ms Rodeghiero said.
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Sarah and Anthony McDougall own Summerhill Road vineyard and Lake George Winery, a 113-hectare property that takes in two of Canberra's earliest vineyards.
While not all the vineyard's grapes were lost, the fruit lost for wine has since found a home.
Operators of the Sleepy Borrows Wombat Sanctuary will visit Tallaganda State Forest in the next couple of weeks to feed riesling and pinot noir grapes to the wildlife. The animals at the National Zoo will also feed on a tonne or two.
Mrs McDougall said they were fortunate that about half a tonne of reisling, their pinot gris and shiraz had been saved.
From the reisling they will make verjuice, the gris will make white wine and the shiraz will be a rosé, as well as rosé gin.
Working alongside Local Spirit based in Beard, the couple will add to the distilled gins they're currently readying for tasting and serving as gin cocktails at the cellar door next month.
