Former AFL player Daniel Motlop's Seven Seasons finds buyers in Japan

Former Australian Football League player Daniel Motlop is selling his spirits to buyers in Japan. His company, Seven Seasons, is also looking at Europe next.

Motlop is a Larrakia man who grew up in Darwin. The Larrakia are the traditional owners of the Darwin area. He played for the Kangaroos and Port Adelaide before founding Seven Seasons, which ABC News reported on 1 November 2026 is securing success across Asia, most notably in Japan.

The range has seven drinks in seven bottles. Each one draws on Larrakia knowledge of the Top End's weather. The whisky is infused with Larrakia paperbark smoke. The monsoon barrel-aged gin takes its name from the wet season. The green ant gin is tied to the windy season and to the timing of a sustainable harvest of green ants, a native ingredient.

The Japan connection came through a federal government trade mission. It linked 12 First Nations businesses with buyers in Tokyo and Osaka. Trade Minister Don Farrell said the government had completed 186 trade missions since 2022.

Europe is the next target. Motlop hopes to take the products there, but quarantine and export rules around native ingredients, including the ants, make that harder. Getting a bottle of green ant gin through customs is a different job from getting a bottle of scotch through.

The company describes itself as a sustainable family business, created to pass down knowledge. Australian Bartender reported in 2025 that Motlop returned to Country with the aim of helping Indigenous communities find jobs and economic stability. He is an Indigenous food entrepreneur, and the business is built around the idea that the knowledge of his people is worth more than a label on a bottle.

For fans of the football, the story is a reminder that life after the big league can look very different. Motlop's game now is selling a product, not kicking goals. The bottles are the scoreboard, and the buyers in Tokyo and Osaka are the new opposition.