Taste your way through the best Queensland craft distilleries

Mount Uncle Distillery’s Botanic Australis Gin packs a peppery punch, with an original dry gin recipe that adds 14 native botanicals including the bunya nut. You can taste your way through this popular drop and their award-winning, Aussie-ingredient filled spirit selection at the cellar door.

See where the magic happens as you clap eyes on ‘Helga’, the 1500ltr copper pot still, along with all the baby-gins brewing in the barrel room. It’s well worth the visit for gin aficionados, but there's also vodka, rum, whiskey and a liqueur called Sexy Cat well worth sampling.

How to do it? The tasting room is open daily from 10am-4pm. Wash down your visit with this itinerary if you’re keen to explore more of the Atherton Tablelands.

Wolf Lane Distillery, Cairns

Slip down an unassuming laneway to discover the city's first craft distillery in a 1900's horse stable: Wolf Lane. Founded in 2019, it's quickly become a hotspot among Cairns' best bars thanks to its welcoming bar and cellar door.

This is the tropical north in a bottle: the flagship Tropical Gin is infused with mango, grapefruit and finger lime, while the navy strength or a sloe gin made from Davidson Plums is sure to impress. Prefer cocktails? Pull up a barstool and order a Davidson Plum Sour or barrel aged Gin Old Fashioned. 

How to do it? The cellar door and distillery is open Monday - Friday 11am - 4pm. The distillery bar is open Thursday – Saturday from 4pm, and Sundays from 2pm. Stop in for a drink in between tasting your way around Cairns’ best restaurants. 

Mount Tamborine Distillery, Scenic Rim

This spot on Tamborine Mountain started like most good distillery stories: in 1993 with an orchard, excess fruit and a Russian owner who knew how to make a true schnapps. The rest is history.

Today there’s over 60 varieties of gin, grappa, liqueur and schnapps in their range, and a trophy shelf overflowing with accolades from every corner of the globe.

A tasting tour will set you back $5 and give you a taste of five different drops. Pick your flavours – or better yet, let the bartenders show you what’s popular.

How to do it? Tie your stop at Mount Tamborine Distillery into this dream weekend itinerary. 

Bundaberg Rum, Bundaberg

Want to become a master blender?

It might be the only mainstream entry on this list because you’ll find it in any Aussie bottle-o, but don’t dismiss this boutique distiller as bigger than their boots.

The team at Bundaberg Rum continue to reinvent like any good distiller should, and in 2017 the Solera was crowned the ‘World’s Best Dark Rum’ at the global World Rum Awards in London.

Unlike many distilleries where you come, you taste, you buy – Bundaberg Rum is set up for those who want to learn more. Wander through the museum, take the behind-the-scenes tour to learn the brewing basics, and enjoy a tasting session at the bar. Or, book yourself in for a Blend Your Own Rum experience to craft your own unique blend to take home. 

How to do it? Start at the distillery, then explore this rum-soaked town with this 48-hour guide.

Kalki Moon, Bundaberg

Bundaberg is home to more than just rum. Born out of Bundy’s cane fields, Kalki Moon burst onto the scene in 2017 – and is already snapping up awards. Behind the copper stills you’ll find master distiller and blender Rick Prosser, who runs the business with his family. Sample your way through the small batch gin, vodka, rum and liqueurs.

How to do it? Free guided tours and tastings are available daily from 10am. Balance out the booze by exploring the region’s booming food scene.

Fortune Noosa Heads Distillery, Sunshine Coast

After you’ve had your fill of the beach, dive into the backstreets of Noosaville for a change of pace. Parked inside brewery Land & Sea, Fortune is the new kid on the block of Queensland craft distilleries. Take a tour to discover how their gins are made, or settle in at the bar where you can try an Asian-botanical lead cocktail collaboration with popular local restaurant Sum Yung Guys, among plenty more.

How to do it? Take a tour that combines the brewery and distillery. Then tuck into a lunch on-site before exploring more of Noosa’s dining scene.  

Beachtree Distilling Co, Sunshine Coast

It’ll be more than the gin that warms you up on your visit to Caloundra’s organic, small batch distillery. With an emphasis on using native bush tucker ingredients, certified organically grown sugar cane as the base spirit, and an inventive, minimal waste distilling process, Beachtree puts extra care in every step to ensure the gin and vodka you’re drinking isn’t just tasty, but ethical too.

How to do it? Open Wednesday – Sunday, stop in after exploring Caloundra’s stunning beaches. 

Beenleigh Artisan Distillers, Brisbane

Did you know that the oldest registered, continually working rum distillery in Australia can be found on the banks of the Albert River 30 minutes from the heart of Brisbane’s CBD? And over 130 years later, Beenleigh Artisan Distillery is still making rum the traditional way.

With $25 in your pocket you can enjoy a one hour tour and tasting with two options to suit your palette: the Classic Selection or the Distiller’s Selection. Or, get crafty yourself and sign up for the Craft Your Own masterclass - the opportunity to create you very own blended bottle of Beenleigh Rum. 

How to do it? Open Monday to Friday 10am to 5pm, Saturday and Sunday 10am to 4pm. Tours currently run Wednesday to and Sunday from 10:30am, with the last tour starting at 2:30pm. In line with COVID-safe practices bookings are essential - though you can stop in any time for a tasting. 

Granddad Jack’s, Gold Coast

A short walk from North Burleigh Surf Life Saving Club is the Gold Coast’s first craft distillery - Granddad Jacks - and it's one-of-a-kind. 

Founded by the grandson and great-grandson of the Granddad Jack, spirits here are crafted from 90-year old family recipes and new flavours, with flagship gins alongside inventive limited releases like pavlova gin and pumpkin spice moonshine. 

Pop in for a tasting or a cocktail. For a little more, distillery tours kick off with a gin & tonic on arrival, and after you learn the history you’ll score complimentary tastings of three flagship gins. Keen to craft your own? Sign up for a make-your-own gin class.

How to do it? Take a tour or have a drink at the bar before you head out to a secret beach, or kick on for the evening at one of these rooftop bars.

Good to know: Granddad Jack's now has a second outpost in Brisbane's Albion neighbourhood. 

Wildflower Gin, Gold Coast

Located in Burleigh Heads, boutique Wildflower Gin distillery creates premium handcrafted gin in a 1000L copper column still.

The distillery takes its name from the concept that their simple backyard bee has pollinated flowers from homes around Burleigh, bringing to life the wildflowers surrounding us. You can visit the distillery to try the Signature Gin first-hand – a subtle balance of juniper, lemon myrtle and gentle hints of the distiller's backyard honey – along with a pink gin and shiraz oaked gin. 

How to do it? Join in on a gin making masterclass where you can create your own gin from a range of 50 botanicals using the help of their master distiller. Or, reserve a two-hour session at the bar, open Friday - Sunday. 

Brisbane Distillery

Head to Brisbane's West End to meet Brisbane Distillery: the city’s first grain to glass artisan distillery, where they're crafting new and exciting gins, rum and botanical vodkas.

Taste their gins and vodka at the tasting bar, hear their Master Distiller talk through the process and range of botanicals, or simply make a bar reservation to sample some of the 25+ craft cocktails on offer. 

Want to go to school? Sign up for a gin making class where you can distil your very own custom blend to take home and enjoy.

How to do it? Brisbane Distillery is open Tuesday to Thursday - 11am to 10pm; Friday and Saturday - 11am to Midnight and Sunday - 11am to 6pm. Be sure to explore more of West End's dining and nightlife while you're here.

Thirsty for more? Save Queensland craft distilleries for later and explore the best breweries in Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast.