Tamborine Mountain—home to endless wineries, cute cabins, stunning waterfalls and now, a craft gin distillery where you can sip cocktails and nibble cheese boards in the sun, thanks to the arrival of Cauldron Distillery.
After opening just 18 months ago, Cauldron Distillery has been making a name for itself in the gin world, winning awards left, right and centre for its craft gins. Founders Greg Dower and Darren Stewart were originally podiatrists who ‘had a midlife crisis together,’ as they put it, deciding to ditch the foot doctoring and open a gin distillery together with Darren’s brother Glenn—and they haven’t looked back since.
Taking over a property that was previously destined to be a winery, Cauldron Distillery is a gorgeous, sun soaked estate with picnic tables surrounded by grapevines where you can sip on a cocktail from the bar and nibble a cheeseboard in the crisp Tamborine Mountain air. The boys have plans to eventually try their hand at wine making, even if the resulting wine ends up being better suited to brandy or whisky, but for now, the vines make for a stunning backdrop to the massive red shed where the gin distilling happens right there on site.
If you’re a craft gin aficionado, you may want to start your visit off with one of their gin paddles, which features Cauldron’s three core range gins and tonic or soda to mix them with. You can even add on their limited and special releases—we highly recommend the limoncello and coffee liqueur. Once you’ve found a favourite, you can move onto gin and tonics, or just hit the cocktail list, with classic gin concoctions given a Cauldron twist, like the Rhubarb Sour, with rhubarb, lemon juice and their Coastal Gin topped with fairy floss. And for all the non-gin drinkers, there’s local Witches Falls Wines and craft beers on the menu too.
Of course, you’ll want some nibbles to go with your drinks, and Cauldron delivers. Monday to Thursday you can snack on loaded cheese boards and dips with lavash bread, while on weekends the caravan kitchen opens up for eats like gin-cured salmon croquettes, chorizo and haloumi skewers, burgers and nachos. With live music playing on Saturdays and Sundays too, this is basically the spot to set up shop under a shady umbrella and settle in for a lengthy afternoon session—it might be best to plan ahead and book somewhere to stay the night.
The distillery also does gin making classes on Saturdays—book in and you’ll distil your very own bottle of gin in one of their mini copper stills after choosing from over 100 botanicals to flavour it with. The classes include drinks and a cheeseboard to share, plus of course that bottle of gin to take home.
Basically, this is a must visit on your next trip to Tamborine, or an excuse to head up the mountain if you haven’t been in a while. Find out everything you need to know about Cauldron Distilling here.
Check out where to stay on Tamborine Mountain here.
Image credit: Cauldron Distilling