Professionals Tamborine Mountain 
Castle Glen is almost certainly one of the most iconic storefronts on Gallery Walk— if not all of Tamborine Mountain. Manager Phil Skinner reveals the story behind this local wonder— as well as a few other fascinating trade secrets.
by Kyle Hitchmough
You’re mainly a liquor store, but you’re also advertised as a brewery, distillery and winery?
That’s correct. Everything that we sell is produced on site at Stanthorpe, our brewery, distillery and winery are located there. We only sell our own products. As you can see, we don’t really need to sell anybody else’s! It’s a huge range, it’s absolutely massive. Over 155 products now, and that’s just in the liqueur range.
Obviously, the design of this store is an iconic part of Gallery Walk. Can you tell us anything about that?
We basically built the building based on the castle at Stanthorpe. The castle there was built in 1990 and it’s about six times the size of this place. This shop front was built to scale, but I live here as well in an attached apartment.
You’re not the only business specialising in the alcohol trade on the mountain. What do you think makes the area so popular with the industry?
I guess it’s just a tourism thing. Wine tourism up here is pretty big, and the mountain is a nice spot to visit. The wineries that do have their vineyards up here it’s probably more for aesthetics, but it’s nice just to come to see vineyards, taste wines… Especially nowadays with Instagram and all that, it’s great to get a photo of you in an iconic location. We’ve always done well in these areas— we have another store at Montville too, in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, that’s been there for 12 years roughly. Areas like this attract wine and brewery tourism. It’s a good market, and it brings people up and then they go to other places like cheese and coffee.
What’s the most popular product that you sell?
In terms of overall sales, our flagship products would be our musk stick liqueur, which is the only natural musk stick liqueur you can buy in Australia because it’s made with a natural flavour, not artificial. Our Queensland Delight has always been a classic: it’s like a chocolate rum coffee liqueur. We also do a caramel vanilla whiskey with spices, and that’s made with our own single malt whiskey. They would be the top three overall, over the years.
What goes into an average workday for you?
It’s predominantly customer service. To really dumb it down, we’re a very boutique bottle shop. Because we’re only a cellar door here, we basically just sell our products. We do offer tastings on our products as well. I talk to customers about what sort of products we sell and what goes into the manufacturing. It’s general sales at our outlet here, whereas at Stanthorpe people can see the vineyard and the manufacturing.
Are there any particular trends in your clientele?
At the moment because of COVID we have had an extreme influx of local customers, which is awesome. It’s been really great. Our business is actually in really good shape. It has been very sad for a lot of other businesses around, and I feel really bad for them, but at the same time, because we offer a loyalty program, we get people to come back. We’re getting a huge amount of local business, which is really good. But generally, I would definitely say the trend is more interstate-international tourism.
You’re obviously a local. What’s your opinion on the Tamborine Mountain area and community?
Yeah, I literally live right here! I don’t get out much, but it is quite a close-knit kind of community. It’s a very tourist-driven economy here in my experience. But it’s a good little spot— you know everybody, everybody who comes in or goes past says hello. Everyone’s friendly. It’s a nice place— I’ve been here 5 years and I still love living here, I really enjoy it.
What’s your favourite thing to do in the mountain?
Probably bushwalking! I really love just doing the trails around here. Almost every day I do a different circuit. It’s definitely my favourite thing to do. The waterfalls, the air, the tracks… It’s just great.
What do you think Castle Glen really provides to Tamborine Mountain?
We bring a lot of people who probably wouldn’t come up here otherwise. A lot of our customer base does come from the greater Brisbane area, so we do bring a lot of tourism to the area, and they’ll then stay in accommodation or frequent the coffee shops and restaurants, especially on Gallery Walk. Since this store has opened in such an iconic spot, a lot more people are coming to visit. All the way from Sydney, and we have day-trippers up here.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
To be honest, I love the process, it’s like a family business, I’ve been with them so long that my bosses are like family to me. I treat it like it’s my own business and that’s how passionate about it I am. Interacting with our regular customers, too, I love them. Sometimes it just makes my whole day when they come in and tell me about what they’ve been doing, how they’re enjoying the products. That’s what I really enjoy most, that we have a big turnover but we’re a small, very tight business. I came from a corporate background, and this is just like a dream for me. I enjoy almost every day.
We are always looking for new topics for our blog. If there’s something you like to see more of, email your suggestions to: social@professionalsserendipity.com.au, or email the writer at kyle.hitchmough@hotmail.com.
