Professionals Tamborine Mountain 
Tamborine Mountain is well known for its wines, but one business is aiming to change the game. The Cauldron Distillery is already making waves with its selection of quality craft gins, as Darren Stewart— one of three owners of Cauldron along with Glen Stewart and Greg Dower, and with the invaluable input of manager Shelby De Britt— takes us on a tour of this new revolution.
by Kyle Hitchmough
What goes into your creative process here?
Each spirit is made differently. We use a distillation process where we take a very pure neutral spirit and we then go through the process of flavouring, choosing botanicals. There are differences between, for example, our Christmas gin which is a real spicy gin with nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, glacé cherries, orange and fresh ginger, versus something that’s really subtle and delicate like our Sunset Gin, which has green tea, some citrus peel, honey and hibiscus flower. We’re lucky in Australia that we have access to some unique indigenous ingredients, things like lemon myrtle, salt bush, or quandong, which the rest of the world is a little bit jealous of. Finger lime, which is native to Tamborine Mountain, was used along with strawberry gum and aniseed myrtle to flavour our True Blue Aussie bush botanical gin.
With such a wide umbrella of flavours, is there anything you consider part of the Cauldron identity?
We have our core range of Five To Five gins, which are all named around our location. Our Mountain Gin is our most popular. It is citrus based, with lemon myrtle being its hero ingredient, and has floral notes of rosehip and lavender. Then we have our Coastal Gin, which alludes to the beautiful views to the coast on the eastern side of the mountain. It’s a navy-strength gin, and we wanted it to taste like ocean spray, sweetened with Macadamia so it’s bold and savoury. And we have our Sunset Gin, linked to the incredible western views as the sun sets over the Great Dividing Range. That’s a relaxing gin, hence we used green tea as well as a dash of honey, from our property, to sweeten it up a little bit. We also squeeze all our own juices for our cocktails here and make all our syrups as well.
It seems like gin is having a resurgence, both in general and on the mountain. Do you think that’s the case?
Yes, and not just gin, but really craft gin. Craft distillers really put their heart and soul into it with a lot more effort to capture the essence of the flavours within that gin. If you walk into one of the larger bottle shops you will see that the gin section is huge and when you look along you’ll see lots of Australian brands in there. It’s wonderful to see the broader community embracing craft spirits.
Do you offer tours?
We do! People can come along, grab a drink, and enjoy that tour as part of a group. We’re about to launch a number of new experiences, so we’ve been doing sip and paint with a local artist and our gin cup-making classes with a local highly regarded potter. Also, our gin making classes where you can actually sit down and be guided on a journey with one of our distillers, select your botanicals and actually distil your very own bottle of gin within a two-hour window, label it and take it home. Something you can be really proud of. We’ve got regular salsa dancing and gin nights, live music on weekends, and private gin tasting sessions for special occasions. I think a transaction is easily forgotten but a good experience is hard to forget.
Do you have a personal favourite?
You know what, I like them all! I probably would say the smoothest gin we have in our range is our Mountain Gin, and for me, to have one with a good quality Long Rays tonic is like having a sophisticated, yummy lemonade. It’s really refreshing in the mouth. But I’m seasonal, so in summer I might have a bit more Sunset Gin and in winter prefer a Coastal Gin!
Are you a local? What’s your opinion on the Tamborine Mountain area and community?
I still live in Brisbane during the week but I fell in love with the mountain many years ago and bought a place up here. I suppose it was me that dragged both Greg and Glen into setting up here on the mountain. We are the most visited location in southeast Queensland for day trips, so for us that’s a huge advantage that people are curious and looking for something to do, head up to Tamborine and look to visit somewhere that’s new and really authentic.
What do you think a place like Cauldron Distillery really provides to the area?
If we talk about authenticity, I think it brings a real feel of artisan trade. We’re bringing something that comes absolutely from the heart, that’s inspired from our location, and a lot of energy from the team. A lot of the tourist locations are tailored more towards the 90-minute cycle. You’re in, have a feed, try some wine, goodbye. For us, people can just come and sit out on the lawns with views of the vineyard and sip Australian Craft Spirits. They bring their kids and their dogs or even horses. Jasper the horse and his friends are regular visitors. By the way, if you are curious, Coastal gin is his favourite.
Do you carry or create products other than gin?
That’s a great question, yes! We’re in the process of developing our vodka, which will come from a wine base from our vines. We have just distilled our first single malt whiskey which will be barrelled next week, and I’d like to make an agave-based spirit. I’d also love to make a rum.
What do you enjoy most about doing this?
It’s the curiosity and the joy. The curiosity of designing and making the spirits and the joy of delivering that to our customers. To see that smile on their face, to hear them say, “These are amazing, thank you so much!” For us, that’s what it is, making people happy.
What’s been your most memorable moment from your time here?
Probably the support that we’ve had from not only the local community but also the Scenic Rim Council. They’ve been very helpful and supportive of us. They can see our vision, and we know they’re going to continue to support our journey.
Is there anything else you’d like to go on the record?
Our entire property is eighteen acres and was master planned to be a winery. Yes, we have a 10-acre vineyard as well and hope to be able to create some great estate wines. We have some interesting grape varieties on our property. We’ve got a couple of grumpy Italians, Fiano and Montepulciano, a crazy ex-Soviet grape from Georgia called Saperavi, and then we’ve got a Frenchman, Petit Manseng. So, we hope to work with some local winemakers to create some estate wines in the future.
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