Professionals Tamborine Mountain 
The Aerie, a wine, whiskey and gin bar owned by Anna Celotto, is a fresh fixture on Tamborine Mountain, only open since December; however, it’s already promising an entirely new experience to locals, carrying the torch of a budding nightlife scene that many feel is long overdue. Anna shares with us her experience as one of the first new businesses to lead this charge.
by Kyle Hitchmough
What was your original inspiration to open The Aerie?
My husband and I moved from Brisbane about two and a half years ago. I’ve always had a passion for wine, and I’ve always wanted to open a really boutique wine bar. The mountain didn’t have anything similar so when we moved up here, we took a little time to find the right venue. Our wine bar morphed into a gin and whiskey bar as well, and we’ve arrived at what we have today, which I think is a pretty fair offering for most people!
Where are you sourcing your products from?
We’ve tried to particularly stock items that are not readily available elsewhere. If you’re looking for something a little different or a bit top shelf, we have tried to do something different. We’re stocking gins from the Cauldron Distillery, which is up here. Otherwise, we have gone further afield. It’s been really popular with locals so far. There are some very interesting gin distillers throughout Australia doing really exciting things, so we’ve tried to source as many different gins as possible. We just recently sourced some Never Never Ginache, a gin steeped with Grenache grapes. For me, it rocks my world, because it’s gin and its wine! It’s a really exceptional mix, it’s won a lot of awards recently. We stocked that just last week and we’re already sold out. I’ve also selected wines that come from smaller, lesser-known wineries doing exceptional things. You won’t find them in bottle shops, you probably won’t find them anywhere local. I’ve tried to focus on wines that are new. If you were just a Sauvignon Blanc drinker, and you come in and want to try a really exceptional Fiano, that’s what I want this place to be, somewhere where people can explore different varieties and types of alcohol.
The ‘nightlife’ scene is something that some feel is lacking on Tamborine Mountain. Was it your intention to capitalise on this need?
Definitely. When I started doing this, I spoke to a lot of people to figure out whether this would be successful or not. We spoke to locals, businesses, including to Professionals’ very own Alison Rip who’s also on the Chamber of Commerce. I asked “Is this something the mountain needs? The feedback across the board was yes and so we open from 3pm through till late. We do want to inject a bit of nightlife into the mountain. As locals ourselves, we’ve found there was nowhere to really go after dark for a drink or you might have some friends coming and you to go out for a quick drink after dinner. That’s what we tried to capture, that market.
What kind of atmosphere are you trying to cultivate in The Aerie?
What I was trying to create was a relaxed, intimate atmosphere where you could come and stay for one drink or you could stay for five hours, somewhere you aren’t moved on because your table was booked, or there is no pressure to have a meal. If you just wanted to come and have drinks, some snacks, just something where it’s relaxed and chilled. There was no expense spared when I did the fit out because I wanted the seats to be comfortable and the environment to have a relaxed, cosy feel. Jen at e360 design created this wallpaper for us. We were looking to bring the outside of the mountain inside, so you’ll see we’ve got some bowerbirds, some crested cockatoos, some lyrebirds, all local to the mountain. All the flora and fauna on our wallpaper is local, so Jen did an exceptional job. It creates exactly that atmosphere that we wanted.
Is there any live music at the venue?
We’re working on our live music license, it all comes separately from the liquor license. However, we play soft music to create that intimate vibe. I would love to do some live music! But it’s going to be something later down the track, hopefully later this year.
You have some limited food options as well, correct?
We do! We are doing charcuterie boards. Our cheese is as local as Sunshine Coast all the way over to France, the Netherlands and the UK. I’ve tried to do a really good selection of cheeses and meats, perfect to share and nibble and consume over time. We’ve also just started doing tapas on a Friday and Saturday afternoon and evening from 4 till 8, and so again, that menus designed to be consumed as little and as often as you like. So, if you want to sit here and nibble for 3 hours, you’re more than welcome to do that.
As a local, what’s your opinion on the Mount Tamborine area and community?
I love the mountain, it’s everything we were looking for in the pace of life. We live in paradise up here. I’ve been holidaying up here for about 10 years, so I think it’s changed a lot and I think there’s a bit of excitement going on at the moment. There’s a lot of exciting things happening over on Main Street, new businesses coming there, new food… I think the mountain’s going to grow up a little bit, it’s got a lot of potential.
What do you think The Aerie really provides to the area?
I think it offers something where people can step out of day-to-day life. They can walk in and spend a couple of hours not thinking much about everything that’s going on. They can enjoy a great selection of alcohols that we’ve worked hard to source, and they don’t have to work very hard to be able to consume them! When people come in here, they can just zone out and enjoy the atmosphere.
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