Colourful murals are the only hint of the magic taking place inside an industrial shed that has just put Caloundra West on the world gin map.
Beachtree Distilling Co’s signature Quokka Gin has been named Australia’s best contemporary gin – less than six months into commercial production at the Industrial Ave base.
The Quokka, which scored the most points among gold-medal recipients in the World Gin Awards Country Winners Australia, will now be pitted against other nations’ finest contemporary gins this month to discover the best of the best for 2022.
The Country Winners were announced on January 21, and Beachtree’s only other gin product, the Koala, also took out gold on points in the same category for Australia, making two from two entries this year.
The accolades are testament to engineer Steve Grace’s passion for experimenting with native botanical flavours.
The Beachtree founder and master distiller and his partner and business manager Kirra Daley now find themselves in unfamiliar territory in the spotlight, as they usually like to let the quality and smooth taste of their spirits do all the talking.
Steve said the proudly First Nations company had only been distilling since about June and opened its doors in August last year.
But there’s no beginner’s luck involved because the unashamed rum drinker has been distilling gin as a hobby for more than 13 years.
“For me, it’s a big passion,” he said on a break from checking stills and packing bottles in the eye-catching building cloaked in murals by Caloundra artist Steven Bordonaro.
“My hands-on engineering background allows me to work things out. Critique them.
“I just enjoyed making spirits, refining (the recipe) and getting it to be really smooth and nice.
“That’s the key I work with now: if it’s not smooth and you can’t drink it neat, it doesn’t go in the bottle. It’s not a worthy spirit if you can’t drink it neat.”
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Kirra admits that when the email came through from London, detailing the awards title and gold status, “I thought it was spam”.
“It was the first international awards we’d entered,” she said.
“I knew they were coming up but we weren’t even sure (what the process was).
“We only got the email after the event, which must have happened at 7pm that evening with all the announcement of the winners.
“I was a bit disappointed that we missed it. But the result is still the result, isn’t it, so it’s pretty exciting for us.”
Steve remains in disbelief and is sure the magnitude of the Beachtree efforts still hasn’t quite sunk in.
But it’s business as usual at the distillery, where all products are named after native animals and endangered species.
“We just kept working,” Kirra said of the days after the win.
“Every now and again I’m like, ‘Do you realise you’ve been distilling the best Australian contemporary gin?’ And he’s like, ‘I’ve got bottles to pack’.
“We’re only a small business so we’re literally bottling, packing and doing everything ourselves.”
Everyone in the blended family pitches in – from Steve’s nine and 11-year-old children to Kirra’s 15 and 17-year-old teenagers – but they expect to add employees as the business grows and demand for their products increases.
The small-batch operation produces about 20,000 litre a year of gin, as well as the Tiger Quoll Vodka. The rum development is only a few 1000 litres at the moment, with the first effort sitting in barrels on-site, but Steve and Kirra hope to ramp up the volume this year.
Steve laughs at the prospect that he “can stop now” after winning gold on his first attempt in international competition, but adds: “Now we really just want to keep creating the cool brand.”
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That means better brand recognition, ensuring more drinkers are tasting the Beachtree products, refining recipes and creating new spirit lines.
Steve had been in industrial engineering about 16 years, working within the mechanical and electrotechnology space, while Kirra had a background in health and nutrition as a physical education teacher when they started considering a business they could pursue together.
“I was at a point where I wanted something different,” Steve said.
“I was actually at home making a little bit (of gin) one night and Kirra just suggested ‘Have you thought about doing this commercially?’.
“It was hard and we proved that.”
Discussions about a business plan began in 2019, with recipe development in 2020 and, as Kirra adds, “a rollercoaster” of business ups and downs followed.
Kirra said it was very important to the family that their products were sugarcane-based, gluten-free and vegan friendly. They also had to be organic and sustainably produced.
“I was diagnosed with a minor health issue 17 years ago when I had kids: Gilbert’s Syndrome and then thyroid issues. It just meant I had to be really careful about what I put into my body.”
“We didn’t want any pesticides, chemicals or anything altering the taste (of Beachtree products).
“We wanted it to be pure organic, mixed with those beautiful natives (botanicals such as finger limes, lemon myrtle, vanilla, elderberries, mountain pepper berries, rosella and hibiscus).”
Taking it slow and steady allows Steve the time he needs to critique and tweak recipes.
“You put the love in and you get an amazing quality product,” he said.
“I think that’s what’s missed, especially with a lot of the larger international manufacturers: there’s no love.
“It’s something I’m passionate about. I enjoy doing it and I enjoy making it better. That continual evolution of making the spirits better, and finding new recipes is fun.
“We love using the native botanicals in our gins because they’re so empowering.
“The juniper has got to be 50% of your starting botanicals. That’s the rule, to be classed as a gin.
“But it’s quite evident when you taste them that the natives really pull forward over the juniper and that’s what makes a contemporary style gin.”
- Beachtree Distilling Co distillery tours take visitors behind the scenes with master distiller Steve Grace to see what goes into creating the small-batch, hand-crafted spirits. Tours cost $15, visit the website to learn more.
AND THE WINNERS ARE …
The World Gin Awards, presented by TheDrinksReport.com, has an international judging panel of more than 80 experts from around the world, including Italy, Norway, Ireland, Germany, the UK and Australia. Judging is taking place virtually this year but under extremely tight and regulated tasting conditions because of pandemic restrictions.
Points are allocated according to specific objective criteria. This year, Australia gained eight Gold medals, 45 Silver and 28 Bronze. Those with most gold points were named Country Winner in each category.
The 2022 World Gin Awards Country Winners Australia are:
Best Classic Gin – Ginworth Future Vintage Gin
Best Compound Gin – Native Australia Lilly Pilly Gin
Best Contemporary Style Gin – Beachtree Distilling Co Organic Quokka Gin
Best Flavoured Gin – Never Never Distilling Co Ginache
Best London Dry Gin style – Never Never Distilling Co. Triple Juniper Gin Export Strength Mature Gin – Heartwood Absolution of Gin
Navy Strength – Devils Thumb Distillery Navy Strength Gin
Old Tom Style Gin – Four Pillars Experimental Old Tom Style Gin
Signature Botanical – Ginfinity Bubblegum Gin
Sloe Gin – Dasher + Fisher Sloe Gin
For more on the World Gin Awards, visit the website.
