Tamborine Mountain Distillery

This is not a winery, and it is on this list because no honest guide to the hinterland trail leaves it off. Tamborine Mountain Distillery is the stop guests least expect to enjoy most, and it is the one that most often ends a day out.

More than ninety gins, liqueurs and spirits are made on site. That is not a range you taste through in the usual sense — it is a range you navigate, which is why the tasting format matters as much as the product.

Ninety-plus spirits, made on a mountain

Small-batch distilling suits Tamborine Mountain for the same reason boutique winemaking does: the plateau produces and grows more than its size suggests, and there is enough passing traffic from the coast to support cellar-door-scale operations that would not survive in isolation.

The scale of the range here is the unusual part. Most Australian craft distilleries build a tight portfolio around a flagship gin. This one runs to more than ninety products, which changes what a visit is: less a tasting flight, more a survey.

Test tubes, and what to try

Many of the spirits are poured in individual test tubes, which sounds like a novelty and is in fact the only sensible way to present a range this size. It also turns the selection into a group activity rather than a queue at a bar, which is why this stop lifts the mood of a long day.

The botanical-forward Australian gins are the standouts, and they are what most guests take home. The liqueurs are worth working through if you have the patience — they cover ground that no winery on the trail does.

Visiting the distillery

The distillery is on Tamborine Mountain, 30 to 45 minutes from Surfers Paradise and about an hour from Brisbane, on the same plateau as the mountain’s wineries, craft brewery and cheese factory.

It works best as a last stop. Spirits after a day of wine is the right order round, and the retail browsing at the end gives a group something to do while the afternoon winds down. Confirm current hours and any tasting charges with the distillery directly.

Visiting on a guided tour

Tamborine Mountain Distillery is not a scheduled stop on the Hinterland Heritage Wine Tour, which runs three fixed cellar doors in the valleys. To taste at Tamborine Mountain Distillery with a driver, either build it into a private charter or look at our Gold Coast hinterland departures, which weight the day towards Tamborine Mountain.

Whichever way you come at it, North Tamborine is not a place to drive from after a tasting. The range roads are narrow and winding, and on a guided day nobody in your group has to sit it out to get everyone home.

Nearby on the trail

The rest of the hinterland wine trail

Tamborine Mountain Distillery is one of 8 venues that make up the wine country behind the Gold Coast, spread across three sub-regions: the Tamborine Mountain plateau, the Canungra Valley and the Albert River corridor. The others are worth knowing about even if you only have a day.

• Albert River Wines — Tamborine
• O'Reilly's Canungra Valley Vineyards — Canungra
• Mount Nathan Winery — Mount Nathan
• Sarabah Estate Vineyard — Sarabah
• Witches Falls Winery — North Tamborine
• Cedar Creek Estate — North Tamborine
• Cauldron Distillery — North Tamborine

For how Tamborine Mountain fits with the rest of the region, and what else is worth doing up the range on the same day, see our Gold Coast hinterland wine trail guide. For tours, start at the Gold Coast wine tours hub or the Mount Tamborine wine tour, or Queensland wine tours for the state as a whole.

Frequently asked questions