Distillery now looks to international flavour
WHEN the Cauldron Distillery opened its doors on Tamborine Mountain three years ago a curious crowd of just 50 people dropped in on the first weekend to see what it was all about.
Brothers Darren and Glen Stewart with good friend Greg Dower had spent almost two years planning the distillery project and even though they were in the midst of the Covid breakout they backed their idea with a major cash investment.
If they wanted proof that the distillery would resonate with locals and visitors alike they now have it.
“We started out with just us behind the tasting room bar and now we have around 15 staff on the books to cater for our guests,” Darren said.
“Each weekend we average around 500 people dropping in to our centre on Hartley Road and it’s continuing to grow.
“It was important that we needed a destination for our distillery rather than it just been a brand on a bottle in a liquor store. We wanted to reveal our own creativity in the products and we needed a special place to locate it. Building it in the wonderful Tamborine Mountain district has played a major part in our success,” he said.
The Cauldron has become a favourite destination for both locals and visitors alike as they respond to numerous regular events and new offerings.
The range at the cellar door now includes specialty liquors, gins infused with locally grown ingredients and they even make a limoncello featuring lemons grown across the region,” Darren said.
The State government has also been impressed with the Cauldron Distillery story and recently approved a grant to enable them to introduce an automated bottling plant.
Presently it takes three people a full day to fill and label 600 bottles, now when the new plant comes into operation the number will skyrocket to 8000 bottles a day.
It all fits into the grand plans for the future of the distillery as they look to grow their operation to include export opportunities.
They are also looking to entice more international visitors from the Gold Coast region to venture up the mountain to sample their products and food.
There is no doubt the Cauldron has become a major tourism asset for the Scenic Rim as well as a great place for locals to showcase to their friends and families when they drop in to visit.
