Brisbane Gin School & Distillery — Local services in Brisbane City

THE ULTIMATE GIN EXPERIENCE – BRISBANE DISTILLERY Billed as the ultimate gin experience, I might have approached this one with some mild thoughts of trepidation – ultimate, in my opinion can only be reserved to a childhood hero who painted his face and gorilla pressed weak peasants before tossing them from the ring…..but I digress, Brisbane Distillery absolutely delivered y’all.

Hands by your sides Walking through the main bar/eatery area of Brisbane Distillery (past the classy signage and beautiful decor and the crooning sounds of a long haired bloke banging out Gnarls Barkley), you come to a set of beautiful double doors the open into the Gin School room. With two long tables, each student is greeted with their own placing that contains enough scientific looking equipment to make Frankenfurter blush his tooshie off, some pretty charts explaining botanical categories and…..the most delightful Gin and tonic and I have had the pleasure of consuming in, like, forever. After directions to keep our hands by our sides while our intrepid teachers provided the background of the original Dutch Courage “Jenever” (now known by the name Gin), the tools in front of us and the botanicals we were about to choose from

Science at its finest Sweet, spicy, woody or Fruity With 140-180 botanicals to choose from, we were encourage to look through a diagram provided to us. With the directions of – choose 4-5 botanicals (one of which must be Orrix Root or Angelica Root – to bind the flavours of your botanicals) and ideally no more than 2 per category, we had the following to choose from;

Herbal – including things like sage, eucalyptus, wormwood Woody – Cacao, Coffee, Hazelnut etc Spiced – The biggest category with close to 50 options – Aniseed, cinnamon, ginger, tarragon etc Citrus – Bergamot, grapefruit, Kaffir Lime etc Fruity – Acai, Pear, Mango, Pineapple etc Sweet – Agave, Honey, Liquorice Root, Maple Syrup etc Floral – Chamomile, Elderflower, Rooibos etc The cackles around the room as everyone began to embrace their inner tipsy bartender/mad scientist and compare potential combinations with their fellow students. Accusations of copying and oooohs and ahhhhhhs of appreciation as thoughts of what will work well flavourwise with people deciding that they have discovered a new set of skills as a savant or seasoning, guru of gastronomy or a doyen of drinks.

Choices…..sooooo many choices Collecting your botanicals and inserting them into your teabag to brew in your your magical copper still, I felt like a kid at kindergarten that has been given the opportunity to choose the story for floor reading time. Staring at the still as it starts bubbling your own personal brew, akin to a creature staring longingly at a piece of jewellery muttering “filthy hobbitses” – the excitement is palpable, suitable placated by the arrival of the second and third of four amazing delightful cocktails and a tasting board with cheeses and cured meats.

Gin time baby Provided with fancy schmancy labels (with plenty of space to write your botanical choices and a s/wanky name for your newly created wine, you have the choice to colour your wine or leave it “au natural”. I chose “Ataahua” – which is Maori for beautiful, while my lovely lass went with “Spicy Bloom” – we both decided to choose a reactive colouring (it changes colour if you add tonic to it…..science hahaha)

The finished product Either way, the team at Brisbane Distillery are onto a winner here. If you are looking for something a little different – whether it be for a gift, a hens night activity, a date, a learning experience or something left of field to occupy your evening, the Gin masterclass is an absolute gem of an activity to wrap your tasting...

Unfortunately upon visiting the distillery over the weekend while on a small holiday away in Brisbane I have been left with utter shock and disappointment in the way staff have conducted them selves.

Upon arrival myself and my group was "greeted" by a young girl with blond hair, all although she look professional after hearing the words that came from her mouth and the way she interacted with us, professionalism was the last thing on my mind. No smile. No welcoming greeting. No customer service.

Brushing this off as maybe she's having a bad day, my group and I proceeded to source our own menu's, seat ourselves and provided ourselves with our own water glasses, then having to ask staff to fill them, mind you all of this occurred with no guidance from staff.

Again not letting the very poor customer service get us down, we waited to order. This alone took at least 15 minutes, surprising as we were one of the only groups there at the time while there was 3 staff members behind the bar chatting away.

Once our beautiful looking cocktails where brought out, again we were severed with rudeness and dismissiveness, our cocktails just pushed onto our table not even announcing what they are, leaving us to figure it out, then having to ask for staff assistance which was met with a very unpleasant facial expression on this particular staff members face and utter attitude when she spoke, to make us feel like asking was a bother.

Although the venue is beautiful, it is safe to say I will not be spending or visiting here again. The customer service was utterly appalling. If you choose to work in Hospitality, a customer faced job, then it is not unrealistic to expect even a smile which is just the minimum required in this industry. It is extremely unfortunate this is my experience as I own a business myself and was looking at a potential supplier, which will most definitely not be Brisbane Distillery.

Upon reviewing other reviews left for this business, I am not looking for a response or a defensive reply back, just raising awareness to others who may be considering paying this business a visit to not have high hopes where the customer service is concerned.

Hopefully critical feedback can be taken from my personal experience and used to better the atmosphere and customer service within...

We loved our visit to Brisbane Distillery. It is our second visit and there will be many more I am sure. We had previously attended Gin school and got to make our own special gins. Such a fun experience and I would thoroughly recommend it. This time we went to pick up some goodies we ordered online and I booked a spot at the bar to try some cocktails. Wow! So many flavours. I loved the expresso martini with the coconut twist, mmm. It is Monday as I write this review and as Mondayitis bites, I find myself wistfully wishing I were back there, probably a good thing they are closed Mondays. The staff are absolutely amazing they are so knowledgeable and friendly, they just made the whole experience so much fun, they really make you feel like you are having drinks at a friends place - mind you, a friend with a seriously stocked bar. It was such a relaxing way to spend an hour or two on a Sunday afternoon. My advice is, don't be shy booking a seat at the bar, you get a real show watching the artistry that goes into making the cocktails and the smells that waft across the bar of smoking Rosemary or Star Anise or charred Oak, are to die for, mmm, I am doing it again. The staff are happy to chat and tell you about whatever they are mixing up as they go and you can put them on your 'next visit, I'll try list' and there will be one, trust me. I was designated driver this visit and the staff even offered to make me some mocktails which I thought was very lovely of them, I might take them up on it next time. Thanks to the people and the great products (of course) Brisbane Distillery has a vibe all its own and you just have to try it to understand that...