Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, I walked into Brisbane Distillery Co., Australia’s only registered gin school. It was there I selected, measured, and mixed a carousel of floral botanicals including elderflower, lavender, and violet leaf to distill a spirited concoction I christened “Magnolia Moon” in honor of my home state of Georgia.
When I heard of Brisbane Distillery, where I would get a chance to be a master distiller, if only for an afternoon, it was just the tonic I needed to add to an otherwise delightful first journey to Australia during the continent’s springtime.
Gathered around a long laboratory-like table complete with mini copper stills, beakers, and all manner of gin-making equipment, my fellow distillers and I chose our own botanicals from 180 options and began the fun, two-hour process of transforming raw spirit to Magnolia Moon and other monikers, each bottle emblazoned with our own personal label.
