If you were looking for a distillery in the heart of the Gold Coast, there’s none closer than Six Tricks Distilling Co.
Founded in November 2023 by Gold Coast local Chris Macklin and his partner, Teagan Peake, Six Tricks is named after the six core spirits: brandy, gin, rum, agave spirit (tequila), vodka and whisky.
In a beautiful, sophisticated venue hidden away a stone’s throw south of Pacific Fair, the duo has made the most of the small block to create an immersive distillery experience including the distillery itself, a tasting room, cocktail bar and veranda looking out to the skyline of Broadbeach. With exposed brick softened by the warmth of timber and plush emerald-green velvet, the venue can cater for 100 people.
Distilling is well and truly in Chris’ blood, as he is a direct descendant of Josef Seppelt (founder of Seppeltsfield Winery). Chris and Teagan brought their complementary skill sets to the venture, Chris’s experience as a sales executive for a spirit distributor and his passion for distilling added to Teagan’s experience as a digital marketer and manager.
Using Queensland molasses and Hinterland spring water, Six Tricks started their distilling journey with vodka and cane spirits, putting down single malt whisky and rum to mature in casks within their first year. Already they have won two bronze medals for their silver cane spirit, but their excellence does not stop there.
Although production (including contract production) is their core business, Six Tricks is using their white cane spirits as a base to make cocktails in their own bar, a wise diversification that provides cashflow during the period when their whisky and rum spirits are maturing while showing their clientele possible uses of their white spirits.
As they approached their first anniversary, Six Tricks invited media and locals to attend the launch of their Spring Cocktail Showcase, a stunning array of sophisticated, flavour-filled cocktails.
Six Tricks Distilling Co’s Spring Cocktail Showcase
Cocktails are what dreams are made of… and sometimes nightmares. There are cocktails that you can remember for years after you taste them, and others that are so inconsequential that you don’t even bother to finish the glass.
Fortunately, when we recently visited Six Tricks Distillery Co for the launch of their Spring Cocktail menu, it was the former scenario. Sitting on a barstool with a glass in hand, I was so excited that I called out the imposters around town and, in a Crocodile Dundee moment, growled, “That’s not a cocktail. THIS is a cocktail!”
Using their Six Tricks Silver Cane Spirits, Vodka, Juniper Distillate and New Make Whisky Spirit, Head Mixologist James Burrell and the Six Tricks bar team has weaved its magic to create six fabulous cocktails: Clarified Banana Colada, Apricot Cane, Celery Gin Fizz, Cumquat & Mandarin ‘Margarita’, Beetroot & Gin Gimlet and Mushroom & Walnut Old Fashioned, each one unique and memorable in its own way.
“Our talented mixologists are creating soda, syrups and tinctures from scratch and to top it off, we use garnishes grown in our garden located onsite,” Chris tells us.
Complex enough to be a magnificent dish of food, each cocktail has reached into the garden bed and found its own umami combination to tease and titillate the palate.
To me, a great cocktail before a meal is a wonderful palate wakener; a titillation of the senses to prepare for the meal to come. On the other hand, a cocktail to end the meal can lull us into submission, a sweet finish to a great meal. Far less often, cocktails are paired with food because their complex flavour profiles stand balanced as independently as a great dish. But these were the first cocktails I have tasted that I would love to see paired with food.
These spring cocktails led me to imagine a menu of six dishes, each one paired with a complementary cocktail. What a night that would be! Such fun!
And just for the hell of it, let me propose a sample menu…
* Celery Gin Fizz served with a smoked salmon appetizer.
* Clarified Banana Colada – Brown butter caramel pork, or coconut chicken with citrus salt
* Beetroot & Gin Gimlet as a palate cleanser served with Raspberry granita with a yoghurt and walnut topping
* Mushroom & Walnut Old-fashioned – Beef Wellington (with pate) and a Waldorf salad
* Cumquat & Mandarin ‘Margarita’ with Peach Kuchen slice, Orange and almond tart or anything chocolate
* Apricot Cane served with assorted cheeses, candied almonds, muscatels and caramelised figs
There’s nothing simple about these cocktails at all. They lean on tradition to establish their intent, but that’s where tradition ends and innovation begins. Six Tricks has well and truly raised the bar on the cocktail scene. You must try the entire spring cocktail menu!
Six Tricks Distilling Co, 3 Brightlands Court, Gold Coast, Queensland 4218 Ph: 0428 455 241 Open Thurs, Fri 4:30 PM – 10:00 PM, Sat 1:00 PM – 10:00 PM, Sun 1:00 PM – 7:00 PM