Coolum Beach Dacelo Distilling reveals expansion plans

A local paramedic’s distillery side hustle has brought native and never-before-tasted gin to the Sunshine Coast sustainably. Find out how she made the career change here.

Samantha Franks and her wife, Siobhan, opened the distillery in October, 2023.

A Sunshine Coast first responder has revealed her unexpected Covid brainchild that led to the opening of Coolum Beach’s first distillery.

Paramedic of 16 years, Samantha Franks and her wife Siobhan opened Dacelo Distilling at the beginning of October after the pandemic made the Mount Coolum couple realise they “just needed a change”.

A whiskey course in Tasmania is all it took for Ms Franks to get into the gin business, which has a fast turnaround time of three weeks.

Dacelo Distilling, located in an industrial area at Lysaght St, Coolum Beach, offers a unique selection of native Australian gins named after the different local kookaburra species that often visit the couple’s home.

From the six gins on offer at Dacelo, four have already taken home bronze medals from the Australian Gin Awards 2023.

For Ms Franks, who admits to not being a particularly big gin drinker herself, distilling her own gin from local, native ingredients, such as banksia and gumbi gumbi, has helped create gins for everyone’s tastes.

“I’m personally not a big gin drinker but I think that has been a benefit because I have made all these contemporary gins and I have been careful with the juniper to make the flavour quite palatable and easy to drink,” Ms Franks.

Samantha Franks, her wife Siobhan, opened the distillery in October, 2023.

“We have tried to be quite unique, we have looked to the local region to include the botanicals that we already have and can potentially use.

“They are all unique, there is no gin out there exactly the same.”

Ms Franks said as the distillery expands the focus will remain on sustainability through the ingredients and products used.

“We really want an emphasis on sustainability, our glass bottles are all Australian made and they use 70 per cent recycled bottles,” Ms Franks said.

“We also are looking at a recyclable grey water system for a still when we are distilling.

“We use the fruit we use to flavour our gin naturally to make gin jams, we really try to limit our waste.”

Ms Franks said next on the distillery to-do list was apply to the Sunshine Coast Council to expand to a full bar including cocktails and charcuterie boards in the coming months, with further plans for the distillery to include rums and whiskeys.

“The local community is starting to come in and they are loving it, it is gaining a lot of momentum, we are now looking with some potential wholesale customers too,” Ms Franks said.