The Gold Coast’s four best gin experiences to celebrate World Gin Day

Saturday is World Gin Day so we’ve rounded up the Gold Coast’s best gin experiences to salute this salacious spirit.

Saturday is World Gin Day so AmberMacpherson has rounded up the Gold Coast’s best gin experiences to salute this salacious spirit. Cheers!

Make your own bottle of gin

Granddad Jacks, Miami

Luke Ridden from Granddad Jacks. Photograph : Jason O'Brien

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Everything tastes better when you’ve made it yourself, so this liquor experience lets you make your gin and drink it too. This Miami distillery offers a gin masterclass on the first Thursday night of the month where you learn to distil your own bottle of gin with the ingredients you choose before taking it home to enjoy. “They get to learn about the history of gin, how we make our own products, then pick out their own botanicals and produce their own bottle,” Granddad Jacks co-founder Luke Ridden says. The class is limited to just six people and there’s plenty of opportunities for sampling along the way. At the end of the class everyone taste-tests each other’s gin and picks a winner, with the finalist going in the running to become a range sold at the venue.

One For The Sages

The Roosevelt Lounge, Broadbeach

The Roosevelt Lounge's One for the Sages cocktail.

SUBSCRIPTION OFFER: GET FULL DIGITAL ACCESS + JABRA WIRELESS HEADPHONES

Get your citrus fix with the Roosevelt Lounge’s new gin cocktail made especially for World Gin Day. The elegant Broadbeach bar’s lead mixologist, Breeana Erica, has devised a fruity tipple to remember called One for the Sages. The sip melds Green Chartreuse, Applewood Gin infused with Tarragon, lemon and lime juice and green mandarin syrup for a zesty cocktail encounter. It’s an award-winning mix, crowned best cocktail in the World Cartreuse Day competition earlier this year.

Gin galore

The Collective Palm Beach

The Collective Palm Beach has a huge range of food and drink options.

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Rooftops and sunsets, gin and tonic — these are matches made in heaven and both can be enjoyed at The Collective Palm Beach. The juniper berry liquor is taken up a notch with a selection of trendy cocktails just waiting to be tasted at the stylish foodie haven. The rose hip martini starts with Poor Toms Gin and comes with hibiscus syrup, lime and grapefruit for a refreshing libation, while the unnamed sympathy is served Tiki-style with a macadamia nut-infused Nobel Cut Gin, Bushfire Botantic Autsralis Gin and pine-lime allspice. Two countries collide in the Portuguese Breakfast cocktail, built with Ink Gin, marmalade and camomile syrup, fig liqueur, Slow Gin, Fino Sherry and lime, served in a mug with a side of Vegemite on mini toast.

SUBSCRIPTION OFFER: GET FULL DIGITAL ACCESS + JABRA WIRELESS HEADPHONES

Gin and Jazz

The Island Rooftop, Surfers Paradise

The Island Rooftop Bar in Surfers Paradise

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Thursday nights are for feeling fancy at The Island Rooftop Bar, where jazz and gin flow freely for a pre-weekend gee up. From 6.30pm the Surfers Paradise venue slings a variety of gin cocktails while jazz band Tonic serve up sweet tunes on sax, keys and bass under the stars at its weekly Gin and Jazz nights. Follow the sound of snapping fingers through the streets to arrive at the liquor and music meeting ground, giving off vibes of 1920s speak-easy clubs.