The doors to Townsville’s first dedicated gin distillery experience are set to open with Tan Lines Distilling days away from making its long-awaited debut to the Townsville public.
Managing director, Aaron Rieniets has spent much of the last two years crafting three products that are set to hit retailers and restaurants next week: a contemporary Australian Gin, Pink Gin and Australian Vodka.
Working from home for most of this year, Aaron has been working with the new Rockpool Pavilion on a space to install his state-of-the-art equipment and create a full distillery experience in the bar area of the restaurant. The hope is to include gin tastings and collaborations with chefs to create degustation experiences paired with gin-based cocktails.
While starting a new business venture during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic may be enough to deter most people, Aaron’s experience as a bartender and distiller coupled with an MBA provided a good foundation for him to get the idea off the ground.
Like many students, Aaron’s first taste of the industry was while he was at University in Oregon, USA.
“I was working as a bartender while I was studying for my Masters when I met a local distiller. We got chatting and became friends, worked for him for a while then one day he handed me the keys to the distillery and let me loose,” Aaron explains.
“When we moved to Australia in 2019, I was looking to get back into the industry but there just wasn’t an opportunity there, so I decided to start my own.”
There’s been a lot of support from the community as well, something Aaron has revelled in.
“Townsville is very responsive to people looking to join and create communities. I’ve met with some fantastic people who are excited about creating a product that will put Townsville on the map,” he says.
An aspiration that seems to be coming to fruition with the Tan Lines range now boasting two accolades from the Australian Gin Awards: The Tan Lines Pink Gin winning a silver medal and the Australian Gin receiving a bronze medal.
“I’m so excited that Tan Lines Distilling now has two award-winning Australian gins before we’re even open!” Aaron says.
As far as growing the business in the future, Aaron plans to extend the product line beyond gin and vodka saying that he’d like to add whiskey and rums. “I want to do a great whiskey for Townsville… and that takes time. The plan is to see Tan Lines grow beyond Queensland.”
Read more about the Rockpool refurbishment in our recent article Iconic Building Gets a Facelift.
