The Gold Coast’s Best-Kept Secret is Winning Medals Around the World:

Artisans Secret Distillery

 

Tucked away on an acreage property in the Gold Coast hinterland, a small-batch distillery is quietly making a very loud impression on the international spirits scene. Artisans Secret Distillery — run by husband-and-wife duo Ray and Sarah — is the kind of passion project that starts in a backyard and ends up on a podium.

Ray and Sarah bring a fascinatingly eclectic set of credentials to their craft: backgrounds in cellar management, brewery relief management, and studies in biochemistry and western herbal medicine. Their distilling story began not with a business plan, but with dragon fruit. Ray’s curiosity about whether they could make a fruity gin from their home-grown dragon fruit — and brew their own base alcohol to do it — sparked a twelve-month journey that led to a full artisan distiller’s licence.

That origin story says everything about how Artisans Secret operates today. Every spirit is made from scratch, including the alcohol base itself, with no synthetic or artificial sweeteners, flavours, or preservatives added — ever. Small-batch production means hands-on attention to detail at every stage. Many of the botanicals — fruits, flowers, herbs, and spices — are grown on-site, with rainwater harvested directly from the property and all distillation by-products repurposed safely back into the land. The SOCraft Awards have formally recognised this commitment to sustainability, which is rare for a distillery of this size.

The product range is a genuine adventure. Spirits span medal-winning vodka, rums, gins, and liqueurs, including standouts like the Jaffa Gin (think chocolate-orange in a bottle), the Sapphire Blush Gin with its butterfly pea flower hue, and the Coco-Rumka Coconut Liqueur. There’s even a GinRumi — a crafted crossover sitting deliciously between gin and rum.

The accolades are stacking up fast. The 2026 London Spirits Competition awarded Gold Medals to the Oak Spiced Rum, Reserve Rum, and Coco-Rumka Liqueur, while the World Spirits Competition handed Gold to the Reserve Rum and Silver to the Premium Vodka. The IWSC also awarded Silver to both the Aussie Dry Gin and the Jaffa Gin.

For those wanting to experience the range before buying, the team runs a distillery stall at markets from the Gold Coast to Brisbane — a lovely way to taste before you commit.

Discover the full range and the story behind every bottle at asdistillery.com.au — and if you join their newsletter community, you’ll score 10% off your first order.