At Granddad Jack’s, making it through your first year comes with a pretty good perk. Our staff get to step into production and create a spirit of their own, from what goes into the still and how it tastes, right through to the label and the way we serve it.

When we asked Rachel, the Gold Coast Bar Manager, what she wanted to make, she said a Scotch. Of course she did...

There was just one fairly significant problem. Scotch has to come from Scotland, it needs a minimum of three years in oak, and Miami, Queensland is a long way from home on both counts.

So Rach made the next best thing: a postcard home.

Rach was born in Inverness and most recently lived with her mum in Conon Bridge, where Ross-shire runs down towards the Cromarty Firth. When it came time to build her spirit, she went back to the things she knew from there.

Juniper, heather flower, pine needles and pine resin, blaeberries, rhubarb and Granny Smith for tartness, orris root underneath it all, and lemon peel over the top. Less a list of botanicals and more a walk through the Scottish hillside, put through the still.

Then came the oak.

Instead of trying to turn it into something it isn’t, Rach rested the gin with charred American oak spirals, giving it colour, weight and a smoky edge. The pine resin brings smoke of its own, and somewhere along the way the two found each other.

The base spirit is different too. Rather than the neutral grain spirit most gin begins with, this one is built on grape marc, the skins, seeds and stems left behind after grapes have been pressed. Marc carries some character of its own through distillation, which gives the gin enough backbone to stand up to the oak rather than disappear behind it.

And then there’s the unicorn.

Scotland chose a mythical animal as its national symbol and has stuck with it for centuries. Most countries went with something you might actually come across. Scotland went with the unicorn. Somehow, for a gin standing in where Rach originally wanted a whisky, that felt exactly right.

It also helps that Rach is horse mad. Harry was her 'Gings' ginger Shetland pony, and Marble was considerably bigger, but the pair found their way into the story behind her hero cocktail.

Everything on the label comes back to Scotland. Everything in the bottle comes back to somewhere Rach has walked.

It’s not Scotch. It was never going to be. But at 57%, with Scottish botanicals at its heart, grape marc underneath and charred oak spirals doing their thing, it’s got enough grunt to stand in the same room.

The closest thing to a Scottish hillside we could legally make in Miami.

"This gin is my version of a love letter to Scotland. Had I never been so far from home I can’t be sure I would have put so much thought into the apple trees that grew in my Mum’s back garden, the Sundays spent picking brambles on forest dog walks with my Dad or the persistent obsession with horses that has been passed down by the many women who came before me. Everything about this spirit is inspired by the places and people that raised me and lucky for you, it packs a fair punch too. 

Hope this finds you well, Slàinte mhath! " - Rachel Gillies

What it tastes like

Nose

Pine and fresh florals up front, herbaceous underneath, with smoke sitting quietly at the back.

Palate

Crisp pine and delicate florals give way to warming charred oak. Heather and blaeberry lift green apple and pine needles into a herbaceous freshness, with a subtle citrus edge from lemon peel. Earthy orris root and tart rhubarb balance the middle.

Finish

Warm smoked oak, long and dry. At 57% it holds on a while.

How to drink it

The Perfect Pour : 30ml over plenty of ice, topped with Pacific tonic. Garnish with two lemon half-moons and a few juniper berries. The easy way, and the best way.

Harry & Marble : 30ml gin, 5ml amaro, 20ml Earl Grey syrup, 20ml fresh lemon juice. Stirred down and strained over a king cube, garnished with a dehydrated lemon wheel and rosemary. Rach's whisky sour, made with the whisky she wasn't allowed to make, and named after her beloved Grandma's horses.

Packs a Punch : A jug for four. 160ml gin, 80ml apple juice, 80ml lemon juice, 60ml Earl Grey syrup, 20ml honey, topped with ginger beer. Apple slices, lemon slices and rosemary.

All recipes can be found here: Rach's Staff Release 2026: Three Ways to Drink Herbal Oak Gin

PERFECT FOR: Negroni drinkers · Whisky people who claim they don't like gin · Anyone who's ever been homesick · Anyone who's earned a proper drink.

Where to find it

Online here, at the Distillery Door (45 Lemana Lane, Miami, Gold Coast), and from 24 August at Granddad Jack's Bar Experience in Newcastle.

Limited release. 144 bottles. Once it's gone, it's gone.