Photo Credit: Paul Pichugin
VENUE FEATURE: TURNER STILLHOUSE
In the space of just three years Turner Stillhouse has stormed onto the craft spirit scene - and founder Justin Turner is only scratching the surface despite a big 2021. When American native Justin Turner moved across the world with his Tasmanian wife to Grindlewald in 2018 to launch his spirits distillery, the last thing he expected was rapid global recognition. Growingup inNorthernCalifornia inawinemaking family, Turner headed to the Big Apple in his 20s to pursue a corporate career, but a love and passion for wine and craft distillery remained. It was in New York where he met his now wife and after shifting base in the US on a few occasions, the pair relocated to the Apple Isle to embark on their next adventure. That decision has already reaped huge rewards with Turner Stillhouse’s flagship brand, Three Cuts Gin, landing worldwide accolades. Earlier this year the Three Cuts Distiller’s release was named Best in Category for international Contemporary Gin and received a rare Double Gold by the American Distilling Institute. In early November Turner Stillhouse was awarded Best Tourism Experience in the Wineries/
Breweries/Distilleries category at the Tourism Industry Council of Tasmania’s awards, and a week later the Three Cuts Distiller’s release took out Best in Show – Best Australian Gin at the national Gin Awards. “I had a pretty comprehensive business plan and knew what I wanted to do, and you always have ambitious goals when you’re starting out as a company,” Turner said of the rapid ascent. “But I hadn’t done distillery my whole career, my family had a winery when I was a kid, but that was 20 years removed since me doing this. “I’d done the corporate thing most of my career. I felt like I had a good palate having grown up around the wine space but never thought that I could transfer that to world winning gin awards. “I’m ecstatic, I think our whole team’s ecstatic with the results that we have received in such a short three year period. It is just really exciting to be part of the Tasmanian distilling community, being warmly welcomed and I’m very happy to help represent Tasmania on a national and world stage with these wins.” Turner said hiring former Boags brewer Brett Coulson has had a significant impact on helping
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