May 21, 2021
It’s rare to see a company attempting to create an entirely new category of products, let alone one that, if successful, will have long-lasting effects on both a local community and a fast-growing Australian industry.
But that’s exactly what is happening at a farm at Eden Lassie, in Queensland’s tropical dry north, where ASX-listed Top Shelf International has planted hundreds of thousands of agave plants.
The multi-brand spirits company is planning to turn those plants into an Australian agave spirit, the likes of which does not yet exist.
While tequila drinkers will be familiar with the kind of alcohol that can be made from the agave plant, no one has distilled such a spirit on this scale in Australia.
May 21, 2021
Australian spirits maker Top Shelf International is quietly building a formidable ecosystem of small businesses to help it build its first-of-its-kind Australian agave plantation and distillery in dry tropical north Queensland.
The ASX-listed company has unveiled bold plans to create Australia’s first agave spirit at scale, and co-founder and chief executive Drew Fairchild tells
SmartCompany a network of smaller businesses are helping it realise its vision.
From local plant nursery, Bowen Quality Seeds and architecture firm Gordon Gould Ipson, to agronomy specialists Prospect Agriculture and renewable energy firm H2 Energy Company, Top Shelf is working with numerous smaller businesses at each point along the production process.
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A Mackay-based architect has landed a dream job and client, developing plans for Top Shelf International’s agave farm experience south of Bowen.
Gordon Gould Ipson Architects director Paul Ipson said the opportunity to design the distillery showroom, restaurant and visitor information centre at Eden Lassie was a “once in a 25-year opportunity”, and a boon for regional skill sets.
“This is a dream for every architect to be involved from this stage, and something that is going to be game-changing and developing a whole new industry, let alone a product from a tourist perspective,” Mr Ipson said.
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A uniquely Australian spirit will enter the market in just a few months showcasing the flavours and innovation of the Whitsundays in the first of several steps of a major project.
Top Shelf International has revealed its new agave spirit will be market-ready in September, marking the major milestone for the Eden Lassie farm south of Bowen.
It will deliver a uniquely Whitsunday product to the Australian market which has proven to be among the largest consumers of tequila behind only the US and Mexico.
And all projections show that trend continuing, a factor Melbourne-based distiller Top Shelf International is keen to tap into, adding to its Ned Whisky and Grainshaker vodka product range.
News by Tony Raggatt
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Subscriber only Former grazing land near Bowen is set to host an Australian agave tequila spirit distillery in what its proponents say could one day be a $100m turnover export business. Melbourne-based whiskey and vodka distiller Top Shelf International is the company behind the project and has launched the proposal to industry and media. A $25m distillery, production facility and visitor centre is planned at Eden Lassie station fronting the Bruce Highway about 30km south of Bowen. To support its environmental credentials, the company hopes to power the distillery with world-first hydrogen and solar technology.