Milton Distillery
Judged on what’s in the glass
A’peel Vodka: Gold, Clean + Conscious Awards 2026.
Best in Class, Innovation in Craft, Royal Queensland Distilled Spirit Awards 2026.
Six entries, six medals at Melbourne Royal 2026.
THE STORMBIRD
In 1873 the first Milton Distillery was making rum in Milton, a short walk from the Brisbane River and eleven years before Beenleigh, and grew into one of the largest rum producers in the colony. The great flood of March 1890 finished it, and the site lay quiet for more than a hundred years.
In 2018 we started again, a few suburbs over. Same river, same cane country, same belief that a good spirit should come from where you live, made by people who know it. Our mark is the Eastern Koel, the storm bird: the call Brisbane hears just before the summer rain.
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FROM WHERE WE LIVE
We make cane spirits from Queensland molasses, an agave spirit, a grain spirit and, under the A’peel name, vodka and gin from fruit peel that would otherwise be thrown away. Everything is distilled and bottled in West End, Brisbane, and entered blind in competitions here and overseas. We describe what is in the glass and leave the adjectives to the judges.
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2026 awards
A’peel Vodka: Gold
A’peel Vodka took Gold in Best Spirits, Seltzer + Cocktail Mixer at the Clean + Conscious Awards 2026, judged by an independent expert panel. It is distilled from fruit peel that would otherwise go to waste, then carbon filtered through recycled coconut husk.
The same year brought Best in Class for Innovation in Craft at the Royal Queensland Distilled Spirit Awards and six medals from six entries at Melbourne Royal.
Shop A'peel Vodka All awardsThe range
A’peel Vodka
Gold, Clean + Conscious Awards 2026. Vodka distilled from fruit peel that would otherwise go to waste, with a soft citrus lift.
Spiced Cane Spirit
Cane spirit vapour-infused with fresh citrus, lemon myrtle and spice. Bronze at Melbourne International 2024. Made for a spiced highball.
Stormy Skies
Dark cane spirit rested on charred bourbon, tawny and shiraz staves. Dark fruit and a dry oak grip, made for a Dark and Stormy.
First Rain
Silver cane spirit, column distilled from Queensland molasses. Lime peel and tropical fruit, made for a daiquiri.
How we make it
Quality without costing the earth
Column stills and rectification are old technology; what has changed is the control. We rest spirit on charred staves and in small barrels rather than waiting years for a warehouse to do the work, and we use what is around us where the chemistry allows: molasses from Queensland cane, fruit peel that would otherwise be waste, coconut husk carbon for filtering. Less waste is why the prices are what they are.
Learn moreSame river, same cane country
The first Milton Distillery was among the first in the colony to run a rectifying column. We inherited the name, the river and the idea that the technology is worth pushing. Everything else we have had to earn again, one blind tasting at a time.
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