Tucked away in the Byron Bay hinterland, Cape Byron Distillery quietly crafts award-winning spirits while reimagining what a purpose-driven, sustainable spirits business can look like.
We spoke with Eddie Brook, co-founder of Cape Byron Distillery and son of Pam and Martin Brook, to understand how a distillery built on a family farm became a beacon of environmental restoration and industry innovation.
A Rainforest Reborn
Set on their hinterland property, surrounded by a regenerated pocket of subtropical rainforest, the distillery stands on land that was once part of the Big Scrub,a 74,000-hectare rainforest, of which just one percent remains today. Since purchasing the ex-dairy farm in 1988, the Brook family has made it their mission to bring the rainforest back. “If we went back in time, only about 150 years, we’d be standing in a dense lowland subtropical rainforest,” Eddie says. “But when my parents bought the land, it was 96 acres of desolate ex-dairy country.”
What followed was the planting of more than 40,000 native trees, alongside 4,000 macadamia trees, not just to farm, but to regenerate. The result is a thriving rainforest ecosystem that now defines the distillery’s products and philosophy. “We wanted to regenerate the rainforest to what it used to be,” says Eddie. “It’s like land before time. You go in there and see trees that look like they’ve been there for hundreds of years, but they’re the same age as me.”
Spirits Born From Place
This regenerated rainforest isn’t just the distillery’s backyard, it’s the pantry. Cape Byron’s signature Brookie’s Dry Gin is made with 25 botanicals, 16 of which are native to the immediate region, including aniseed myrtle, native ginger and Davidson plum. “When you taste our gin, you are tasting the rainforest in a glass,” says Eddie.
Even their slow gin uses a native twist, the Davidson plum, a rare rainforest fruit endemic to Northern NSW, infused in gin and aged for 14 months to create a complex, tart and rich spirit.
Their Mac Liqueur, made from roasted macadamias and wattle-seed, is another standout. “If you’ve had Frangelico, give that to someone you don’t like. This is for you,” Eddie laughs. “It’s a celebration of Australian flavour, roasted nuts, bush coffee and dark chocolate notes.”
All About the Whisky
Cape Byron’s single malt whisky project began with an encounter between Eddie and legendary Scottish distiller, Jim McEwen, of Islay. “Jim turned to me and said, “Eddie, I believe we were meant to meet. We are going to make a distillery together.”
Leveraging Byron Bay’s warm climate and sea-salted air, the team designed a climate-responsive barrel house, complete with thermal insulation and a running indoor waterfall, to mimic rainforest conditions and create a consistent ageing environment. The result is a whisky that’s distinctly Australian, maturing twice as fast as its Scottish counterparts. “If I was a barrel of whisky, I’d want to be ageing in that rainforest with a waterfall nearby,” Eddie jokes. “It’s not just romantic, it’s functional.”
B Corp Certified Distillery
In 2022, Cape Byron became one of only two B Corp-certified gin distilleries in Australia and the country’s only certified whisky distillery, with their deeply rooted environmental focus being more than just philosophy. “You essentially rip your business apart and rebuild it with sustainability embedded at every level,” Eddie explains. “It’s not a pay-to-play certification, you have to earn it.”
B Corp certification measures business impact across everything from staff wellbeing and community engagement to waste management and energy use, all things that Cape Byron has committed to it across the board. “B Corp isn’t just a badge,” adds Sustainability Manager Alex McManus. “It’s a challenge to dismantle your business systems and rebuild them with accountability in every layer, people, planet and profit. It demands transparency, action and continuous improvement.”
That commitment is visible in every part of the operation. Wastewater and by-products from whisky production are processed on-site using BioGill technology and returned to the land as nutrients for the farm’s macadamia and Davidson plum orchards. Much of the operation runs on solar and local sourcing is prioritised wherever possible. “One of the first things we focused on was understanding what we could control, our water, our waste, our energy,” Eddie says. “It started as a few notes in a notebook, but those small steps turned into big changes.”
The Distillery
From the outside, the distillery might resemble a traditional farm shed. Inside, it’s a blend of science, craftsmanship and circular systems thinking. Heat recovery during distillation, electric vehicle infrastructure and water conservation measures all form part of a systems-led approach to sustainability. “We started with spreadsheets and hand-written notes,” Alex recalls. “But what grew out of that was a clear picture of how we could reduce, reuse and redesign systems to be more efficient and less wasteful.”
Crucially, Cape Byron doesn’t hold these innovations close. Instead, the team actively shares knowledge and processes with others in the industry, championing collaboration over competition.
In a sector largely dominated by industrial scale and global brands, Cape Byron Distillery offers a clear alternative. One where flavour, environment and integrity go hand in hand. While the cocktails are world-class (Eddie’s go-to is a Negroni), the legacy being built here is much bigger than what’s in the glass.“There’s so much potential in our native ingredients, in our landscape and in our stories,” Eddie says. “We’re only just getting started.”
About Cape Byron Distillery –
Located in the Byron Bay hinterland, Cape Byron Distillery is redefining Australian distilling by blending traditional methods with a deep commitment to sustainability and environmental regeneration. Set on a former dairy farm, the distillery sits within what was once the Big Scrub, Australia’s largest subtropical rainforest. Since 1988, founders Pam and Martin Brook have transformed the land by planting over 40,000 rainforest trees, restoring a vital ecosystem that now teems with wildlife. This regenerated landscape serves as both inspiration and pantry, with 17 of the 25 botanicals in Brookie’s Byron Dry Gin, such as native ginger, aniseed myrtle and Davidson plum, sourced from the surrounding rainforest. Seasonal changes shape the flavour of each spirit, from spring riberries and native raspberries to summer’s harvest of the rare Davidson plum, used in their signature Slow Gin.
More than just a producer of award-winning spirits, Cape Byron Distillery is a purpose-led business that gives back to its environment and community. The distillery is a proud supporter of the Big Scrub Rainforest Conservancy, with co-founder Martin Brook serving as Vice President, advocating for rainforest restoration across the region. With a philosophy grounded in regeneration, excellence and place, Cape Byron Distillery is not only capturing the unique terroir of the Northern Rivers in every bottle, it’s writing a new chapter in the story of Australian spirits, where craftsmanship and conservation go hand in hand.
