Calling all distillers! The Sydney Royal Easter Show, Australia’s largest annual ticketed event, is just around the corner. With over 854,000 attendees on average, this is a prime opportunity to showcase your spirits, connect with new customers, and build brand awareness. Whether you’re launching a new product or growing your customer base, the Sydney Royal Easter Show provides unmatched exposure.

Exhibitor opportunities are still available—find out more below.

FIND OUT MORE

A huge congratulations to all the winners at the inaugural Sydney Royal Distilled Spirits Show, hosted by the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW. With 14 champions crowned across categories ranging from traditional gin to single malt whisky, it was a showcase of the remarkable talent and passion across Australia’s distilling scene.

Highlights include:

The competition saw over 270 entries, with 88% of those entries receiving medals, a testament to the quality being produced by Australian distillers. For those craving more details, all the results can be found below.

RESULTS

October is NSW Small Business Month—a fantastic opportunity to sharpen your skills, network, and expand your knowledge. This year’s program includes a range of events tailored to help small businesses thrive, plus a series of expos taking place across eight regions. Whether you're looking for networking opportunities or expert-led workshops, NSW Small Business Month has something for you.

Explore the full program and register below.

FULL PROGRAM

A massive thank you to Cam Hogan, founder of Dollars Making Sense and CFO for hire, for delivering a fantastic webinar on financial mastery. The presentation made navigating the world of dollars and cents feel much easier. If you missed it or want a refresher, the slides are available here.

Check out Destination NSW website as they deliver online webinars that offer ‘how-to’ insights on a range of topics for visitor economy businesses.

Events Run By Destination NSW

The NSW Visitor Economy Forum is returning for 2024, with the event to take place on Thursday 3 October at the ICC Sydney.

Registrations are now open for the full-day event, which will provide visitor economy stakeholders with an opportunity to come together, share insights and hear from industry experts to further understand what will shape the year ahead and drive growth in the NSW visitor economy.

In 2023, NSW Visitor Economy Forum participants heard from representatives from Google, McCrindle, Tourism Australia and the Office of the 24-Hour Economy Commissioner alongside industry leaders in events, wellness travel, culinary experiences and more.

The forum is free to attend and open to all visitor economy stakeholders including operators, trade partners, industry representatives and government colleagues.

We're all about fostering a strong, supportive community among our distillers, and our private Facebook group is the perfect place to connect. It's a space just for us, where you can share stories, ask questions, and support each other as we navigate the exciting world of distilling. Remember, it’s a members-only space, so feel free to share your experiences and insights! Find us on Facebook search NSW & ACT Distillers and answer the questions to join.

We’re pleased to share an exciting opportunity for distillers to join the vibrant scene at Organic Food Markets across various locations. Whether you're interested in becoming a permanent stallholder or just want to pop in occasionally, there’s a spot for you. The markets offer a fantastic platform to showcase your products directly to consumers, and with the added foot traffic, it's a win-win!

Here are the weekly market details:

Additionally, there's a special opportunity to trade at the Mona Vale Spring Festival on Monday, 7th October (Public Holiday) from 10 AM to 4 PM. The stall fee is $250 for the day.

To secure your spot, you can book through the Organic Food Markets website or contact their office directly.

A huge shoutout to Byron Bay Spirits for receiving funding from Investment NSW. This support will help them showcase their innovative products to global buyers, expand their export reach, and create new jobs and opportunities right here at home. They’ll be taking centre stage at the Fine Food Australia 2024 tradeshow.

You can read more about their success here, and don't forget to check out their offerings at Byron Bay Spirits.

We had an absolute blast at the Under Bond event! It was fantastic to see so many of you there, sharing your experiences and enjoying the camaraderie that makes our distilling community so special. Thanks to those that brought along some great spirits for us all to try! And a HUGE thank you to Brix Distillers for hosting at your fabulous venue. A couple of snaps from the night!

Entries for Sydney Royal’s very first Distilled Spirits competition have opened today, with producers from across Australia being encouraged to enter the inaugural competition.

Run by the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW (RAS) and chaired by Australian drinks industry veteran, and Australian Distillers Past President, Stuart Gregor, the new Sydney Royal Distilled Spirits Show will offer producers a chance to benchmark their products under the expert taste buds of Gregor’s panel of judges and potentially be crowned an inaugural Champion.

“As the popularity of distilled spirits in Australia continues to grow, so does the importance of producers benchmarking products with others in the industry”, Gregor said.

“This competition will not only allow us to identify the best producers in the industry at this point in time, but also to share valuable feedback with exhibitors to assist in the continued improvement and refinement of their product, and hence, the industry as a whole”.

The Sydney Royal Distilled Spirits show will offer a fantastic range of classes for producers to enter, including Brandy, Cane Spirit, Gin, Liqueur, Rum, Vodka, Whiskey, Alternative Distilled Spirits, Non-Alcoholic and stand-alone Ready to Drink (RTD) classes, with fifteen Champion Trophies up for grabs including Champion Non-Alcoholic Spirit and Champion Ready to Drink.

“It is important to acknowledge the increasingly popular choice of Australians to consume spirits in the ready-to-drink format of pre-mixed bottles or cans, and the Sydney Royal will be amongst the first Shows in the world to taste and assess this burgeoning category of modern-style drinks, alongside more traditional, full-bodied spirits”, Gregor said.

As an organisation focused on championing Australian agriculture, the new competition will aim to highlight products made with at least 85 percent Australian-grown ingredients. This requirement is currently implemented across all Sydney Royal wine, beer & cider, dairy produce, and fine food competitions.

While it is the inaugural show for the RAS, the renowned agricultural company has judged spirits before, with historical records confirming South Australian gin and Queensland rum entered classes as far back as 1870 and 1877, respectively. The organisation went on to continue judging select spirits alongside wine classes at the Sydney Royal Easter Show, before wine became a stand-alone Sydney Royal event in 2000.

“While spirits have played a small part in the rich history of the RAS, the move to create a stand-alone spirits Show is a testament to the incredible growth within the industry, and I consider it an immense privilege to be called upon to lead the judging for the inaugural Show”, Gregor said.

Entries for the 2024 Sydney Royal Distilled Spirits Show will close on Wednesday 22 May with judging will take place in early September 2024.

ENTER HERE

Following the conclusion of the Sydney Royal wine, beer & cider and distilled spirits competitions, consumers will get a unique chance to sample some of the medal-winning products at the Grape, Grain & Graze Festival (GGG) which will take place on Saturday 21 September