Archie Rose’s newest gin starts in a beehive. The Byron Bay Macadamia Honey Gin blends wild honey from hives on Chris Hemsworth’s Byron Bay farm with macadamia blossom honey, and it is the first release since Hemsworth joined the Sydney distillery as co-owner in late August.
Two honeys, one coastline
The second honey comes from Australia’s Manuka, a neighbouring grower in the Northern Rivers of New South Wales.
Master Distiller Dave Withers built the recipe on raw golden honey cut with the floral lift of the macadamia blossom. The botanical list runs juniper, orris root, coriander seed, orange peel, Roman chamomile, rose, and yuzu peel.
Archie Rose cold-distills in copper vacuum stills, and the honey comes through as meadow flowers, fresh citrus, and pine.
Honey in gin is not new here.
The gin extends the distillery’s Harvest series, the annual run that has already produced a Lemon Scented Gum Gin and a Mountain Yuzu Gin. The 2023 Raw Honey Gin worked from hives of roughly 640,000 resident bees, so honey has been in the building’s vocabulary for years.
This release ties the series to fruit country and to a co-owner whose farm supplies the headline ingredient. The launch adds a sweetener of the literal kind: limited jars of raw honey from the same hives go out with three-bottle orders or the complete Harvest Trio, while stocks last.
The gin is on sale now in Australia through the distillery’s own shop. A UK and Europe push is planned for 2027, and no US route has been announced, so this bottle travels in suitcases for a while.