Poor Toms

About the distillery

Poor Toms is located in Marrickville in Sydney and is an Australian distillery built around gin with a clear personality. Here, classic juniper profiles meet native botanicals and more playful expressions like strawberry, coffee and piña colada. The distillery was created by Jesse and Griff, and the story is just as much a rejection of tradition as it is a love letter to gin.

History

Jesse and Griff met on their very first day of high school, and in 2013 they lived together in a sharehouse in Newtown. One worked at a bank, the other as an actor, but neither of them felt like spending their paychecks on, respectively, boring finance talk and Shakespeare for tired high schoolers. Instead, they wanted to create a community around gin. At the time, there were no distilleries in Sydney, and craft gin was basically not a topic—but they wanted to change that. So they put all their saved money into a still and became part of the new wave of Australian distilling. The name Poor Toms points to a figure from Shakespeare, an outsider and a riddle-teller from Bedlam, and it matches their own desire to do away with what is neat and expected. For them, gin is about stepping out of identity and becoming something else.

Ingredients and production

The production ranges from classic gin to vodka and amaro, with both tradition and unconventional flavor builders clearly in play. Sydney Dry Gin is based on a classic juniper core and is complemented with green apples, strawberry gum leaf, chamomile, lemon myrtle, coriander, angelica root, cinnamon, cardamom and cubeb pepper. Strawberry Gin starts from Sydney Dry Gin, to which fresh strawberries, young ginger and hibiscus are added, and then is elevated with extra cardamom and cubeb pepper distillates. Fool’s Cut Gin is markedly stronger and brings together a wide botanical palette around juniper, citrus, spices and herbs. Piña Colada Gin is built on pineapple, coconut, lime, pandan, nutmeg and allspice, while Imbroglio Amaro brings together a broad spectrum of herbs, roots, flowers and fruits in a bitter-sweet, Italian-inspired style. The vodka begins as a byproduct from an industrial wheat process on the NSW South Coast, is distilled again in Marrickville, and is finally carbon-filtered at the distillery.

Maturation and cask types

There is no classic cask-matured range. Instead, the focus is on fresh distillation, extraction, repeated distillation and filtration. Vodka is the clearest example of the pure and technical approach, where the spirit is first created at the source, further refined in Marrickville, and then carbon-filtered. For gin and amaro, complexity is more about the blend of botanicals than about aging in wood.

Whiskies

The current range is broad but centered around gin. Sydney Dry Gin serves as the house’s classic reference, with juniper, fruit and floral notes. In addition, there are more expressive versions like Strawberry Gin, Piña Colada Gin and Fool’s Cut Gin, showing how far the distillery is willing to go toward both fruit, strength and experimentation. Imbroglio Amaro adds a bitter-sweet, herb-driven side, while the vodka provides a cleaner and more neutral counterpoint. Overall, the portfolio is clearly modern, aromatic and unafraid to play with gin’s boundaries.

Whisky style and flavor profile

The style ranges from fresh and floral to strongly juniper-driven, fruity and spicy. Sydney Dry Gin delivers green apples, chamomile and a classic juniper backbone. Strawberry Gin adds strawberries, hibiscus, young ginger and a sweeter, more fruit-forward expression. Piña Colada Gin goes in a tropical direction with pineapple, coconut, lime and pandan, while Fool’s Cut Gin leans toward grapefruit, licorice and distinct juniper. Alongside this comes Imbroglio Amaro with bitter herb, citrus and a hint of dried fruit.

Visit the distillery

Yes, the public can visit Poor Toms in Marrickville, Sydney. The venue hosts Poor Toms Oltra, described as a cocktail bar inside a pizza restaurant inside a gin distillery. It is open Wednesday and Thursday from 16:00 to 22:00, Friday from 16:00 to 24:00, Saturday from 12:00 to 24:00, and Sunday from 14:00 to 20:00. Bookings are available, and the place functions both as a visit destination and as a bar with food on site.

The listed opening hours are: Wednesday 16:00-22:00, Thursday 16:00-22:00, Friday 16:00-24:00, Saturday 12:00-24:00, Sunday 14:00-20:00.
See times and book a visit.

Philosophy and craft

Poor Toms is built on a declared desire to create honest, bold spirits and to bring real enjoyment into everyday life. They see gin as something that can bring people together, but also as a way to break with tradition and identity. The name and the story about Poor Tom emphasize a fondness for the unruly, the theatrical and the slightly odd.

Awards and recognition

• GOLD (2018, GOLD, Fool's Cut Gin)

• GOLD (2018, GOLD, Fool's Cut Gin)

• BRONZE (2018, BRONZE, Fool's Cut Gin)

• SILVER (2017, SILVER, Fool's Cut Gin)

• SILVER (2018, SILVER, Sydney Dry Gin)

• BRONZE (2018, BRONZE, Sydney Dry Gin)

• BRONZE (2018, BRONZE, Sydney Dry Gin)

• GOLD (2017, GOLD, Sydney Dry Gin)

• BRONZE (2019, BRONZE, Strawberry Gin)

• SILVER (2019, SILVER, Imbroglio Amaro)