The Unexpected Finalist: Unexpected Guest Named a 2026 Gin Bar of the Year Finalist

How many times do you write an opening paragraph before you just say f@ck it. Mostly because I am still not entirely sure how to explain what it felt like to see Unexpected Guest Distillery in Marrickville listed as a finalist for Gin Bar of the Year at the 2026 Bartender Australian Bar Awards.

We genuinely did not expect it.

Unexpected Guest has always been a little unconventional. We are a small gin distillery and bar in Sydney’s Inner West, tucked away in Marrickville, where people can sit only metres from where our gin is made. We serve gin flights, cocktails, G&Ts, masterclasses and events in the same space where we distil, test, taste and continue learning.

But being named as a finalist for Gin Bar of the Year was not something we had planned for. We did not enter, we did not have a strategy to get onto the list. We do not know who had nominated us, how our name had come up, or what had been said about us.

And then there we were.

Unexpected Guest Distillery.

On a list alongside some of the best and most established gin bars in Australia.

My first reaction was probably a mixture of disbelief and the slightly uncomfortable thought that perhaps someone had made a mistake; should we email them and check?

But once the surprise settled a little, what I felt more than anything was gratitude.

Because this recognition came from people within our industry. People who work in bars, venues and drinks businesses. People who understand how difficult hospitality can be, and how much work sits behind what a guest sees when they walk through the door.

Somewhere along the way, somebody thought of us.

That means more than I can properly put into words.

A Small Marrickville Gin Bar, Still Finding Its Way

The truth is, the last couple of years have not been simple.

The hospitality industry has changed. The way people go out has changed. The cost of doing business has changed. What people want from venues has changed.

We have had to change with it.

We made the difficult decision to wind back the opening hours at the distillery. That was not something we did lightly. When you have built a place that you love, there is a temptation to believe that success means always being open more, doing more and pushing harder.

But sometimes running a small business means being honest about what is working and what is not.

It means listening. It means adjusting. We did a large scale survey at the beginning of the year and we've been implementing all those suggest changes, so to get this nomination in response is just so affirming to our confidence. 

This nomination validated that we had to let go of the version of the business we thought we were supposed to have, so we could make room for the version people actually want to connect with.

Rather than simply trying to keep the doors open for more hours, we started asking ourselves a better question:

How do we make the time people spend with us more meaningful?

That question has shaped a lot of what we have been doing at Unexpected Guest.

We launched a new cocktail menu. We developed new event packages. We began creating more in-person experiences that give our customers a reason to come through the doors, stay for a while, ask questions, taste things and actually spend time with us.

We wanted to create more opportunities for the people who have supported Unexpected Guest to connect with the people behind it.

Not just with a bottle on a shelf. With us. With the still. With the bar team. With the stories behind the gins.

With the slightly strange characters we have created along the way.

And with each other.

What Makes a Great Gin Bar?

Being named a finalist for Gin Bar of the Year has made us think more deeply about what a gin bar actually is.

For us, it is not just a place that serves gin.

A great gin bar should help people understand what they are drinking. It should make people feel welcome whether they know everything about gin or absolutely nothing. It should create space for conversation, curiosity and discovery.

That is what we have always wanted Unexpected Guest to be.

At our Marrickville distillery bar, people can taste the gin where it is made. They can see the equipment, ask questions about the distilling process (eg. do you actually make the gin here?), try different serves, compare botanicals, sit at the bar, join a masterclass or simply have a cocktail with friends.

There is something very different about sitting across from somebody while they taste a gin you have made and hearing, honestly, what they think.

Sometimes they love exactly what you hoped they would love. Sometimes they hate it and it stings like a blade, but this honesty is the human part of this business that I never want us to lose.

For all the talk about branding, growth, strategy, awards and sales, at the heart of Unexpected Guest there has always been a very simple idea:

Make great gin.
Put it in front of people.
Listen to them.
Keep learning.
Then go back and make great gin again.

I think the more the industry has changed, the more we have come back to that.

From Gertrude the Kombi to an Inner West Gin Bar

Unexpected Guest started with Gertrude, our orange Kombi, and the idea that gin could turn up somewhere unexpected and create a moment between people.

Over time, that idea found a permanent home in Marrickville.

Now people can sit at our bar only metres from where our gin is made. They can see the equipment, meet the people behind the business and experience the connection between what happens in the distillery and what ends up in their glass.

That connection has become more important to us, not less.

Because making a beautiful gin is only one part of the job.

The other part is what happens when somebody drinks it.

How they are welcomed. How the drink is served. Whether they feel comfortable asking questions. Whether they learn something. Whether they laugh.

Whether they feel like they were part of something, even for an hour or two.

That is hospitality. And we owe all that in thanks to our amazing bar team who take the lead 100% of the time and always doing right by the brand to make sure customers are happy. We couldn't appreciate them more. 

And I think that is why being named a finalist for Gin Bar of the Year at the 2026 Bartender Australian Bar Awards has affected us.

It feels like recognition not only of the gin we make, but of everything around it.

Building Experiences, Not Just Opening a Bar

We have become more intentional about how we spend our time and energy. We have tried to create experiences rather than simply opening a room and hoping people walk into it.

We have thought more deeply about why someone would choose to come to us, what they should feel while they are here and what we hope they remember when they leave.

And we are still working it out.

I think that is important to say.

There are parts of running a small business that nobody really sees. Mainly the sleepless nights of thinking about whether something is working, and the need to want to react so quickly because there's a bill lurking over head. But we're trying not to be so reactionary, let the idea breathe and let people tell us what they want. 

Thats how we end up with full gin masterclass where strangers are laughing together by the end. A guest coming back and bringing their friends or someone telling you they have followed the business since the days of Gertrude.

Why This Nomination Means So Much

This nomination arrived at a time when we have been doing a lot of reflecting ourselves.

We have been asking what matters. What should we keep doing? What should we stop doing?

How can we keep improving without losing the personality and slightly unconventional spirit that made Unexpected Guest what it is in the first place?

We do not have all the answers. But perhaps that is what makes this recognition feel so special.

It did not arrive at a moment when everything was perfectly finished and neatly tied together. It arrived while we were still adapting. Still learning how to be a better distillery, a better bar and a better business and find our way in the hospitality industry (an industry we knew little about and are still learning about). 

Thank You for Seeing Us

To the people in our industry who thought of us, thank you. Truly. Thank you for seeing us. Thank you for seeing the work of our team.

Thank you for seeing a small distillery and gin bar in Marrickville that is still evolving, still experimenting and still trying very hard to create something worth coming back to.

And to our customers, our regulars, our masterclass guests, our event clients, our wholesale partners, our neighbours and the people who have followed us from the days of an orange Kombi through to where we are now: thank you too.

You have helped shape this business. Your feedback has changed things. Your support has allowed us to keep making gin.

And your willingness to come into our space and spend time with us has reminded us that the most valuable part of what we do is still the connection between people.

Come and Visit Us in Marrickville

Of course we would love to win. There is no point pretending otherwise.

But this nomination has already given us something important. It has made us stop for a moment. And anyone who runs a small business knows how rarely that happens.

We are incredibly proud to be a 2026 finalist for Gin Bar of the Year at the Bartender Australian Bar Awards.

We are also still the same people who will be here tomorrow, tasting, talking, listening, changing things, getting things wrong, getting some things right and trying to make the next batch of gin even better than the last.

Thank you for being part of it.

And if you are looking for a gin bar, cocktail bar or distillery experience in Sydney’s Inner West, we would love to welcome you into Unexpected Guest Distillery in Marrickville.

Come in for a gin flight, a cocktail, a masterclass, a bottle to take home, or simply a conversation at the bar.

We will be here, listening, learning and making gin.

Jane Owen
Master Distiller
Unexpected Guest Distillery
Marrickville, Sydney