Michael and Alla Ward have confirmed that they have sold their Tamborine Mountain Distillery (TMD), which has been in operation for more than 20 years.
Michael said that the decision to sell had been a very difficult one, but with the passing of their son Alex and daughter Sonya living in Melbourne, he and his wife Alla reluctantly made the decision to sell.
The new owner is Shumei Hou the principal owner of Tamborine International Pty Ltd who has a background in law and international business. The manufacturing and sales of the new business will be looked after by Gordon Chalmers, who Michael says has the attributes to grow and build the TMD brand to the next level.
Michael said that the announcement over the sale has been delayed until the new owners had their licenses in place.
“Tamborine Mountain distillery has been an icon of the mountain for well over 20 years and as from 2018 it will be operating with new owners,” he said.
“The time has come for us to advise that in October we sold TMD to Tamborine International Pty Ltd and its principal owner, Ms Shumei Hou. The declaration of new ownership was withheld until the final federal license was granted by the ATO.
“We wish to congratulate Shumei in attaining such an important and powerful federal license. Today, the ATO rejects some 80 per cent of distillery license applications, and we applaud Shumei for this well-deserved authority.”
TMD grew when the Ward’s discovered that they couldn’t use all their farm’s citrus fruit in 1997 and so built an 80-litre still and made their first citrus liqueur. The range has grown to now include a wide variety of liqueurs, schnapps and vodkas and the Wards are hopeful of watching the new owners take things further for the distillery.
“We are thrilled to have passed on the baton to Tamborine International and look forward to watching the TMD brand grow in its many diverse areas such as the wholesale division, online sales, and export.
“It was always our dream for the brand to become an Australian icon and to take it globally and under the strong leadership of Shumei Hou and Gordon Chalmers we are confident this will happen.”