Dutch Rules Distilling Co

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This local gin label is listed at some of Melbourne’s most talked-about restaurants but there’s nothing like drinking it at the source: a cavernous, cosied-up warehouse on a busy thoroughfare. As with his beer brand Two Rupees, founder Danny Perera has infused his Sri Lankan roots into Dutch Rules, making spiced gins that come as tasting flights or in punchy cocktails such as a passionfruit sorbet-spiked Bellini.

Bar snacks are available, but you’ll want to dine at the distillery’s in-house restaurant to truly enhance the gin tasting experience. The menu leans into the heritage of head chef Viveik Vinoharan, The Age Good Food Guide 2026 Young Chef of the Year award recipient, with a menu focused on spices alongside Australian produce.

Sri Lanka’s classic black pork curry is reimagined in smoky, flame-grilled lamb belly skewers, while biryani is stuffed into Flinders Island lamb shoulder sausages. There’s also an Italian-Sri Lankan hybrid where rigatoni made with an extruder machine meets a minced wallaby and pig skin curry akin to a ragu.

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