The Story of How It Came to Be
MITCHELL DISTILLERY
A bottle in the dirt. A river that took everything.
And the ground that gave it all back.
Part One:
The Bottle
It starts on an ordinary afternoon in 2008. Mat had just brought his kitchen and joinery
business out to the small Queensland town of Mitchell, a trade he’d already spent five
years building in Brisbane. He was doing what he’d done a hundred times before —
digging a hole for a fence post. Then the shovel struck something that wasn’t dirt, wasn’t
rock. He knelt down in the red dust and pulled an old glass bottle out of the ground, heavy
with a century of dirt, a name pressed into the glass: J.B. Eaton.
It turned out that up the road, a cordial factory had once stood under that name, founded
by a man called John Bull Eaton. It opened its doors in 1885, and was pulled down exactly
a hundred years later, in 1985. Holding that bottle, Mat found himself wondering what it
must have taken to build something real in a town this size. It was just a passing thought at
the time. But it stayed with him. That bottle sits today in the Mitchell Heritage Museum —
and it turned out to be the first seed of everything that followed.
Part Two:
The Bees
The next year, something else took hold, stranger still. Mat woke at three in the morning
wanting to know how honey was actually made. One hive followed. Then another. Within a
few years he was tending 250 hives of his own, learning queen breeding alongside an
operation running seven thousand. Bottle and bees, on the surface, had nothing to do with
each other. But underneath, it was the same instinct — taking raw land and raw material
and turning it into something worth having.
He gave his time to the town too, joining the State Emergency Service that same year,
2008 — work that asked a lot and gave little back, most weeks. It would ask everything of
him before long.
Part Three:
The Flood
In 2012, the Maranoa River rose and didn’t stop. It flooded the house. It fully submerged
the prime mover and the bobcat right where they stood. And it tore his 250 beehives apart
and scattered them — some found 200 kilometres downstream in St George. His kitchen
business, four years of work, was gone within hours.
And in the middle of all of it, Mat was out on that same river in an open boat with local men,
pulling a builder and his family off their roof, after the official rescue crew had already said
it was too dangerous to go in. He hadn’t even had time to grieve his own losses yet. That’s
the shape of who he is — showing up for someone else’s worst day in the middle of his
own.
The kitchen business never came back. That chapter closed the day the water took it. But
the ground it stood on didn’t stay empty for long.
Part Four:
New Zealand
He didn’t stay down. In 2013, he left Australia for the first time, to New Zealand, chasing
something he couldn’t quite name yet — spirit and mead making. In a boutique bar there,
he tasted mead for the first time in his life, and it was disappointing; it reminded him of an
old, dying hive. And in that moment of disappointment, something clicked. He already knew
honey better than the person who’d made that mead did. He went back again in 2016 to
learn more, and by then he’d already joined the rural fire brigade too — trading floodwater
for fire, but never losing that instinct to run toward trouble instead of away from it.
Part Five:
Mitchell Distillery
Piece by piece, over more than a decade, he rebuilt. And in March 2025, he finally held
that same piece of land in his hands again — the fence post, the buried bottle, the ground
the river once tried to take. This time he knew exactly what belonged there. He used the
last of the honey he’d saved from before the flood — honey that had survived everything —
to make his first batch of mead.
Mitchell Distillery isn’t just named after a town.
It’s what’s left standing after everything that could have washed it away,
didn’t.
MEMBERSHIP FORM
MEMBERSHIP FORM
We are proud to welcome you to 111 Legends, an exclusive membership program created for those who appreciate exceptional craftsmanship and premium Australian beverages. As a member, you will enjoy privileged access to a carefully curated collection of small-batch, handcrafted spirits, including award-winning whiskies, premium wines, craft beers, and specialty releases produced by renowned Australian distilleries and estates.
The 111 Legends Club connects members to a world of unique tasting experiences, limited-edition releases, member-only offers, and priority access to some of Australia’s finest artisan products. Built on a passion for quality, heritage, and innovation, 111 Legends celebrates the people, stories, and traditions behind every bottle, offering an exclusive community for collectors, enthusiasts, and those who appreciate the finer things in life.
TERMS & CONDITIONS
By applying for membership with 111 Legends and paying the applicable membership fee, you agree to these Terms & Conditions. A one-time, non-refundable membership fee of AUD $195 is required to secure a numbered membership allocation. Members who wish to secure a preferred or priority membership number may do so, subject to availability, for an additional non-refundable fee of AUD $50. Membership numbers are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis and are limited to only one hundred and eleven (111) memberships, numbered sequentially from 001 through to 111. Membership grants the holder the right to reserve and retain their exclusive numbered bottle allocation, provided they remain compliant with these Terms & Conditions. To maintain an active membership, members must purchase a minimum of two (2) bottles within each rolling twelve (12) month period. Failure to meet this requirement may result in cancellation of membership, forfeiture of the allocated membership number, loss of future allocation rights, and the requirement to reapply should memberships become available. Each bottle is priced at AUD $275 unless otherwise advised by 111 Legends. All bottles supplied under the 111 Legends program will originate from specially selected small-batch releases and will correlate with the applicable bottling run. Each bottle will be custom filled and personally signed as part of the exclusive collection. Only one hundred and eleven (111) bottles will be filled under this once-off membership program, making each allocation unique and limited in nature. Variations in flavour profile, age, cask influence, packaging, labelling, presentation, and signatures may occur between releases and are considered part of the character of small-batch production. Membership fees and priority number fees are non-refundable once a membership number has been allocated. Memberships, allocations, and associated rights may not be sold, transferred, assigned, or exchanged without the prior written consent of 111 Legends. 111 Legends reserves the right to refuse, suspend, or terminate any membership where these Terms & Conditions are breached, payments are not fulfilled, false information is provided, or conduct is deemed detrimental to the reputation of the brand. Membership and bottle purchases are available only to persons who are legally permitted to purchase alcohol under applicable laws, and proof of age and identity may be required. 111 Legends reserves the right to amend these Terms & Conditions at any time, with updated terms being published on the official website and applying to future transactions and memberships.
Limited Bottling · No. 001–111
SMALL BATCH RESERVE — Membership Deed
A once-off allocation of 111 numbered memberships. Each number carries a custom-filled, hand-signed bottle from the current small batch run. Rename “Small Batch Reserve” anywhere in this file to your own club name.
Membership fee
A once-off, non-refundable membership fee of $195 secures a member their allocated bottle number in the Small Batch Reserve program. Members who wish to request a specific number from the available pool may do so as a Priority Number, for an additional once-off fee of $50, subject to that number still being available.
Minimum purchase to retain membership
To keep their membership and number, a member must purchase a minimum of two (2) bottles in every rolling 12-month period, measured from their membership start date (or their last qualifying purchase). If this minimum is not met, the membership and number are forfeited and released back into the available pool. A lapsed member must reapply as a new member, including the once-off fee, and is not guaranteed the same number.
Bottle price
Each bottle purchased under the membership is $275, payable at the time of each order.
Batch and provenance
Bottles are filled from the small batch in production at the time of the order. Contents, cask influence and character will vary between bottling runs and correlate to whichever batch is current at the time — no two runs are guaranteed to be identical.
Custom fill and signature
Every bottle is custom filled to order and hand-signed before dispatch or collection.
Strictly limited
Only 111 numbered memberships will ever be issued under this release. Once all 111 are allocated, no further numbers will be created.
Numbering
Numbers are issued sequentially in the order memberships are confirmed — 001, 002, 003 … through to 111 — except where a Priority Number has been requested and paid for under clause 1.
Sign & apply
This records your signed agreement to the deed above. It does not process payment — the operator will confirm payment separately and assign your number in the Bottle Ledger tab.