2B Hemp Gin Distillery

Craft Spirits in Styria: Where Botanical Identity Meets Regional Character

Austria's craft distilling movement has taken longer to coalesce than its natural wine scene, but the signals are now clear enough to read. Graz, as Styria's capital and the country's second-largest city, sits at the centre of a region with unusually strong agricultural identity: pumpkin seed oil, locally grown herbs, and a farming culture that has historically supplied raw ingredients northward to Vienna rather than processing them on home soil. That dynamic is shifting. A cluster of small producers in and around the city are treating Styrian botanicals not as background notes but as primary arguments in the glass. 2B Hemp Gin Distillery, operating from St.-Peter-Pfarrweg 26 in the city's St. Peter district, is one of the more legible examples of that turn.

The distillery's decision to build around hemp as a featured botanical is not purely novelty-driven. Hemp has deep agricultural roots across Central Europe, and in Austria it sits within a well-regulated framework that distinguishes industrial hemp cultivation from any psychoactive application. As a botanical for gin, hemp introduces a particular green, slightly earthy register that interacts differently with juniper than the more commonly deployed citrus peels or floral additions. That botanical specificity is what gives 2B Hemp Gin Distillery a coherent editorial identity in a category where many small producers default to generic juniper-forward profiles with a regional twist tacked on. The terroir argument here is less about soil composition in the Burgundian sense and more about the agricultural biography of a place: what grows here, how it grows, and why it ends up in the bottle.

Where the 2025 Pearl Recognition Places It

The distillery received a Pearl 1 Star Prestige award in 2025, a recognition that positions it within a tier of producers whose work is considered to merit serious attention without necessarily sitting at the absolute ceiling of the category. For a craft gin operation in a city that does not yet carry Graz's wine region weight in international spirits conversations, that recognition matters in practical terms: it shifts the producer from local curiosity to verified reference point for visitors and buyers approaching the Austrian craft spirits market from outside.

For context, Austria's broader spirits recognition infrastructure is thinner than its wine equivalent. The country's wine appellations, from the Wachau to Burgenland, carry institutional weight accumulated over decades, supported by producers like Weingut Emmerich Knoll in Dürnstein, Weingut Bründlmayer in Langenlois, and Weingut Kracher in Illmitz, each with multi-generational track records and international distribution. Craft spirits producers are working without that inherited scaffolding, which makes award recognition from independent bodies a proportionally more significant signal. A Pearl 1 Star Prestige at this stage of the market suggests the product is performing at a level that justifies attention beyond the local.

That places 2B Hemp Gin Distillery in a small peer group of Austrian distillers making a credible case for the country's spirits potential. Comparable producers developing their own regional arguments include 1310 Spirit of the Country Distillery in Sierning, 1404 Manufacturing Distillery in Sankt Peter-Freienstein, A. Batch Distillery in Bergheim, and 1516 Brewing Company Distillery in Vienna. The category is developing quickly enough that the producers earning recognition now are likely to define what Austrian craft gin means to the next generation of buyers.

The St. Peter District and How to Plan a Visit

St. Peter sits in the southern part of Graz, removed from the tourist concentration around the Schlossberg and the Hauptplatz. That physical distance is worth factoring into a visit: the distillery is not a drop-in proposition in the way that a city-centre bar or wine shop might be. Visitors intending to engage properly with the production space should plan ahead, and given the absence of published booking or hours information in the current record, direct outreach before any visit is advisable. The address at St.-Peter-Pfarrweg 26 anchors the location clearly enough for navigation, but confirming visit arrangements in advance will determine whether the experience is a proper distillery engagement or an unnecessary journey.

For those building a Graz itinerary with serious spirits and wine interest, the distillery fits most logically into a day that begins with the city's inner-district food and drink culture and then moves south. Franz Bauer Distillery is another Graz-based producer worth including in the same trip. The broader EP Club Graz guide maps the city's dining and drinking options across neighbourhoods, which is the practical starting point for structuring a multi-stop itinerary. Graz also functions as a logical gateway to Styrian wine country: producers like Weingut Wohlmuth in Kitzeck are within day-trip range and represent Styrian Sauvignon Blanc and Muskateller at a level that rewards serious attention.

Hemp Gin as Agricultural Statement

The tendency in craft spirits to foreground provenance is partly marketing instinct and partly a genuine response to what distinguishes small-batch production from industrial scale. At 2B Hemp Gin Distillery, the hemp botanical functions as both: it is a specific, traceable agricultural material that carries cultural meaning in the Central European context, and it is a flavour decision that produces a gin profile distinct from the citrus-led or floral-led expressions that dominate much of the current market.

Styria as a region has always had a pronounced relationship with its own produce. The pumpkin fields of the Murfeld, the Schilcher wine grown on iron-rich soils in the western hills, and the herb cultivation that supplies markets and restaurants throughout the city all point to an agricultural character that is specific and legible. A distillery choosing to work hemp into that story is, at minimum, making a coherent geographic argument. Whether that argument translates into a gin that competes at the level the 2025 Pearl recognition suggests is a question leading answered by tasting, but the conceptual foundation is sound.

For visitors whose interest in spirits sits alongside wine, the Austrian producers who have done the most to build regional identity through rigorous terroir argument are primarily in the wine sector: Weingut Pittnauer in Gols, Weingut Heinrich Hartl in Oberwaltersdorf, and Weingut Scheiblhofer in Andau each demonstrate what sustained focus on a defined growing area can produce. The craft gin movement is attempting something analogous but with a shorter institutional history and a category that has been slower to develop critical vocabulary around provenance. 2B Hemp Gin Distillery's Pearl recognition in 2025 is an early data point that the argument is being made convincingly enough to warrant external notice. For producers at Aberlour and beyond, the comparison illustrates how different traditions of terroir expression can coexist across spirits categories.

Practical Notes

The distillery is located at St.-Peter-Pfarrweg 26, 8010 Graz. No published hours, phone, or booking system are confirmed in current records, so visitors should pursue direct contact before making the trip. A. Batch, 1310, and 1404 offer useful comparison points for understanding where Austrian craft distilling sets its current benchmark, and building a visit around multiple producers in the same trip is the most time-efficient approach for those arriving from outside Austria.

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the vibe at 2B Hemp Gin Distillery?

The distillery operates in the St. Peter district of Graz, away from the city's central tourist areas. The atmosphere reflects a working production environment rather than a styled hospitality venue. The 2025 Pearl 1 Star Prestige award signals a producer whose output is taken seriously within Austria's craft spirits community, so the experience skews toward engaged, production-focused visits rather than casual drop-ins. Graz itself has a more low-key, student-city character than Vienna, and that register extends to its independent food and drink producers.

What do visitors recommend trying at 2B Hemp Gin Distillery?

Hemp-forward gin is the defining product, given that the botanical choice is the distillery's primary statement of regional and agricultural identity. The 2025 Pearl 1 Star Prestige recognition confirms the core production is performing at a level worth attention. Since specific menu or product details are not confirmed in current records, direct contact with the distillery before visiting is the most reliable way to understand the current range and what's available for tasting or purchase.

What's the defining thing about 2B Hemp Gin Distillery?

Defining characteristic is the use of hemp as a primary botanical in gin production, a choice that gives the distillery a specific agricultural and flavour identity within Austria's developing craft spirits category. The Pearl 1 Star Prestige award in 2025 confirms external recognition of that approach. In a Graz context, where regional produce has long defined culinary and drinks identity, the hemp botanical is a coherent extension of the area's agricultural character rather than a gimmick.

Is 2B Hemp Gin Distillery reservation-only?

Current records do not confirm published hours, a booking system, or contact details for 2B Hemp Gin Distillery. Given its location in the St. Peter district outside the city centre and its status as a working production space rather than a retail venue, planning ahead is sensible. Visitors should attempt direct contact before visiting to confirm availability. The Pearl 1 Star Prestige recognition in 2025 suggests the distillery is operating at a level where organised visits are likely possible, but the format has not been publicly documented.

How does 2B Hemp Gin Distillery's hemp-botanical approach compare to conventional Austrian gin production?

Most Austrian craft gins default to Alpine herb profiles, juniper-forward expressions, or regional citrus additions that mirror broader European conventions. 2B Hemp Gin Distillery's focus on hemp as a feature botanical introduces a green, earthy dimension that sits outside that standard framework, making it one of the more botanically specific producers in the country. The Pearl 1 Star Prestige awarded in 2025 suggests this approach is producing results that hold up against wider craft gin benchmarks, not just as a regional novelty.