Australia is in the midst of a boutique malt whisky revival, with whisky now being produced in most states.
During the 20th century, Melbourne had the three largest whisky distilleries in the southern hemisphere, producing 200 million litres of whisky. This older Australian blended whisky style has been replaced by a generation of new malt whisky distillers.
Besides being small, the new wave of distillers are experimental in their production approaches to whisky making by trying to advance a distinctly Australian style. These distillers often have scientific or winemaking backgrounds and are all about bringing new approaches refashioned for Australia’s varying climates and raw materials.
What sets Australian whisky apart is the influence local wine casks have on the flavour. While ex-bourbon casks are popular with distillers, it is the Australian sherry, port and wine casks that are giving Australian whisky its flavour twist. Australia’s significant fortified wine industry gives distillers access to casks that are 40 to 100 years old.
Production volumes are creeping up and more retailers are starting to stock Australian whisky. Here are four distilleries to keep an eye on.
Hellyers Road Distillery
Warm acceptance at Europe’s largest whisky event, Whisky Live Paris, was reason enough to justify the decision made by a group of Tasmanian dairy farmers over 20 years ago to construct a single malt whisky distillery. Hellyers is now Australia’s largest boutique distillery, which enjoys the mantle as the country’s highest selling home-grown whisky.
Hellyers Road Distillery can be found on the outskirts of Burnie, Tasmania. The brand name is a clever and parochial borrowing from the region’s most famous explorer and surveyor, Henry Hellyer, who charted much of North West Tasmania in the early 1800s, his steely determination and perseverance personified in the brand.
Careful forecasting, the use of quality Tasmanian malted barley and of course the local water has heavily influenced the making of these world-class whiskies. Astute timber selection, typified by the use of high quality 200 litre American Oak, patience and resolve completes the outcome.
Lark Distillery
In 1992, Bill Lark and his wife Lyn decided to make whisky, and legally they required a licence. However, according to the 1901 Distillation Act they had to do so in large volumes. A few short months later, the archaic law had been amended and Bill and Lyn became the licensed owners of the first distillery in Tasmania since 1839.
Today, Lark Distillery is one of Australia’s leading distilleries, producing high quality, premium spirits using traditional time honoured methods. The distillery runs an 1800 litre copper pot still along with a 500 litre spirit still. Using a small 100 litre barrel for a short maturation process, between five and seven years, the flavour profile of Lark whiskies has a surprising depth, maturity and complexity on the palate.
Lark is an Australian single malt whisky, proudly unique in character and style, crafted exclusively from pure Tasmanian ingredients, matured in small barrels, hand-bottled by whisky lovers in Tasmania for whisky lovers world-wide. Lark Distillery is very proudly a boutique Tasmanian owned distillery dedicated to maintaining its proven high quality malt whisky and other unique Tasmanian spirits.
Overeem Distillery
Overeem distillery began as a family-owned and operated business, headed by Casey Overeem. Casey’s interest in the industry started back in the early 1980s when he had his first experience of distilling at a relative’s house in Norway. Following years of research, experimentation and the realisation that Tasmania was the perfect place to make single malt whisky, Casey secured his distiller’s licence in 2005.
Overeem Distillery is nestled among the trees of the Overeem family home. Using world-class, all-copper pot stills, made in Hobart by Knapp Lewer Contracting, production commenced in 2007 and has since ramped up to full production with all expressions of whisky under bond.
All Overeem Single Malt Whisky is matured in 100 litre French or American Oak casks, and matured for a minimum of five years. Throughout the maturation process, casks are closely monitored and tested to ensure that the product is decanted at the optimum level of maturity. Each whisky is bottled as single cask and individually numbered to identify the exact cask and bottle.
Sullivans Cove
Sullivans Cove was established in 1804 by the British in the port city of Hobart, Tasmania. At the time, there were 16 legal distilleries in the area and countless illegal ones as well. In 1838, Governor John Franklin enforced a total ban on distilling that would last for 150 years, before being lifted in the early 1990s. Since then, the Island has gone on to produce some of the world’s best single malts, and has firmly established itself as one of the key whisky regions in the world.
Sullivans Cove is the leading Tasmanian whisky, and its French Oak Single Malt was named the World’s Best Single Malt at the 2014 World Whiskies Awards. This achievement is put in context when taking into consideration that the distillery was established only 23 years ago, in 1994. Most Scotch distilleries have releases that are more than double the age of this remarkable distillery.
The distillery uses only Tasmanian-grown barley and water from the springs around Hobart’s Mount Wellington to make its world famous whiskies. The distillery receives its wash from both Cascade Brewery and Moo Brew, Tasmania’s leading craft brewery, and this wash is double distilled in a copper pot still. The distillery uses first fill French oak ex-port cask and American oak ex-bourbon casks to mature its whisky, but there are also a few curiosities lying around the dunnage including muscat and tokay casks as well as some quite exquisite brandy.
All bottling is done by hand, and the whiskies are non-chill filtered to retain the maximum flavour and body. Today, the distillery employs ten whisky enthusiasts who have made it their life’s passion to continue making the world’s best whisky.
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