Superdrop's Co-Founder explains Lamplighter Tasmanian Single Malt & future plans

Superdrop, the Australian spirits company that produces Idle Hour Vodka, Delgados Tequila, and Tequila Soldada, has recently added a whisky to its portfolio: the Lamplighter Single Malt Tasmanian whisky. 

Retailing at  $120 per bottle and with national distribution via Vintage Cellars, Superdrop’s Lamplighter is hoping to make the Tasmanian Single Malt subcategory more accessible. Drinks Trade recently caught up with Ewen Pettit, Superdrop's Co-Founder and Director, to discuss the release.

“Ultimately the opportunity with the Tasmanian Single Malt subcategory is it's very inaccessible for people wanting to explore that space,” Ewen Pettit told Drinks Trade. 

“Essentially, if you want to get into single malts from Tasmania, you start to look at - if you're talking about a 700ml format - you're talking about a $190 to $200 entry point. 

“We feel that Tasmania has got a lot to give, especially in Australian whisky, and we wanted to create a little bit more accessibility to the category by working with a number of different distilleries in Tasmania to shine a little light on what's possible from Tasmanian whisky.”

According to Pettit, Superdrop “works with a number of the most prolific distilleries in Tasmania… We don't work with one single producer. 

“For every expression, we go and we speak to multiple distilleries about what the vision is for the liquid, and what we have is a fairly open dialogue with the distilleries down there. Obviously, they're very keen on what we do - which is we want to shine a light on Tasmanian whisky - and oftentimes, they may not want to necessarily put their name to this brand at this price point, because it's an incredibly accessible price point for a Tasmanian Single Malt.”

Whilst currently only available in Vintage Cellars stores, Lamplighter is expected to be released into the rest of Coles Liquor’s retail stores over the next couple of months. Superdrop will also be releasing an Irish whiskey in both spirit and RTD format in about three months time.

“We're launching another whisky in three months… so it's an Irish whiskey that we've been working on for the last few years, actually, and that will be available in both RTD and glass format to start,” said Pettit.

“This will be a very, very different kind of proposition in Irish whisky. I would say you've not seen a proposition at a brand level in Irish whiskey like this before. We're already in talks to launch into the US for the distributor over there at the same time.”

Pettit estimates that Superdrop’s Irish whiskey will “probably be on the shelf October 15th.”