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Published 20 April 2013. Author: Stephen Matchett, The Australian

I don't know anything about the art of whisky, but I know what I like and I know it comes from Scotland. Not Japan and certainly not Tennessee. (In November, I drove by Lynchburg Tenn without bothering to stop where Jack lives.)

And it doesn't come from Tasmania. Sure, Tassie whisky makers witter on about the water and bang on about the barley, about how they make a premium product while Scotland cranks out the casks, adding artificial colour as they go. But the Scots have a thousand years head start and it shows in the superior malts they produce. At least it showed until I saw a bottle of Overeem Old Hobart Distillery port matured single cask, single malt whisky on the grogshop shelf, next to bottles named for characters in Brigadoon.

I decide to give the local grog a go. After all, with the Tasmanian economy now based on a modern art museum and cheques from Canberra, what the joint needs is a successful stiff drink.

After years drinking Scots single malts, starting with cooking whisky of the Glenfiddich kind and graduating to the glorious scents of Islay, I know what I like. I had tried a few Tasmanian labels a while back, some of which I did not like much. But this time I do like the Old Hobart product, made by father and daughter Casey and Jane Overeem. In fact, I like it a lot. So much so that I negotiate a personal loan and buy a bottle of their sherry matured cask. Which I like as well.

It's not surprising, because their's are intense-effort high-quality boutique drinks.

Casey, a tradesman turned property developer, got interested in distilling 30 years ago. "I went to Norway and met my wife's uncles who were boutique distillers - in their cellars," he says. "It started as a hobby but now I want to do one more thing before I hang up my boots and that is make a whisky to world standard."

He and Jane are giving it a go. But what they and the 10 or so other Tasmanian distillers are doing explains why the island will never scare the sporrans off the Scots. While the Tassie product is high quality, there is not much of it. The Overeems have 50 casks holding just 100 litres each. "We want to stick with this to keep the emphasis on quality by using traditional techniques," Casey says. He also nominates ingredients - "magnificent soft water ... unique barley, beefy and oily with a great mouth feel" - plus the traditional way they use peat as a heat source. In contrast, he says, "the Scots do it all in a controlled environment."

THE CASK AT HAND

It's a cask of second time lucky for Tasmania's whisky pioneers. When Bill Lark decided to start distilling, he found the government was in the way - specifically the 1901 Distillation Act, which prevented his getting a licence for the small-scale still he had in mind.

"We had inherited Scots law, which was designed to discourage boutique distillers," the founding father of modern Tasmanian whisky says.

So he went and saw his then local member, Duncan Kerr, who thought this was very rum indeed. Kerr told Customs minister Barry Jones who agreed, and so the commonwealth rewrote the excise regulations. Lark was awarded the first distilling licence in Tasmania since the 1830s.

It was a long time coming on an island people long knew could make world-class whisky. Spirits scholar Willie Simpson says there were distillers in Hobart before Cascade began brewing - 16 across the island by 1824 - but they were all gone in a bare 20 years. The problem was everybody wanted a piece of Tasmania's alcohol action. There was a big market for barley in Sydney and officialdom there leaned on the locals to treat the grain as a crop for eating, not drinking. Brewers argued that because beer was healthier, the whisky tax should be hiked. According to James Boyce's fine history, the island government had little income of its own other than excise on imported rum, so they drove the distillers out of business by increasing excise on the local hard stuff.

That was it until the 1980s, apart from one false start. In the 30s a worldwide blended whisky shortage led the Scottish industry to fear Australians would start making their own, again. so they set up a subsidiary, Corio, making a low grade equivalent of what they exported, which lasted for 40 years.

Now the distillers are back in business. Lark says he exports to the US and Europe and has just sent his first shipment to Hong Kong, with the rest of China to follow.

Full article

Published 4 February 2013. Author: James Atkinson, The Shout

The newest distillers on Tasmania's burgeoning whisky scene are each taking different and innovative approaches to overcome the cash flow issues of putting barrels of whisky down for maturation.

Launched last year in Port Arthur, William McHenry & Sons is Australia's southernmost distillery.

Founder Bill McHenry told TheShout he hopes to have his first fully-distilled and matured whisky on the market by early 2015, "although it could be a bit early depending on the maturing spirit".

In the meantime, McHenry is selling his Puer Triple Distilled Premium Vodka and McHenry Classic London Dry Gin, as well as Three Capes, his signature whisky brand bottled from a carefully selected barrel from the Tasmania Distillery, which produces whisky under the Sullivans Cove brand.

Elsewhere, Belgrove Distillery in Kempton is selling 'new make' rye whiskey while founder Peter Bignell waits for his stocks to come of age.

He grows the rye used in his whiskey on his Kempton farm, where he built his copper pot still from scratch.

"It is direct fired with biodiesel that I make from waste cooking oil from a roadhouse next to my farm," Bignell says.

Tasmanian whisky pioneer, Bill Lark told TheShout that cash flow is a significant issue for any distiller as they get their operations up and running – including his new venture Redlands Estate Distillery.

"We're going to restrict production to probably only about 60 barrels a year for probably the first five years," Lark said.

"Instead of going flat out and using all our financial resources to lay down barrels, we're going to restrict our production to what we can afford from the cash flow coming into the distillery from tourism."

Full article

Published 1 April 2013. AustralianWhisky.com

VanDiemensLand.com has just released the Tasmanian Whisky Trail, which was developed in collaboration with AustralianWhisky.com.

The Tasmanian Whisky Trail makes it super easy to plan Tassie whisky tours and tastings.

Discover the wonderful whiskies of Tasmania and check out all the other Gourmet Trails on VanDiemensLand.com:

VanDiemensLand.com - Gourmet Trails

Published 12 March 2013. AustralianWhisky.com

This year's Taste of Sydney will feature a number of Tasmanian whiskies at the new 'Tasmanian Pavilion'.

Lark Distillery, Nant Distillery, Old Hobart Distillery and Tasmania Distillery (Sullivans Cove Whisky) will all be represented at the whisky bar.

The Taste of Sydney runs over four days, from Thursday 14 March to Sunday 17 March 2013. Further details are available on the Taste of Sydney website.

Published 20 February 2013. AustralianWhisky.com

Formerly known as Victoria Valley Distillery, the New World Whisky Distillery has just released its first Australian whisky.

Starward Whisky is produced from 100% Australian malted barley and matured in Australian ex-Apera casks ('Apera' is the new term for 'Sherry' in Australia).

An official tasting event is being held in Sydney on 20 March 2013. Further details are available on the Starward Whisky website.

Published 10 February 2013. AustralianWhisky.com

A boutique distillery has opened in Mendooran, New South Wales.

Black Gate Distillery is owned and operated by husband and wife team Brian & Genise Hollingworth.

Their single malt whisky is currently maturing in ex-Sherry casks and they expect the first release to be sometime in 2015.

Published December 2012. Southern Coast Distillers

Southern Coast Distillers has officially closed. See their media release below:

"Production has ceased due to the pressures of modern life. With the demands of families and full time work, it has become a challenge for us to all meet our commitment to the distillery and it is not economically feasible too keep the distillery running as an expensive hobby."

"It is with great regret that we make this announcement and we thank our clients for their support and loyalty."

Media release from Southern Coast Distillers

Published 25 October 2012. Reporter: Felicity Ogilvie (story reported on PM with Mark Colvin)

A Tasmanian whisky, Sullivans Cove, has been named the Southern Hemisphere Whisky of the Year by a notable critic. Jim Murray has given the whisky the highest score ever achieved by an Australian whisky and declared it one of the best in the world.

The word about Tasmanian whisky is already spreading, with the US ambassador to Australia planning to send some whisky to the US president.

Full report, including audio and transcript

Published 24 October 2012. Author: David Beniuk, Australian Associated Press (AAP)

The US Ambassador to Australia is planning to introduce Tasmanian whisky to President Barack Obama.

Ambassador Jeffrey Bleich is so taken with the island state's award-winning single malts he was planning to pick up some bottles for President Obama on a visit to Hobart on Wednesday.

"He likes a whisky," Ambassador Bleich told reporters. "I've already promised I'm going to bring back some Tasmanian whisky with me."

Tasmania is garnering a reputation as the Scotland of the south, with around eight distilleries making use of the island's ideal environment.

Full article

Published 29 July 2012. Author: Great Southern Distilling Company

Producers of Limeburners Single Malt Whisky try their hand at a Kentucky style bourbon

With his 'Director's Cut' Single Malt Whisky winning multiple awards Cameron Syme turned his attention to where his journey with whisky began. Long before his palate matured to preferring single malts, Cameron enjoyed drinking Bourbon and felt destined to make his own.

'Tiger Snake' is Australia's first legal Sour Mash Whiskey. "Our inspiration for Tiger Snake Sour Mash Whiskey comes from those great Tennessee Whiskeys and Kentucky Bourbons", said Cameron. Like the word 'Champagne', 'Bourbon' is a geographic indicator so is called 'Sour Mash' whiskey in Australia which refers to the type of grain mashing process.

The name is taken from the Western Tiger Snake, one of the most venomous snakes in the world which grows up to 2 metres long. These beautiful, albeit dangerous, creatures are native to the area of the Great Southern distillery, whose barrel store in Albany is cool, dark and undisturbed. Perhaps that's why on a hot day you may just find a Tiger Snake curled up under a barrel...

Full article

Published 13 July 2012. Author: Simon McGoram

[Simon McGoram:] I have 24 small vials of whisky sitting in front of me and only a couple of days in which to drink it all. But what would not normally be a completely unusual occurrence for someone in my line of work becomes startling by the fact that these are all Australasian.

I've long known that Australia and New Zealand produces whisky and have even done my fair share of sampling – though I never thought one might be able to gather 24 different bottlings. What astounds me more is in a nation known for its history intertwined with rum is that there are now 18 licensed whisky distilleries (all opened since 1992) the length and breadth of the country. For the record that's about twice the number of rum distilleries currently in operation.

The island state of Tasmania has Australia's largest concentration of whisky distilleries. A current count shows that there are ten operating on this island alone. That's more than Scotland's famed Isle of Islay.

So these samples? Well, I've been chosen to judge the inaugural Australasian Whisky Awards – a competition aimed at promoting the great whisky now being produced in New Zealand and Australia.

Full article

Published 22 April 2012. Author: ABC News (abc.net.au)

Tasmanian whisky is earning rave reviews in the United States.

Hobart whisky distillery Lark Distillery is preparing to send its second shipment of single malt whisky to the US, where this month it was mentioned in a high-end lifestyle publication.

The distillery's owner Bill Lark said the appeal of Tasmanian whisky lay in the copper stills used to produce it. "The whisky judges and writers in America and overseas describe us as being a big fat rich oily malt whisky," Mr Lark said.

Breaking into the US market meant changing the way Lark's whiskey was packaged. "Anywhere else in the world we can sell our whisky in 700ml bottles but in America it has to be a 750ml bottle," Mr Lark said. "We had to then look around for a new bottle and redesign our labelling and packaging to suit a new bottle size so it was just like starting all over again."

Mr Lark is convinced other Tasmanian distilleries would do well if they also targeted the US market. A Burnie distillery sent its first shipment to Canada this year.

Full article here

Broadcast on 7pm ABC TV News Tasmania, 21 April 2012. Reporter: Emily Bryan

Video report

Published 21 April 2012. Author: Helen Kempton

Tasmania's whisky producers plan to lobby the Federal Government to give the industry some tax relief to stop excise and GST payments eating up more than a third of the price of a bottle of spirits.

Full article

Published 16 April 2012. Author: Graeme Phillips

William McHenry said he and his family "loved everything that Tasmania was clean, green, open, friendly and with the right community values for raising children". Back in his executive office at a biotech company in Sydney, he thought with Tasmania's climate, his good Celtic name and a great-great-grandfather who used to smuggle whisky around the Isle of Skye, why not be the first to open a distillery in Tasmania. Then he did a bit of research and found that the state already had a well-established whisky industry. "That made the decision even easier," William says. "And the other distillers have made it easy since we arrived. It's a very open, friendly and co-operative group with an attitude that the more distilleries there are, the stronger the industry and the better for everyone."

His Tasmanian-made, 500-litre pot still is housed in an old wooden-clad building on the property which will become "business central" when a larger distilling facility and tasting area is completed.

He has put down his first malt whiskies to age. Those in smaller barrels will be released under the McHenry and Sons label at three years of age and he plans to keep those aged in larger barrels for 10 years.

Full article

Published 8 April 2012. Author: Peter Neville-Hadley

Tasmania - about as far from Scotland as it is possible to go without leaving the planet - is now a prize-winning whisky producer. Back at the docks, the Lark Distillery's whisky bar and cellar door is in another ancient sandstone building, its cosy interior brightened by a gleaming copper still.

A decade ago, local whisky enthusiast Bill Lark stopped to ask himself, "We grow our own barley, we have our own peat bogs, and we've got beautiful water. Why isn't anyone making whisky in Tasmania?"

The answer was ancient legislation designed to suppress the production of unhealthy hooch, so Lark began a successful campaign for reform and in 1992 opened the first new small craft distillery for 150 years. He only produces small, single-cask releases with big, oily, robust flavours now largely lost even in Scotland, partly derived from the use of traditional brewing barley.

Full article

The Sydney Whisky Fair is being held on Friday 31 August and Saturday 1 September 2012.

Venue: The Oak Barrel, 152 Elizabeth Street, Sydney, Australia.

Further information is available on the Sydney Whisky Fair website

The Whisky Show 2012 is being held in Sydney on Friday 20 July 2012 (4.00pm to 8.00pm) and Saturday 21 July 2012 (2.00pm to 6.00pm).

In association with the show, The World of Whisky is holding an Australasian Whisky Awards competition, open to whisky producers in Australia and New Zealand.

Venue: Tattersalls Club, 181 Elizabeth Street, Sydney, Australia.

Further information is available on the World of Whisky website

Whisky Live 2012 is being held in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney.

• Perth: 21-22 February 2012
• Melbourne: 6 June 2012
• Sydney: 15 August 2012

Further information is available on the Whisky Live website

Published March 2012. Author: Brand Tasmania Council

Renowned distiller Bill Lark will join forces with Derwent Valley property owner Peter Hope to establish a multi-million dollar whisky centre at Plenty. The distilling and tourism project at the 150-year-old convict-built Redlands Estate could complement the nearby Salmon Ponds and cherry orchards to create a new tourism hub.

Mr Lark, who is internationally known for his award-winning Tasmanian whisky and his skill in setting up boutique distilleries, said the project would create one of the few distilleries in the world that would grow its own barley and use a traditional process to create malt on-site.

The operation will produce 60 barrels of single-malt whisky a year initially, or about 10,000 bottles of whisky. A visitor centre in a restored coach house will proffer cellar-door sales, tastings and a gift shop.

Mr Hope said the complex would incorporate tourist accommodation, the restoration of one of Tasmania's earliest bakeries and a carriageway through Redlands Estate to the adjacent Salmon Ponds which are supplied with water by Australia's first convict-built irrigation canal system on the estate.

Full article

Alan Anderson (Whisky Comedian) is hosting a whisky tasting show with a difference. Six malt whiskies to be tasted, many laughs to be had.

'Whisky Fir Dummies II' is part of the Adelaide Fringe festival. A number of sessions are being held in March 2012.

Further information is available on the Adelaide Fringe festival website

Published 13 February 2012. Author: ABC News (abc.net.au)

Tasmania is cementing its growing reputation as the nation's whisky capital with the opening of a distillery that makes the spirit from locally-grown barley.

The Hobart Wine Show had 12 entries in its first whisky category last year.

Bill Lark of Lark Distillery has told the Country Hour a traditional technique will be adopted at the company's new distillery in the north-west. "Bigger commercial distilleries are under pressure to just keep turning over the whisky," he said. "The longer you can leave it, you allow certain things to happen; the yeast will settle to the bottom, but you develop some really great flavour."

Full article

Published 13 February 2012. Author: Tony Briscoe

The historic property Redlands Estate in the Derwent Valley is the site of the latest whisky distillery in Tasmania, as the local industry continues to surprise the world whisky market.

The plan for the new distillery involves a paddock to bottle approach , one of only four in the world where the whisky will be made on site from barley grown on the property.

Pioneer of the whisky industry in Tasmania Bill Lark is a partner in the latest venture, which he hopes will become a major tourist attraction in the state. He says the historic property has a number of agricultural buildings which can be used for the whisky making process and the plans include bringing those buildings back to life.

Full article

Published 11 February 2012. Author: Emma Hope

A new multi-million-dollar whisky distillery run by renowned maker Lark will be developed at heritage Redlands Estate in the Derwent Valley. The distillery and tourism project in Plenty will convert the 150-year-old estate, built by convicts, into a unique, world-class attraction.

Project developer and Redlands property owner Peter Hope said the development would include a distillery for premium, single-malt whisky. There would be cellar door sales at a visitor centre, a gift shop and tasting room housed in the old coach house.

Bill Lark, internationally known for his award-winning Tasmanian whisky, said it would be one of only a few distilleries in the world which grew its own barley and made malt on site using a traditional process. "We'll be the only distillery in Tasmania and one of only a few in the world with a paddock-to-bottle process," he said "We will be growing the barley, malting, distilling and bottling on site."

Full article

Published 1 February 2012. Author: Matt Bendoris

Strewth! The crafty Aussies are beating Scots at their own game - after producing a dram described as "one of the world's most astonishing whiskies".

Southern Coast Distillers, based 10,000 miles away in Adelaide, are making a high-class single malt that has sent the whisky world into a spin. Jim Murray - who writes for the tipple lovers' guide The Whisky Bible - claimed the Southern Coast nip was so good that it "brought me to my knees".

To make matters worse, the Aussie spirit's co-founder Ian Schmidt claims he only launched his distillery business as a hobby. The 55-year-old dad of two - who charges between £75 to £135 a bottle for his whiskies - explained: "I'm a flagpole maker by trade. But I had an old antique still at home from a brewery where my grandfather worked about 80 years ago. One night me and friends thought it might be fun to try and make our own whisky. We experimented and discovered we could make a pretty nice brew."

Australia is already one of the world's biggest wine producers. But now Ian predicts they'll become a whisky powerhouse too. He said: "Most of the whisky distilleries in Australia are family-run operations. They produce the stuff on a small scale. But that's where the wine industry was 30 years ago and we have become one of the biggest producers of wine in the world. I reckon that's the way we're now going with our whiskies."

And Ian has fired a warning shot to Scottish whisky giants. "We have since made other whiskies that we believe are even better than the one tasted by The Whisky Bible."

Full article

Published 8 January 2012. Author: Scotland on Sunday (scotsman.com)

Strewth! Australians have confounded the critics to produce a fine dram that has been included in this year's prestigious Whisky Bible. In a country better known for its love of beer, Southern Coast Distillers in Adelaide has won plaudits for the quality of its spirit since releasing the first batch last year.

In the new edition of the whisky lovers' guide, author Jim Murray wrote: "One of the most astonishing whiskies it has been my honour to taste. Frankly I am on my knees".

According to Murray, Southern Coast's whisky with its unusual "rum nose" was indicative of the unique type of spirit that has been produced by Australian distilleries in recent years. "It blew me all ways because I've never come across it before," he said. "It's got to a stage where what I've got to build into my diary for the next six months is a trip to Australia, because, style-wise, what is happening there is astonishing."

Iain Schmidt, co-founder of Southern Coast, said the Mediterranean climate of Adelaide has proved to be both a challenge and contributory factor to their whisky's character: "We get temperature variations between 15C and 45C here, which does interesting things to the ageing." "We were storing it on a mezzanine floor in my factory, and I came in last weekend and the place was smelling just magnificent, which in fact was a bit of a disaster because it meant we were getting more than our fair share of 'Angel's Share' evaporation from the casks." "We've now moved our casks to a mountain range behind Adelaide to get a more stable environment."

Full article

Published 30 December 2011. Author: Belinda Wills

Tucked away in a suburban Adelaide warehouse is a whisky distillery that is winning international accolades. Whisky doyen Jim Murray has listed one of its drops in the 2012 edition of The Whisky Bible as "one of the most astonishing whiskies it has been my honour to taste. Frankly I am on my knees".

This is high praise for Southern Coast Distillers in Welland. The distiller began selling its whisky only this year. "Our first customer was an Adelaide plastic surgeon who bought a bottle at a charity auction and paid $500 for it in February this year," co-owner Ian Schmidt said. The surgeon has been back to buy more, and the single malt batch 002, lauded as liquid gold by Mr Murray, has sold out at $110 a pop.

It all began when Mr Schmidt met Tony Fitzgerald and Victor Orlow through their children's Rose Park school and they discovered a shared passion for whisky. After gradually improving their knowledge about making whisky, they decided to apply for a licence in 2004.

Their first still was dubbed "Monty", after The Simpsons character Monty Burns. The next was "Homer", named "because he's a fair bit bigger", and they have just bottled batch 004, producing about 150 bottles from each of the 10 to 12 casks produced each year.

"A lot of Scottish distilleries go out of their way to be consistent in their product," Mr Schmidt said. "We're aiming for consistent quality rather than consistent product . . . We want each one to be different. It's whisky for whisky tragics."

Each is made from Australian malt sourced from Bintani in Melbourne. The process involves a small portion being smoked with a peat mixture that lends a hint of eucalypt, or "bushfire". The distilling occurs in Welland. It is stored in oak barrels in the Adelaide Hills and bottled a minimum of two years later.

Batch 002 could have been a disaster; one barrel lost a hoop when they were being moved. "It forced us to double barrel the whisky. That's the one that got the very good accolades. We will be doing more double barrels," Mr Schmidt said.

Full article

Published 22 November 2011. Author: Vikram Singh

With six days of festivities that include more than 25 events and upwards of 250 products to sample, this year's Hopscotch Festival is boasting to be the biggest yet.

The sold-out event, taking place this past Thursday in the cavernous Rocky Mountaineer Station, was tightly packed with people representing all levels of booze knowledge, from the bewildered liquor novice to the staid scotch expert.

Canadian, Irish, Welsh and Tasmanian whiskies made an appearance. Tasmania Distillery's Sullivan's Cove Single Malt, aged for eight years in both Port and Bourbon barrels, effused a chocolatey, complex taste that still had a good kick.

Full article

The Hopscotch Festival is held in Vancouver, Canada in November of each year. Further information is available on the Hopscotch Festival website

Published 17 November 2011. Author: ABC News (abc.net.au)

A Tasmanian whisky has been named the best in the country at the Royal Hobart Wine Show.

Lark Distillery took out the new section for the best malt whisky. The show's chairman David Johnstone, says it was a clear winner.

Full article

Published 28 October 2011. Author: Sheridan Rogers

For centuries, whaling was Albany's life blood, and it's still supplying a healthy livelihood - through tourism, writes Sheridan Rogers.

Five hours drive south of Perth, in an area known as the Great Southern, vast paddocks of many hues of green stretch to meet deep blue and turquoise waters ruffled with brilliant white surf.

Sure, I'd heard about the West Australian coastline - after all, it's Tim Winton country - but I had never imagined such beauty. This is where the Southern Ocean crashes against dramatic cliffs and the rock formations almost pre-date life on Earth.

Not far away is Great Southern Distilling Company, where WA's first 61 per cent single malt whisky, Limeburners, is produced.

Twenty years of research by owner Cameron Syme, a passionate devotee of single malt whisky, led to a silver medal at the recent London International Wine and Spirits Show.

The pristine environment, world-class malting barley, clean water, cool marine climate and slow maturation are key to its success.

Small-batch distillation takes place in copper pot stills and only individual barrel expressions are released. Vodka, gin, brandy and grappe are also produced and can be tasted at the cellar door.

Full article

Published 4 October 2011. Author: Willie Simpson

Australia has joined Scotland and Ireland at the whisky bar.

A Scotsman, an Irishman and an Australian walk into a bar and each orders a dram of whisky (or whiskey) from their homeland. No, it's not the start of a joke, just a snapshot of the modern world of whisky. While Scotland and Ireland have lengthy whisk(e)y pedigrees, Australia is regarded as more of a precocious new player.

The flurry of boutique whisky-makers that began in Tasmania in the 1990s has spread to most other states. And in one case, an old tradition has been revived.
Like many Australian wineries, Samuel Smith & Son - or Yalumba, as it's better known these days - made brandy as a sideline from the 1930s until the grape-based spirit went out of fashion in the '70s. Their pot still remained ''silent'' until 1997 when Yalumba - perhaps inspired by the upstart Tasmanian whisky industry - decided to crank it back to life.
Using malt extract sourced from Coopers brewery, they ran a handful of ''charges'' through the still in 1997, 1998 and 2000. Bottled releases have dribbled out, with the latest offering an 11-year-old single cask from 2000, ''finished'' in a French oak cask that previously held late-picked viognier. It is bottled at cask strength and the dessert wine gives the whisky some lovely fruity complexity.

Full article

Published 30 September 2011. Author: Carol Emmas

Sheffield based wine merchant Le Bon Vin, is to distribute Tasmania Distilleries, Sullivans Cove whiskies in the UK.

Tasmanian Distilleries was one of the first Australian distilleries to export to European markets.

Established in 1994 and with a change in ownership in 2003 the distillery and its Sullivans Cove whisky has won a number of awards and strong recommendations from industry experts the world over.
Available in three main varieties; Double Cask, Port Cask and Bourbon Cask, the whisky has received praise from whisky critics such as Grégoire Sarafian and regularly scores in the 90s in Jim Murray's Whisky Bible.

Le Bon Vin Managing Director Patrick Jouan, said: "As with wines from Australia, Sullivans Cove is challenging preconceptions about whisky from the country and its constant stream of awards only serves to validate the brand's self belief."

Full article

Published 20 September 2011. Author: Sally Glaetzer

Tasmanian whisky producers have achieved yet another coup, with one of the state's single malts going on sale at London department store Harrods.

Sullivans Cove single malt whisky, made by Tasmania Distillery, has been judged by the famous luxury store as Australia's best and will form part of its new "whiskies of the world" showcase.

Like other Tasmanian whisky producers, including Lark Distillery, Sullivans Cove has achieved considerable recognition overseas, including "Liquid Gold status", as declared by British whisky authority Jim Murray.

Full article

Published 16 September 2011. Author: Tourism Industry Council Tasmania

The fourth annual Isle of Spirits sees nine of Tasmania's leading distilleries showcasing their products, with last year's exhibitors – Lark Distillery, Tasmanian Distillery, Whiskey Tasmania, Old Hobart Distillery, Nant Distillery and Strait Vodka - returning and joined this year by Mackey's Distillery, Belgrove Distillery and William McHenry and Sons Distillery.

Monday 24 October, 5:30 - 9pm Tasmanian Polytechnic, Drysdale South Campus.

Full article

Published 31 August 2011. Author: Flint Duxfield

Western Australia's only boutique whisky distillery is making a name for itself on the world stage.

The Great Southern Whisky Distillery was established 8 years ago and is already producing some very impressive premium quality spirits. It was recently recognised at the London International Wine and Brandy show as one of the best distilleries in the world, picking up two silver medals, one of which was best in class.

Owner and founder Cameron Syme says "I did sixteen years of research first, so I had a fair idea about what we were trying to achieve and we chose to come and set up in Albany because we thought this would be the best place in WA to make whisky."

Full article

Published 15 July 2011. Author: Ian Lloyd Neubauer

The first colonials who traveled to Van Diemen's Land brought the worst convicts with them. It was a convict-island weaned on booze. Tasmanian liquor made from the isle's grain was a much sought-after tipple. In the 1830s, it worried Governor John Franklin so much he banned the distilling of alcohol on the island. The locals were so drunk, it was said, that too much of the colony's grain was being distilled rather than being turned into food.

Undercover, the island's fascination with whiskey distilling continued to create homegrown secrets. It wasn't until the 1990s that Franklin's edict was repealed by Tasmanian Parliament. Since then, it's fair to say, the whiskey scene has boomed.

More recently, there's been a small and highly spendthrift niche of travelers making their way to Tasmania - whiskey aficionados. These mainly male travelers fly to the end of the world in search of the perfect single malt. Tasmania, with its unique, flavoursome barley, artesian waters and plentiful bogs has become their holy grail.

Full article

Published July 2011. Author: Brand Tasmania Council

Lark Distillery Cask Strength Single Malt Whisky has been judged the world's best at the recent Chicago International Whisky Competition. The Tasmanian tipple came out on top against competition from some of Scotland's top names and others from around the world.

It's little wonder, Graeme Phillips reports, that the International Sales Manager for one of Scotland's foremost distilleries said on a recent visit to Tasmania that the Scots were keeping their eyes on us. Since Bill Lark had the ban on distilling in Tasmania overturned in 1992, the pioneer of the Tasmanian spirit industry has won many awards and Liquid Gold Status for his single malt whiskies in Jim Murray's Whisky Bible. He has sold a bottle of his first-ever 1998 bottling for an Australian record price of $1,800; been invited to design and install a micro-distillery in Scotland, the home of whisky; introduced very popular whisky tours to the portfolio of Tasmania's tourism attractions; and has exported his whisky and range of other spirits to Scotland, Scandinavia, other European countries and South East Asia. (The list is set to grow following a recent marketing visit to China).

Cracking the difficult U.S. market is another significant milestone. Lark's Sales Manager, Ross Dinsmoor, has worked for more than two years on red tape, packaging and labelling hurdles involved in the export of spirits to the U.S. On the back of the Chicago success, rave reviews in the media resulted in Lark's first shipment selling out and second orders flooding in months ahead of schedule.

Tasmania now has seven whisky distilleries and there's a warm glow about the industry's future.

Full article

Published 18 April 2011. Author: Lark Distillery

Warren Randall (Managing director of Seppeltsfield Wines) Bill Lark, Ross Dinsmoor and Andrew Young (Master Cooper - Seppeltsfield) recently signed an agreement which grants the Lark Distillery exclusive access to their rare decanted fortified wine barrel stocks, including the luscious 21 year old + Tawny Port casks which will be re-coopered on site by Andrew into Lark's signature 100 litre barrels.

Warren Randall said this was a meaningful way to contribute to the growth of Australia's iconic Tasmanian Whisky throughout the world. The opportunity for our two great establishments to cooperate on all manner of future projects makes wonderful sense. "We're a perfect fit". A Lark - Seppeltsfield special project involving Lark's last private stocks of LD100 whisky and the 100 year old Tawny port is already in discussion...

Once the fortified barrels have served their time aging Lark's whiskies they will then be returned to Seppeltsfield to be filled with their new make brandy spirit.
Bill Lark has also agreed to act as distillery consultant with the intention of re-establishing the historic on site Brandy distillery.

Four specially signed 20 litre barrels will be made from select port casks and filled with Lark's finest new make pure malt to commemorate this historic agreement.

Published 14 December 2010. Author: Margaret Linley

Whisky distilling has a long history around Timboon. A canny chap Tom Delaney was making 100 gallons of the illicit, but coyly named Mountain Dew, 120 years ago, until an elaborate sting with a detective inspector disguised as a tinker brought him undone. The whisky distilling business in the region went a bit quiet after that, until Tim Marwood and his wife Caroline Simmons of Timboon Railway Shed Distillery thought they'd give it a crack.

And where else would you go to learn the art of whisky making but to the home of single malts. "Well of course I had to drag myself off to Scotland, and punish myself with visits to distilleries," Tim laughs.

The bright copper still grabs your attention as you walk in the door. It is their "point of difference" and is a magnet especially for men, who Tim notices are over-represented in the whisky-lovers demographic.

Success has come to Tim, proving he'd been paying attention to the masters in Scotland. His whisky was recently awarded 15th in a blind tasting of 80 malt whiskies from around the world, and came second out of 18 Australian malt whiskies. "You're never really know how you're going," he says. "You're investing quite a lot of work in it and if it's a bit of a dud there's a lot to lose. "The awards showed we are on the right track."

Full article

Published 3 November 2010. Author: Flint Duxfield

The export market for Tasmanian whisky is expected to grow over the next twelve months despite predictions the Australian dollar will reach parity with the US dollar in coming weeks.

Tasmanian whisky pioneer, Bill Lark, says he expects Tasmanian whisky exports to double in the next year. "I would say within the next twelve months we will probably be looking to export around 50 per cent of our product."

Mr Lark said the whisky export market is being buoyed by strong local demand and the growth of whisky tourism. "The locals are really taking pride in the fact that Tasmania is producing good whisky." "We're at that point now where the Australian market has finally said 'you know what, Australia does make good whisky'."

Full article

Published 23 September 2010. Author: Flint Duxfield

You've heard of making water into wine, but what about making whisky using old fish and chip oil?
That's a challenge one Tasmanian farmer has taken up by building Australia's first biodiesel-powered rye whisky still.

Peter Bignell has been growing rye for several years as a windbreak on his strawberry farm at Kempton in southern Tasmania.

After spending some time working on a nearby distillery, he decided to start brewing his own rye whisky. After a quick welding lesson from a friend and a plan from a local still maker, Peter built his own still from scratch.

As well as being the only rye whisky still in the country, Peter's operation will also produce some of the least carbon-intensive whisky in Australia. The still is powered entirely on biodiesel which Peter makes himself from old fish and chip oil he collects from takeaway shops in Hobart.

Full article (includes video, photo gallery and audio files)

Published 27 August 2010. Author: Kim Woods

The Murray River town of Corowa could soon be the whisky capital of the world. The town's derelict flour mill is being transformed into a whisky distillery by a Junee organic licorice and chocolate company.
Company director Neil Druce said whisky production at Corowa would start with the world's biggest whisky tasting.

Dean said five varieties of single malt whisky would be made at the Corowa mill. "We will be selling finished product imported from Scotland, while we wait for our whisky to mature," he said.

Full article

Published 5 August 2010. Author: Albany Weekender

The Great Southern Distilling Company has been awarded a bronze medal at the London International Wine & Spirit Competition (IWSC) for "Limeburners Cask Strength Single Malt Whisky".

The IWSC is one of the world's toughest and most prestigious independent spirit competitions.

Great Southern Distilling Company Director Cameron Syme said the medal put the Albany product amongst the best in the world.
"This is a fantastic result - to put Western Australia's own whisky up against the world's best at the London International Spirit Show and to come back with a medal - that is simply outstanding," he said.
"This award is testament to the fact that Western Australia can lay claim to producing not only a world-class whisky - but one of the best whiskies in the world".

"This latest award will bring greater international recognition for Limeburners Single Malt Whisky, the Australian whisky industry generally and for tourism for Albany."

Full article

Published 14 July 2010. Author: Martin Cuddihy for The 7.30 Report

Tasmania is fast gathering a reputation as a producer of premium single malt whiskies. Some connoisseurs are labelling what used to be called the apple isle - the whisky island.

Tim Duckett is a member of the Tasmanian Whisky Appreciation Society, a group that samples and analyses both local and international drinks. Mr Duckett firmly believes the state's climatic conditions, barley and clean water make the colonial product comparable to whiskies from more traditional territory. "They seem to produce a depth of character that I believe makes us comparable, or I'm going to go out on a limb here and say superior to some of the whiskies that are produced in Scotland," he said. "Our industry is only 16 years of age - theirs is 400 and we're catching up very, very rapidly with the qualities of the whisky that we produce."

In the central highlands is one of the industry's newest players, Nant Distillery, based on the old Nant Estate, near Bothwell. It was set up by Queensland property developer Keith Batt who intends to move down when things warm up later this year. The distillery bottled its first release in early July, and it's receiving rave reviews. One thing that sets this producer apart is the colonial methods still used in the production of the spirit. A water powered flour mill is used to grind the barley that goes into the whisky. Despite their antique methods, distiller Chris Condon reckons all the distilleries have one thing in common. "Quality I think is the aim of the Tasmanian industry as a whole, so we're only ever going to be a boutique set up, but we want to get the quality right," he said.

Bill Lark got the ball rolling nearly two decades ago. He's now widely considered the godfather of Tasmania's whisky industry. In 1992 he had the law changed to allow distilling. "Luckily for us we had a couple of very friendly politicians in Duncan Kerr and Barry Jones in Canberra that saw the potential of the industry in Australia and very quickly changed the distillation act of 1901," he said. Lark Whisky uses peat smoked barley during the distillation process. Mr Lark digs it up from a bog in the highlands with an antique peat shovel. He reckons it's one of the reasons for his success. Mr Lark's expertise hasn't gone un-noticed. He's helping to set up a boutique distillery near St Andrews in Scotland. "It's really nice to go back to Scotland and be able to offer something in return for the help that they gave us," he said.

Full article here

The 7.30 Report: Tasmania's maturing whisky trade
Full transcript and video report

Published 28 June 2010. Author: Sally Glaetzer

Tasmanian whisky producers are achieving extraordinary prices for their sought-after handcrafted spirits. Last month Lark Distillery sold a bottle of one of its first-release whiskies from 1998 for $1800, which is believed to be the highest price paid for Australian whisky. Earlier this month Tasmania Distillery sold a bottle of its Sullivans Cove single malt for $1125 after British whisky authority Jim Murray awarded it "Liquid Gold status". "It was the first of our whiskies and the first Australian whisky to score 95 out of 100 points in the Whisky Bible," Tasmania Distillery head distiller Patrick Maguire said. Another Sullivans Cove whisky was awarded 94.5 points.

Full article

Published March 2010. Author: The Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment (DPIPWE)

Australia exports camels to the Middle East and tulip bulbs to Holland so it should come as no surprise that the Scots are seeking our expertise in single malt whisky production. And that sage counsel is coming from an exciting new player in the whisky game, Tasmania.

In a classic "coals to Newcastle" tale, local entrepreneur Bill Lark is advising the makers of Scotland's signature tipple about setting up a small, boutique distillery. The founder of the renowned Lark Distillery at Cambridge is becoming a regular visitor to the ancestral home of whisky, not only to consult on his pet subject but to rub shoulders with fellow international award-winning whisky producers.

Revered in Australia as the grandfather of the country's whisky industry, Lark's latest accolade is the 2009 World Whiskies Awards prize for the best single malt whisky produced outside Scotland and Ireland. His top drop consistently rates 90 plus in Jim Murray's annual World Whisky Bible and is exported to Europe, Asia and Oceania.

All this and the former surveyor started toying with the notion of making whisky only 18 years ago. Inspired by a nip or two of single malt on a fishing trip in the Central Highlands with his father-in-law, it didn't take long for Lark to discover that Tasmania is a wine and spirits paradise: just warm enough to grow grapes and just cool enough to grow barley. And all the ingredients for a top-class whisky were here: excellent grain, pure, clean water and a plentiful supply of peat.

There were a few hurdles to overcome, not the least of which was the 1901 Commonwealth Distillation Act prohibiting small-scale producers from making and selling whisky. Bill Lark declared he was no "moonshiner" and, after a few words in the right ears, the law was changed and he built the first legal distillery in Tasmania since 1839.

After starting with a small operation at his family home, Lark now has production premises at Cambridge, a cellar door/whisky bar on the Hobart waterfront and a suite of neatly packaged tours for tasters, connoisseurs and devotees. The Lark Distillery is very much a small family affair. Bill's daughter Kristy is head distiller and general manager of the business and his wife Lyn is also involved. They are understandably proud of what they have achieved in a relatively short time.

The production of a bottle of Lark's complex single malt begins in Tasmania's Central Highlands at the distillery's peat bog. Bill Lark estimates there is more than enough of this precious commodity to last for thousands of years of whisky making. It is this partially decomposed vegetable matter that will impart a rich flavour to the malted barley, the very essence of whisky production.

The plump Franklin and Gairdner strains of barley are grown practically on Bill Lark's doorstep in the Coal River Valley but follow a circuitous route to the distillery via the Cascade Brewery in South Hobart where they are "malted" in a germination bed. Traditionally the barley is dried over a peat fire before malting but Lark has perfected a post-malt peating process that works a treat, giving the whisky a sweet, smoky flavour.

At Lark's distillery the malt is passed through the peat smoker, ground into coarse flour and then mashed into hot water at 65 degrees Celsius. The resulting pale 'wort' is deliciously sweet and a breakfast beverage of choice for the distillery staff. The cooled 'wort' is placed in the fermenter and yeast is added. The next stage involves slow-boiling the malt liquor or 'wash' in a uniquely designed 1800 litre copper pot still. From mashing to distilling takes about seven days and the end product is a fine liquid which is siphoned into 50 or 100 litre casks and left to mature for several years. A range of premium distilled products - vodka, gin and bush liqueur - are also produced and, as with the whisky, there is no waste. All the by-products are fed to pigs.

Lark has recruited talented locals for his team. Master tradesman Peter Bailly designed and built the copper stills, peat smoker and extensive water reticulation system, and a relative newcomer, Chris Thomson, has served his apprenticeship as brewer and distiller. Tour guide extraordinaire Mark Nicholson showcases the operation to the public. A former English teacher, Nicholson is totally absorbed by his new vocation. He relishes using the distiller's rich terminology and talks enthusiastically about 'pitching the yeast' and 'mashing in'. He is learning the art of distilling and on Thomson's days off, the loquacious tour guide and Lark join forces to prepare the 'wort'. "There is something organic and lovely about mashing in," Nicholson said. "It's like cheese making: you make critical decisions as you go. Each mash will eventually end up in its own barrel so we document it from the start and can trace its history."

While Lark is the much-feted founder of the Cambridge operation, he says he is humbled by the ingenuity of engineer Peter Bailly whose resourceful technology will be adopted in Scotland. "Peter designed and built our stills and has built 18 others for Australian customers," Lark said, "and he's also going to make a couple for our Scottish clients. He also devised our no-waste water heat exchange and reticulation system. All our water is recirculated through 1.6 kilometres of pipe under the distillery's concrete slab. In Scotland they would run stream water for cooling but we don't waste any water at all."

Bill Lark has plans to develop and value-add to his operation but rather than boost production to help meet a growing global demand for single malt whisky, his focus remains on hand-producing a premium product with depth of character, wonderful colour and great balance. He believes this "small is best" philosophy will stand the State's burgeoning whisky industry in good stead. The Tasmanian Distillers Group, which he helped establish, represents six whisky producers. Two more Tasmanian boutique distilleries will come on line this year.

Some time in the future Lark would like to grow and malt his own barley and add a touch of bucolic Scotland by introducing a few highland cattle to his property.

"We're small. We produce 250 barrels of whisky a year and that's the secret to our success. We are producing an iconic and purely Tasmanian product that's attracting an international audience. The future is really bright."

Full article

Broadcast on Landline, 23 November 2009. Reporter: Prue Adams

ANNE KRUGER, PRESENTER: Australia now has more distilleries than Ireland, and it all started in Tasmania when a trout-fishing scotch-whiskey connoisseur thought, why not?

KRISTY LARK, WHISKEY DISTILLER: We're pretty much smack bang in the centre of Tasmania in a place called broad marsh bog. And out here we've got enough peat to last 500 years of distilling.
PRUE ADAMS: This spongy mass of partially decomposed vegetation is pure gold for Kristy Lark and her family. It's here in the Central Highlands of Tasmania that their eponymous brand of whiskey has its unpretentious beginnings.
KRISTY LARK: We're the only distillery in Australia to have their own peat bog, which we then use to smoke our barley. We'll take this lot, head back to Hobart and get the peat smoker all fired up.
PRUE ADAMS: For centuries in Scotland, makers of whiskey have first peat smoked and malted barley that goes into their brew. For just over a decade, Kristy's father has followed the time honoured tradition.

PRUE ADAMS: Bill Lark is widely regarded as the grandfather of the modern Australian whiskey industry.
PRUE ADAMS: With a cellar door on Constitution Dock in Hobart and a loyal clientele, Lark Distillery has come a long way in a relatively short time. It all began 17 years ago when Bill Lark and his father in law were enjoying a sip or two of scotch whiskey while out trout fishing.
BILL LARK: Looking around us, it just occurred to us that we had fantastic fields of barley - beautiful, clean, pure water. We knew there were peat bogs in the Central Highlands and we thought, why isn't someone making whiskey in Tasmania?
PRUE ADAMS: It soon became clear why no one was making whiskey. Working as a surveyor, Bill Lark only wanted to start with a small batch - a simple still and hands-on approach. Australian law didn't allow for that. Under the Distillation Act of 1901, licences were forced to have huge capacity. It was the Government's way of cracking down on backyard moonshiners. In 1992, Mr Lark mentioned the anomaly to his local MP Duncan Kerr, who confided in his colleague Barry Jones. And as the letter on the wall of Lark's cellar door boasts, the law was changed.
KRISTY LARK: The first licensed distillery was our house. We had the still sitting outside my bedroom door. I grew up from about 12 years of age with a whiskey distillery right outside my bedroom door, so it's pretty much in my blood.

They source 45 tonnes of barley a year from the Cascade Brewery. It's already been malted, meaning the hard grains have been soaked, then allowed to sprout and spun dry resulting in a sweet, malty flavour.
MAX BURSLEM, CASCADE BREWERIES: We supply Bill Lark with malted barley and this is prime Tasmanian malt made from Gairdner barley.
PRUE ADAMS: When the barley arrives at the Lark Distillery, it's spread out before going into the peat smoker. The smoky malt will later pass through two distillations before the end product is barrelled for at least two years. The bigger the barrel, the longer it will sit.
BILL LARK: We don't look for high returns and high yields of alcohol. It's all about for us getting the depth of character and the balance in our whiskey to create a whiskey that I like drinking.

PRUE ADAMS: Now while Bill Lark's success in overturning the age old federal laws has certainly changed the course of his career, it's also opened the floodgates for others. There are now almost two dozen small whiskey distilleries dotted around the country. A quarter of them are here in Tasmania.
In the heart of farming country, a couple of hours north of Hobart, is one of the newest whiskey distilleries in one of the oldest of properties. The flour mill here was established in the 1820s to grind the barley and wheat that was and still is grown in the district. But the mill hadn't run for generations and was in bits in the paddocks when Queensland entrepreneur Keith Batt bought the place and decided to turn it into a functioning whiskey distillery. What sets this place apart is that it grows its own barley over the hot summer months.
CHRIS CONDON, WHISKEY DISTILLER: To be able to use that old mill in our brewing process and to make the whiskey, I think it's just a unique thing and helps to differentiate us from other distilleries.
PRUE ADAMS: Distiller Chris Condon came from Boags Brewery. Brewing beer and making whiskey are much alike. In fact, the first few steps are exactly the same. The ground malt barley or grist is steeped in hot water to dissolve the sugars. It'll be cooled and yeast added to let it ferment for seven days. The subsequent whiskey wash is distilled twice.
CHRIS CONDON: So at the end of our second distillation we end up with a beautiful, clear, colourless spirit that's about 70, 72 per cent alcohol. And we just dilute that with filtered water down to 63 per cent and straight into the barrel. And that's where it matures for two years and you end up with whiskey at the end of that.

PRUE ADAMS: Kristy Lark has just launched Australia's first whiskey magazine and her dad? Well, there's a lovely twist in this tale. He's been asked by the Scots to show them how to set up a small whiskey distillery.
BILL LARK: I've actually been asked to go back to Scotland and establish a new distillery just south of St Andrew's. Pretty daunting and exciting at the same time to think that they would ask somebody from Tasmania to come halfway around the world, bring a couple of stills with them and set up a distillery in Scotland.

Full transcript and video report

Published 18 September 2009. Author: Stephanie Boulet

The Riverina is about to become home to Australia's very first organic whisky. As we speak, an old flour mill at Corowa is being converted into a distillery by the owners of the Junee Liquorice and Chocolate Company.

Neil Druce, owner of the Junee Liquorice and Chocolate Company, says they hope to produce their own whisky by the middle of next year.

Full article

Published 2 September 2009. Author: Australian Associated Press Pty Limited (AAP)

Australia's emerging Whisky industry takes a step onto the world stage this week as it hosts an international tasting event for the first time. Four Australian distilleries will have their products on show at Whisky Live, an event that began in London in 2000 and this year includes Sydney in its travels to 15 cities. While Scotland may traditionally be known as the home of whisky, Australia is becoming an increasingly significant producer of the sophisticated spirit, organisers said. "Whilst the love for whisky is prominent across England, Europe and America, Australian sales are showing that consumers have begun to embrace this ancient spirit and beginning to demand a broader, more diverse range," Whisky Live Australia director Ken Bromfield said.

Australia's modern whisky industry had its beginnings in 1992 when Bill Lark took out a distillation license in Tasmania, almost 150 years after the last legal distillery closed its doors. In the years since others have taken to the fine art, particularly in Tasmania, where a combination of good quality barley, pure water sources, highland peat bogs and a cold climate create a perfect location to make malt whisky.

While extremely young compared to their global contemporaries, Australian whiskies have received recognition of late, with the Tasmania Distillery in Hobart named best distillery at the 2007 World Whiskies Awards. The industry will receive a further boost with the presence of the world's best distillers and leading connoisseurs in Sydney, Mr Bromfield said. "It offers the unique opportunity to sample the greatest whiskies in the world, some rare and most sought after, whilst mingling with the producers and distillers all under one roof," he said.

Full article

Published 3 June 2009. Author: Graeme Phillips

In less than 20 years Bill Lark has built a small Tasmanian industry around single-malt whisky.

Back in 1992, when Bill Lark asked himself the question "why isn't someone producing whisky in Tasmania?", I suspect he never thought, even in his wildest dreams, that less than 20 years later his whisky would be judged the best in the world outside of Scotland and Ireland. Or that his question would be the start of a small Tasmanian industry. Even less so, that one day he'd be commissioned as a consultant to establish a new whisky distillery in Scotland.

Acting on his own question, Bill and Lyn Lark succeeded in having the state's century-and-a-half-long ban on distilling overturned and filled their first barrel with spirit from their first hobby-sized 75-litre still. Since then, they have opened their popular whisky cafe in Davey St in Hobart, developed a range of 11 different gin, vodka and whisky products, built a new distillery at Mount Pleasant near Cambridge, assisted five other distilleries to set up around the island, added whisky tourism to the state's attractions and commissioned a new 60-litre and an 1800-litre copper pot still, both specially designed and built locally. They produce 250 barrels of whisky a year, export to Japan, Singapore, Scandinavia, New Zealand, England and Scotland, and are working on cracking the US market.

Their whisky has consistently rated 90+ in Jim Murray's annual World Whisky Bible and, at the big International Whisky Live event in 2008, their cask-strength whisky came second to the 16-year-old Highland Park from Scotland and their Slainte whisky liqueur was the top-selling drop of the show. Not a bad record. But now they've topped it with their Cask LD 100 whisky winning the Best Other Single Malt Whisky at the 2009 World Whiskies Awards -- that is, the best in the world outside of Scotland and Ireland. Just for the record, the whisky was awarded the same score as Scotland's prestigious 18-year-old Highland Park.

In recent months the Larks have also helped form the Tasmanian Distillers Group with the state's five other whisky distilleries -- Sullivans Cove at Cambridge, Nant at Bothwell, Hellyers Road at Burnie, Casey Overeen's Old Hobart Distillery at Blackmans Bay and Damien Mackey's Mackey's Distillery at New Town. Assisted by the Department of Economic Development, the group will showcase their wares under a Tasmania Single Malts -- Wild Spirits banner at the International Whisky Live event in Sydney in September.

Before then, Bill Lark is off to Scotland - helping design, build and commission the new Kingsbarns Distillery in the Kingdom of Fife, one hour east of Edinburgh, close to the legendary home of golf, St Andrews. There Doug Clement and Greg Ramsay are looking to fill a gap in Scotland's whisky tourism geography. St Andrews attracts about 25,000 golfers plus hundreds of thousands of tourists annually, yet the nearest whisky distillery, they say, is well over an hour's travel away. Rather than take the tourists to the whisky, the pair decided to bring whisky to the tourists by establishing a distillery at East Newhall on Cambo Estate, only 15 minutes from St Andrews. After the big, established Scots distilleries said such a small boutique distillery wouldn't work, Clement and Ramsay were attracted to Lark's Tasmanian model and engaged Bill to replicate his set up in Scotland. Not only that, but they are also having the copper stills, specially designed and built for the Larks by Peter Bailly in Hobart, built here and exported to Fife.

Full article

Published: 08 June 2008. Reporter: Sean Murphy

ANNE KRUGER, PRESENTER: Australia's fledgling distilling industry had hoped to come in for some special tax consideration this year from the incoming Rudd Government. But thanks to the binge-drinking backlash in the budget targeting premixed spirit drinks - so-called alco-pops - the distillers ended up with more excise attention than they'd bargained for.

As Sean Murray reports, it's a setback in their strategy to attract new investors and boost exports.

SEAN MURPHY, REPORTER: Grist for the mill at one of Australia's newest distilleries. Juergen Schludi from Germany and Scotsman Tony Brown are preparing a barley mash for the latest batch of single-malt whisky from the Great Southern Distillery at Albany on the south coast of the Western Australia. It's a hands-on operation, far removed from the sort of industrial distilling which dominates the industry in Europe.
TONY BROWNE, DISTILLER: Certain distilleries over there, you press the enter button on your keyboard and that's it, the rest of the brewing process gets on and does it, you know. Here it's totally hands-on. Here we do, at present, about a barrel a week, whereas where I was, we were doing about 320 barrels a week, so, it's 320:1, plus they operate continuously, it's continuously from Sunday night through to Friday night, mushing continues whereas we only do one or two mushes per week, so the scale is almost infinitely bigger.

SEAN MURPHY: The Great Southern Distillery is the brain child of Cameron Syme, a corporate lawyer and distiller who has invested $3 million in the project to capitalise on surging international demand.
CAMERON SYME, GREAT SOUTHERN DISTILLING CO: Johnnie Walker has been unable to meet worldwide demand in the last five years. There are a number of premium whisky distilleries in Scotland that are allocating quotas to some countries, so they are saying, "You can have a pallet of whisky, that's all that your country can get." This has really been led through what they say the brick countries, which is Brazil, Russia, India and China, where there's a burgeoning middle class, and people are looking at getting access to premium products.

SEAN MURPHY: There are now 17 Australian distilleries, with a couple of new producers entering the market each year. Great Southern's first legally excised single-malt whisky has just passed the compulsory two-year ageing period and will soon be bottled.
(to Cameron Syme) So what are you looking for in the flavour?
CAMERON SYME: You can taste this much the same as you can with wine. You can only taste five different influences on your tongue, but about 3,000 different sensory perceptions from your nose, so most of the tasting is actually done on the smell. Really, here we are getting some very light vanilla notes that are coming through, and an elusive sort of apple, florally background flavour as well. So now we've nosed it, the next taste will be in the mouth.
SEAN MURPHY: And just like wine, whiskey has distinctive regional characteristics.
CAMERON SYME: In terms of wine they might talk about the terroir - using the French term. You do with whiskey, as well, particularly in Scotland, they'll talk about Highland or Lowland or Speyside whiskies. We've had a whisky critic come through, who've said they can taste a briny influence. We are very close to the ocean, to the Great Southern Ocean - it's just across the road - and I think that's definitely influencing the spirit, we are getting that maritime sort of smell and taste to it.

SEAN MURPHY: According to Cameron Syme, one of the biggest barriers to Australia's fledgling distilling industry reaching its true potential is a tax regime heavily weighted against bottled-spirit production.
CAMERON SYME: Spirits in Australia are taxed depending on the concentration of alcohol or the level of alcohol in the final product. There's about $65 a litre tax on spirits that are sold in bottles.
SEAN MURPHY: Distillers had hoped for a tax cut in line with the rate for so-called alco-pops, which were levied at just $35 a litre, but, instead, the Government has increased the rate paid for pre-mixed spirits to try to curb underaged binge-drinking.
CAMERON SYME: They should be saying if our aim is to minimise the health impacts of alcohol abuse, then they need to look at where is that abuse readily coming from, what are the products on the market, and how is the market reacting to those?

SEAN MURPHY: As president of the Australian Distillers Association, Cameron Syme is also pushing for tax relief similar to the wine equalisation tax changes brought in to help small wineries.
CAMERON SYME: The way is works for wineries is the first $500,000 per year of what they say is wet tax or wine equalisation tax, they are exempt from that. Whereas distilleries effectively pay tax from the very first sale that you make and all the way through. Certainly the previous government were not interested in providing excise relief to us. I hope that it's something the Rudd Government can take on board and look to say, "Here is an industry in its infancy that does need some support and assistance," and the potential for Australia is a multi-billion export industry."

SEAN MURPHY: The Western Australian Government says there's a strong case for federal tax reform if the aim is to support viable regional businesses.
KIM CHANCE, WA AGRICULTURE MINISTER: They are clearly making a contribution, people want to go to distilleries, they want to sample their product, they are great little businesses, and I'd really like to think that the Treasury could have a look at a tax-free threshold. That might not be the best way of doing it, but it seems to me the easiest to calculate the revenue effect, and would certainly target the assistance right back to the smaller businesses rather than large businesses.

SEAN MURPHY: Any tax reform may be slow in coming, but with whisky production, patience is a virtue.
CAMERON SYME: This is a long-term game, we knew when we went into it the business model was going to take 5-10 years, really, to give us the returns, so there is a, I guess, a significant issue of confidence for us in how the business is going and what the world market is like. At the moment I think it's an opportune time to get in at the ground floor.

Full transcript and video report

Published 12 February 2008. Author: Sally Gudgeon

Australia has a young whisky industry but some of our drops are world class. Jim Murray is the world's leading authority on whisky. His Whisky Bible 2008 ratings for some Australian whiskies show he considers them among the best in the world. Malt whiskies from Bakery Hill, Lark Distillery and Tasmania Distillery score in the 90s (out of 100). Murray gave the six-year-old Sullivans Cove bourbon maturation malt the highest score for an Australian whisky, 95/100. For a modern industry that dates back only to the 1990s, they are spectacular scores, particularly when few of the spirits have reached their 10th birthday.

Whisky production is not new to Australia. Spirits arrived with the First Fleet, and Governor Bligh brought the first stills in the early 1800s. Illicit distilling is still around today. The Corio Distillery in Geelong, established by the Distillers Company of Edinburgh, operated at a time when there was a worldwide shortage of whisky. Norm Phillips, who worked there for more than 30 years and was general manager when the distillery closed in 1980, was told the brief from head office was to "make whisky no better than the worst in Scotland". This edict was followed religiously. In its heyday, a Corio and Coke was one of the cheapest shouts around, a rough, blended whisky not for the discerning palate.

These days the Scots are very supportive of the Australian industry and are willing to share their knowledge; Kristy Lark, of Lark Distillery, received a scholarship to Scotland to learn more about distilling. Australian whiskies haven't just made a favourable impression - Lark's method of peating malt without using sulphur has spread ripples of excitement around the Scotch Whisky Research Institute.

Lark Distillery was awarded four medals at the International Wine and Spirits Competition in London, making it the most-awarded Australian distillery at the 2007 show, with the Lark's Cask Strength Single Cask whisky achieving a best-in-class award. And in 2007 at the World Whiskies Awards, Tasmania Distillery picked up a couple of gongs, too; Sullivans Cove bourbon maturation single-cask whisky was the Best Other single-malt whisky in the Malt Whiskies from the Rest of the World category, and Sullivans Cove Port maturation cask strength received a highly commended award in the same category.

The first barrels of Australian malt whisky were made in Tasmania by Bill Lark, affectionately known as the "grandfather" of the Australian whisky renaissance. A chartered surveyor by profession, he established Lark Distillery in Hobart in 1992 against the odds. Wife Lyn describes him as a "can-do" person. When he first planned to set up a micro-distillery, the Australian regulations decreed the minimum still size had to be 2700 litres, much too large for his boutique requirements. Not to be deterred, he lobbied tirelessly until the law was changed and he was able to install his first 20-litre still. He now has both a 600-litre and an 1800-litre spirit still.

Lark's success has inspired the establishment of other distilleries, in Tasmania and on the mainland. Lyn comments: "He doesn't guard his knowledge. He never runs out of patience." Bill Lark says: "One distillery is a boutique affair. You require numbers to have an industry." And the numbers are growing. Tasmania now has five. Nant Estate and Distillery is due to open at the end of this month. And there is talk of setting up a Tasmanian whisky trail. Around Hobart there's Tasmania Distillery, the Old Hobart Distillery and Mackeys Distillery. Hellyers Road Distillery in Burnie is by far the largest malt distillery, with a 60,000-litre wash still and a 30,000-litre spirit still. The Nant Distillery in Bothwell in the Central Highlands will add further sheen to the Tasmanian whisky scene. The property has a magnificent homestead and a water-driven flour mill, which was built in 1823. The wheel of the mill is turning once more and will grind the barley into "grist" for whisky production. The millpond has been dredged, too, and Nant is probably the only distillery in the world with two platypuses.

Encouraged by his visits to distilleries in Tasmania and burning with enthusiasm to disprove the notion that "the only place in the world that can make top-quality malt whisky is Scotland", David Baker established the Bakery Hill Distillery in the Yarra Valley. His first new-make spirit flowed in 1999. It was not an easy journey. Setting up a distillery is a costly business, yet he managed to do it on a shoestring budget. Customs were initially tough on him. They were suspicious, not sure if he was a bootlegger or not, and were unconvinced he was capable of setting up a micro-distillery. He released his first whisky in 2003 at the Australian Malt Whisky Convention, and it was well received. Murray is now giving him scores in the 90s for some whiskies, and rated both the Bakery Hill Classic Malt Cask Strength (barrel 2606) and Bakery Hill Peated Malt Cask Strength (barrel 14) a phenomenal 94/100.

There are some exciting malt-whisky developments in the west, too. Cameron Syme founded the Great Southern Distilling Company in Albany in 2004. Tourists can see the distillery in operation and sample the various spirits. Syme's first single-malt whisky, distilled by Tony Browne (a Scottish veteran with 14 years' experience), is due for release in February. Syme has recently opened the Margaret River Distilling Company, which has an impressive cellar door and visitors' centre.

Syme, a lawyer, is also head of the Australian Distillers Association, which was formed in 2005 to advance the industry's interests. At the recent Australian Whisky Convention in Melbourne, he mentioned "a few clouds on the horizon", the main one being the need for tax relief for boutique distilleries, along the lines of the concessions allowed for wineries and breweries. Whisky is taxed at $65.56 a litre of alcohol (about $20 a bottle), which is the highest rate in the OECD.

Full article

Published March 2007. Author: Brand Tasmania Council

In the late 1980s, Bill Lark and a mate sat by a lake in Tasmania's Central Highlands with wet bums and no fish, taking warming consolation in a dram or two of Scotch. They got to talking about what was in their mugs; about Tasmania's world-class barley, abundant clean water and the plentiful peat bogs of the surrounding highlands. All of this led to the obvious question - why wasn't Tasmania producing its own whisky?

In 1992, after a few years of successful wrangling with the bureaucracy, Lark distilled his first whisky. It was the first legal distillation in Tasmania since Lady Franklin, the then Governor's wife, claimed in 1839 that she'd prefer barley be fed to pigs rather than be used to turn men into swine. Her husband promptly banned all distillation in the colony and the ban remained on the books for 154 years. Today, Tasmania has three whisky distilleries: Lark and Sullivans Cove in Hobart; and Whisky Tasmania in Burnie. Another two will be commissioned by year's end.

Single malt whiskies from the three operating distilleries are being exported to England , Scotland , Sweden , Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan. At a recent international whisky show, Sullivan's Cove Six Year Old Bourbon Oak Cask was judged ninth best out of the 75 entries, raising - as a Swedish expert wrote - eyebrows when it was revealed as not being from Scotland. And, in Jim Murray's Whisky Bible 2007, the same whisky was awarded 95 points, equal with such well-known drops as Glenfarclas 15yo, Highland Park Aged 18yo, Talisker 20yo, Laphroig Aged 13yo, Macallan 18yo and The Macallan Fine Oak 15yo.

"When it comes to whisky, Tasmania has all the right quality ingredients," Bill Lark says. "We grow fantastic, high quality barley. We have sensational sweet, clean peat and, of course, some of the best quality water in the world. But, most importantly, we have the climate, the perfect balance of humidity and temperature, to allow us to mature whisky naturally. As in Scotland , we don't need to create artificial, temperature and atmosphere-controlled environments. That makes a big difference."

The barley for all three producers is malted in Hobart by Cascade, Australia 's oldest brewery.

Lark's peat is hand-cut from Brown Marsh Bog, high in the Central Highlands, and is smoked to dry. It is used to flavour about 50 per cent of the malted barley before the 'wash' goes through a double distillation in an 1,800-litre copper still. The 'heart' of this second run comes out at around 78 proof and is then put into 100-litre 'quarter casks' to age and mature for four or five years before bottling. The Larks use shaved, fired and re-charred old port barrels from South Australian wineries. Unlike the 500 and 1,000-litre Spanish sherry barrels commonly recycled for use in Scotland, these small port barrels make two major points of difference according to Bill - they contribute a slight background sweetness to the whisky; and allow it to reach proper and natural maturity in about half the time it takes in the much larger barrels required to handle the huge volumes the Scots produce. "Four or five years in our small casks are the equivalent of about a 10-year-old whisky in Scotland " he says.

In 1997, Burnie-based milk company Betta Milk established Whisky Tasmania and spent $2.3 million building a distillery. It now has 540,000 litres of spirit valued at around $20 million ageing in 2,700 ex-bourbon casks. Last September, it opened a $2 million café, tasting and "Whisky Walk' interpretive centre next to the distillery and released three different single malts under the Hellyers Road name in an unpeated, slightly peated and peated style. Each is double distilled using Tasmanian barley malted at Cascade. The Slightly Peated and Peated styles are produced with peat imported from Scotland. Whisky Tasmania's marketing officer, Ian Locke, says they're positioning Hellyers Road as something truly unique. "It's about producing a Tasmanian whisky using a 'back-to-basics' approach: whisky made as it should be made. And it makes perfect sense that such a pure, double-distilled whisky could only come from a place as pure as Tasmania," he says.

Sullivans Cove's distiller, Patrick Maguire, forgoes the use of peat as "not absolutely necessary." He double distils in a unique Alembic Charentais Copper Pot built locally from an 1860 French bandy still design. He ages his whisky in a mixture of recycled 200-litre French oak port casks, Bourbon casks from American oak and sherry casks from Australia 's famous fortified wine producer, McWilliams. Each batch of whisky is drawn from a single or a limited number of selected casks and is bottled without chill or plate filtering with no added caramelizing, colouring or flavouring. As each of the different casks offers a unique flavour and colour characteristic, the result is a very individual style of whisky that can vary from one bottling to the next. Like Bill Lark, Maguire says that ageing in smaller casks under Tasmania's favourable climatic conditions results in faster maturing. "Judges of our award-winning whisky were not only surprised it came from Tasmania, but couldn't believe it was only six years old," he said. Maguire's current bottlings are of 7-year-old material. With an annual production of around 24,000 litres, he is limiting his releases with the aim of building stocks to the point where all Sullivans Cove whiskies will have spent a minimum of 12 years in cask.

"Distilling and cask ageing are the mechanical side of whisky making," Bill Lark says. "The art, the thing that determines the quality and flavour profile of your whisky, comes in judging just where you cut off the 'fores' and 'feints', the early and last parts of the distillation run, to retain the sweet 'heart'. It's a matter of smelling and tasting and experience." Maguire concurs, and says, as more Tasmanian distilleries come on line, local experience will grow and he looks forward to the day when Tasmanians can talk, not of three or four distilleries, but of a whisky industry.

"When Governor Franklin banned distillation in 1839, Hobart alone had 17 operating distilleries. It may take a few years, but with the wide recognition our whiskies are gaining, we might well see those days again," says Patrick Maguire.

Full article (second article on first page)

Published 24 February 2004. Author: Willie Simpson

Some people in the wine game reckon setting up a vineyard is the best way to suck a big bag of money dry in a hurry. But spare a thought for Australia's fledgling whisky producers, who can expect to wait six or seven years before they reap one cent from their considerable investments.

Each year, Burnie-based Whisky Tasmania spends $85,000 on old bourbon barrels alone and has some 450,000 litres of whisky (2200-odd barrels) maturing in bond stores. After five years' operation, Australia's largest commercial whisky distillery is still two years away from selling its first bottle, says managing director Laurie House. "We don't want to go off half-baked," says House. Whisky Tasmania is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Betta Milk company, which was looking to diversify alongside its successful milk-production business in the late 1990s. A handful of Tasmanian whisky pioneers, such as the Lark Distillery, were already operating, and the value-added returns on turning a bag of barley into a single-malt whisky (retail price about $75 for a 500ml bottle) appealed to the privately owned company's board of directors. The distillery was built in north-west Tasmania at a cost of more than $2 million and produced the first whisky run in January 1999. Initial business plans included releasing the first bottling run by early 2004 and opening a visitors' centre next to the distillery. Until recently, whisky produced by Whisky Tasmania has been made entirely with Tasmanian-grown, unpeated, malted barley (early barrel samples tasted by Brew promised a clean, grassy, sweetish, Irish-style whisky). On the suggestion of British globetrotting whisky guru Jim Murray, who serves as a consultant, it has started producing a generously peated whisky using peated malted barley imported from the UK. House says the peated whisky will mature for at least two years (any less and it can't legally be called whisky) then blended with older stock to produce "four or five" versions ranging from lightly peated to heavily peated. The launch date is early 2006.

Operating from a warehouse in Bayswater North, David Baker is about to release his first Bakery Hill whisky after "six years of outgoing expenses". The former biochemist worked for a large food company before succumbing to his "passion". Making whisky has been "a labour of love", including three years spent thoroughly researching the Australian distilling industry. He wants "to stay small". His sons Andrew, 24, and Matthew, 21, also work in the distillery. "I'll keep doing it into my [old] age," says Baker, who reckons he's produced the equivalent of 5000 bottles over three years of operation. Baker's wash (the strong, unhopped beer that is the first stage of producing whisky) is now made at the Mountain Goat brewery in Richmond. He distils the wash twice in a 1000-litre pot made in Britain to his specifications. "It was with trepidation that I did my first batches because you have to wait two years to taste the results," Baker says. "It might have been a flop." But Bakery Hill whiskies have already received high praise from Jim Murray, including encouraging reviews in Jim Murray's Whisky Bible 2004. Bakery Hill Classic Malt scored 85 out of 100 and Murray described it as "easily the most stylish Australian malt I have found". Murray was apparently surprised that the whiskies were less than three years old. "Whatever you're doing, keep doing it," he reportedly told Baker. The whiskies are matured in bourbon and French oak port barrels that have been broken down and rebuilt into 50 and 100-litre barrels at Diamond Creek's Heritage Cooperage to "accelerate the ageing process". Baker says the greater surface area to volume ratio ensures a rapid maturation but also increases evaporation (the so-called "angels' share"). Bakery Hill whiskies will be available in three varieties - Classic Malt and Double Wood (both unpeated) and Peated Malt - in 500ml bottles priced at $75. Baker will also release a different cask-strength whisky each year and plans to move the distillery to the Yarra Valley "because that's where people go for wine and food".

Full article

Broadcast on The 7.30 Report, 23 December 2003. Reporter: Judy Tierney

TRACY BOWDEN: Using two radically different methods, Tasmania has begun a whisky industry which promises to produce some of the finest single malt anywhere. Judy Tierney reports.
JUDY TIERNEY: Here in Tasmania's highlands, you'll find some of the best trout fishing in the world. But Bill Lark is after something more earthy. This is beautiful, clean peat, and this stuff that you see here is just made for heaven. For me, it's just exactly what I'm looking for to give me that clean, earthy, smoky taste in my whiskey.
JUDY TIERNEY: It is the high quality of the peat, the water and barley in Tasmania that is promising to provide just what it takes to make a premium single malt whiskey. The first, at least legal, drop to be distilled in Australia for 150 years.
BILL LARK, WHISKEY DISTILLER: The only thing we had to do was convince the customs that we could produce a good, safe spirit, that we would keep records and that we would pay our excise.
JUDY TIERNEY: With excise at $58 for a litre of whiskey, the end product is going to be expensive.

The first bottling is still about four years away, but Bill Lark just can't resist checking on his brew every now and then. BILL LARK: This is now quite a gutsy, smooth whiskey, no sharp elements at all about it. It was probably one of our early, sort of full peating barrels that we put down, so the smokiness is just coming through very nicely. Yeah, we're very excited about this.
JUDY TIERNEY: There's no obvious high-tech gear here. It's simple and rustic. The barley is smoked over peat before being processed in the still.
BILL LARK: I like to think our little, small still gives us a nice heavy, rich-flavoured malt spirit. Some of the bigger distilleries and their sophistication means that they might produce a lighter style whiskey, but that's good because the great thing about whiskeys is they're all different.

JUDY TIERNEY: Of the four licensed whiskey distilleries in Australia, Bill Lark was the first to get a license. Now, four hours drive to Burnie in the north-west of Tasmania, a flashier, more sophisticated operation is run by Mark Littler, who's had to learn about making whiskey from scratch.
MARK LITTLER, WHISKEY DISTILLER: The distillery operations fully are controlled by our computer system here with sequences in place for different parts of the process. When we've entertained people from the whiskey industry, and particularly people out of Scotland, they're absolutely blown away by our level of automation that we have here at the distillery in Burnie, particularly when I tell them I can dial-in from home, from which is 30 minutes away, and just check on the process.
JUDY TIERNEY: This is a far cry from Bill Lark's distilling method and the money man behind it, a man who has poured $5 million into it, is Laurie House. He set this up based on, of all things, his other business, a milk processing factory.
LAURIE HOUSE, WHISKEY DISTILLER: If we can get the production right, we've got all of the elements here, we've got the climate, we've got the water we've got the barley and we've got everything right here, surely to goodness we can produce a world-class article, and so we went ahead on that basis.
JUDY TIERNEY: This distillery has already produced 2,000 200 litre barrels. It uses 300 tonnes of barley each year.
LAURIE HOUSE: At the moment, we have engaged an international consultant, based in London, who has told us that the spirit we are producing at the moment is world-class and when it matures in - we expect to launch it around 2006.

BILL LARK: We are now sort of helping other people throughout Australia that would like to produce whiskey. I've got a couple of clients in WA that I'm helping to set up a distillery and some in NSW. I think before long there will be quite a viable industry.

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