Tracy Renkin, journalist

First published August 11 2018 in the TasWeekend magazine (The Hobart Mercury)

WE may be a tiny island but we’re making an impressive dent in the whisky world. Tasmania now has the highest concentration of distilleries in the country, and the word is getting out.

More than 125,000 people visited a Tasmanian distillery last year – 50,000 more than three years ago.

We are bringing home world whisky awards and being compared to the spiritual home of single malt – the Isle of Islay in Scotland. According to Fred Siggins, who is strategy manager at Tasmanian distiller Sullivans Cove, it makes perfect sense.

“I have heard that comparison made – we are both small islands with a small population,” Siggins says. “And we both make high quality whisky. They’ve just been making it for 500 years and produce 1000 times more than we do.”

Siggins says whisky is riding a wave of global popularity.

“I think we’ve shot ourselves in the foot in the past by saying single malt whisky is only for one kind of demographic – older men,” he says. “The truth is that just as many women as men and people from all kinds of diverse backgrounds are enjoying whisky these days because it’s delicious.

“It’s very much a trendy spirit and younger people are really embracing it.”

But Siggins says rather than just smashing it down, the trend is to really savour it.

“People have always enjoyed whisky but now instead of having it with Coke they are much more likely to celebrate good quality whisky and care about where it comes from,” he says.

He says Tasmania is now widely regarded as a whisky region in its own right.

“And that’s pretty special because the mainland is following in our footsteps,” he says.

From Monday, many of Tasmania’s 30-plus whisky distilleries will be holding special site tours, including unreleased whisky tastings and dining events, as part of Whisky Week.

It’s a unique opportunity for those who don’t mind a drop of liquid gold to get up close and personal with the clever folk who make it.

Whisky bars, restaurants and hotels across the state will also be hosting whisky-themed events.

Sawford Distillery’s Jane Sawford dreamt up the idea of Whisky Week over a cup of tea three years ago with her friend Katherine Took.

Sawford and her husband Mark run Sawford Distillery at Kingston and will release their first bottles in two years.

She says it’s Tasmania’s pure water, cool climate and excellent quality produce, as well as a genuine passion to produce a premium product, that have worked together to cement our state’s success.

“We could see whisky production in Tasmania was going from strength to strength and we really thought it needed to be celebrated,” Sawford says. “People love to come and meet the people who make the whisky they love to drink.”

While Sawford has found some whisky distillery tours she’s done overseas to be formal and impersonal, she says she finds Tasmanian tours better because they are generally low-key and cruisy.

“You can sit down and enjoy a dram with the distiller, ask questions and then see the production line in a hands-on tour,” she says.

“There’s no doubt that Tasmania is now at the epicentre of whisky production in Australia.”

Sawford learnt the art of whisky making from her father Casey Overeem.

He was friends with Tasmanian whisky pioneer Bill Lark, who led the push to have the laws changed in 1992 to allow small distilleries to produce small volumes.

Sawford says it’s the success of Tasmania’s original four distilleries – Lark, Sullivans Cove, Hellyers Road and Overeem – that has inspired others to “stand on the shoulders of giants”, as her friend and fellow whisky maker Cameron Brett (of Spring Bay Distillery) says, and give whisky making a go.

Sawford is talking about whisky makers such as the Launceston Distillery – a boutique set-up housed in Tasmania’s oldest aviation building at the airport in Western Junction.

Launceston Distillery makes handcrafted, single malt whisky from Tasmanian malted barley.

It has just released its first two products in time for Whisky Week. Their unique tours will mark the first time the public has been invited in to witness their whisky-making process.

Its production manager Chris Condon says the large size of the hangar will give whisky enthusiasts a rare opportunity to see and understand the entire whisky-making process.

“That’s the good thing about our set-up being in the hangar,” Condon says.

“Our equipment is almost in a line so we can walk people through the place from start to finish.

“You can almost stand back and see the whole picture rather than in the bigger distilleries where the equipment is stored in different buildings and you can get lost along the way.

“With us, you will be able to touch, taste, and smell as we move along the process.”

Launceston Distillery’s whisky is distilled using only Australian barrels.

Condon says his first two products are distinctive. The first batch, H17 01, is made up of 530 bottles that matured in Australian Opera sherry barrels, and is more like a pinot noir.

“It’s a lighter style of whisky and more subtle,” Condon says. “It was more about the spirit of distillery and the process, it has a bit more finesse to it and it shows the skill of the process.”

The second batch, H17 02, is made up of 590 bottles that matured in Australian tawny port barrels. Condon says it’s more like a shiraz: “It’s a robust, heavier and stronger whisky. It was all about the barrel.”

He says more Australians are becoming aware of the excellent quality of Tasmanian whisky. That awareness is driving its popularity not only on the mainland, but globally.

“Our whiskies have rich copper colours, fragrant aromas and are smooth and full flavoured with a pleasant lingering finish,” Condon says.

“We are confident our whisky will enhance the excellent reputation of Tasmanian whisky around the world.”

It’s a reputation built on long-time producers like Sullivans Cove whose whisky has become one of the most desired single malts in the world.

According to Fred Siggins, his distillery’s string of global awards has helped shine the world spotlight on Tasmanian whisky.

In April, Sullivans Cove took out the best single cask single malt whisky at the World Whiskies Awards in London, and also the best Australian single malt.

In 2014, again at the World Whiskies Awards, it won the best single malt in the world. He says: “Along with the other producers that make Tasmania the epicentre of beautiful, handmade and carefully raised food and drink in Australia, the whisky producers of this state are right there beside them making whisky with a slow, quality-first approach that you can really taste.”

He says craft whisky is very much an important part of Tasmania’s character. “We’ve had the time to experiment, figure out what works and how we can get the best whiskies,” Siggins says.

“For the newer distilleries on the scene it means they get to make use of that experience so they don’t have to reinvent the wheel because it gives everyone a good foundation from which we can continue to be innovative whisky producers.”

Siggins says it wasn’t that long ago that things were very different.

“When we first started back in 1994, nobody much cared about whisky,” he says. “It wasn’t the trendy thing to drink and they thought we were nuts. But we love making good whisky, so we stuck with it, and now it’s recognised that Tasmania makes some of the best and most interesting whiskies in the world.”