NATHANAELKENNEDY
Give me a home amongst the gumtrees, with Aussie malts, please!
Australia's love affair with spirits stretches back as far as Australia's history itself...so roughly about 220 years, when the first rum-soaked Royal Navy officers and marines staggered off the First Fleet onto this Great Land.
What's damn exciting about Aussie whiskies?
Many Australian whiskies are bottled at cask strength and typically non chill-filtered, providing for a rich depth of flavour - the natural way! Australian single malt whisky distilleries choose not to use artificial colouring to enhance appearance (using E150).
Australia is currently home to 24 active distilleries; most of which are in Tasmania. Due to the infancy of Australian whisky distillation, almost all the distilleries are considered 'boutique'; meaning that their stills and barrels are quite a lot smaller than the mass-producing Scottish counterparts.
But it's a not a bad thing - 99% is a rough guess, but also a percentage of Australian distillers that are seeking a market interested in 'quality not quantity'.
It's little wonder that Tasmania is producing such excellent whisky, given its obvious similarities to Scotland. The climate, the natural peat fields and the odd people that live there are all contributors, but there are still some distilleries outside of Tasmania. The most mainstream are:
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The Smith's Angaston - Angaston, Barossa Valley, South Australia
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Bakery Hill - Bayswater, Dandenong Foothills, Victoria
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Great Southern Distilling Company - Albany, Western Australia.
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Timboon Railway Shed - Timboon, South West Victoria
The 'major' Tasmanian distilleries include:
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The Lark Distillery - Hobart, Tasmania
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Sullivan's Cove (Tasmania Distillery) - Cambridge, Tasmania
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Hellyer's Road - Burnie, North West Tasmania
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The Nant Distillery - Bothwell, Central Tasmania
Want to know more? Luckily enough for you, I wrote a blog on Australian whiskies as a feature piece for Canberra Martini. Head to Canberramartini.com or 'Whisky Experiences' to read it!
Who's responsible for kickstarting the Aussie Whisky Industry?
Lark Distilley's founder, Bill Lark, is often referred to as 'The Godfather' of the modern Australian Whisky Industry; much in the same way that Gary Newman is often referred to as 'The Godfather' of Electronic Music.
There is a story as to how the Lark Distillery was founded.
This how it happened...
Bill Lark was out on a boat one day, alone with his thoughts and bored as hell, when he had an epiphany.
"There must be something we Tasmanians can do", he thought, "...other than wipe out entire indigenous populations of people and marsupials! Given our obvious similarities to Scotland, maybe we can take a leaf out of their book. How do the Scottish survive living on such a cold and miserable island?" "Heroin!" he exclaimed, "they love that up there! Hmm, maybe not a good idea. Something besides heroin". "I know!", he shouted to himself "whisky!". And so in 1992 he started the Lark Distillery.
(*​DISCLAIMER* That is not how it happened).
