What makes whisky from Tasmania among the best in the world? ‘We have all the elements required,’ says insider, including ‘clean and pure water’

You must be quick if you want to buy a bottle of Sullivans Cove online. It’s one of the most sought after whiskies in Australia, and as soon as any becomes available via the brand’s online store, bottles are snapped up in a matter of minutes through a raffle system. “Tasmanian whisky sits alongside some of the best whiskies in the world,” says Nitesh Chalise, bar supervisor at Mary Mary, at The Tasman hotel, in Hobart, the capital of Tasmania. “One of the contributing factors is that on this lovely island, we have all the elements required to make top-class whisky: clean and pure water; barley; highland peat; and the right climate. “Sullivans Cove French Oak whisky set the benchmark in 2014, when it won world’s best single malt at the World Whiskies Awards, and the head distiller was inducted into the global Icons of Whisky Hall of Fame in 2018,” says Chalise. According to Sullivans Cove marketing manager Jerome Lebel-Jones, one of the ways in which Tasmanian whiskies differ from their Scotch counterparts is in distillers’ use of local brewers’ barley, which is usually used for beer, instead of imported distillers’ barley for the mash – the mixture of grain, water and yeast fermented to produce alcohol. Forget wine – chefs pair Chinese food with single malt Scotch whisky Many Tasmanian distilleries import American oak barrels to store and age their whiskies, but the industry also uses Australian fortified-wine barrels made from French oak. Whisky in Tasmania is stored in casks that hold a maximum of 150 to 200 litres (39 to 53), whereas producers of traditional Scotch whiskies will use 300-litre casks. “The whisky that comes out of big casks is much better quality but you have to wait forever,” explains Lebel-Jones. Sullivans Cove is one of the few distillers in Australia to insist on the traditional, Scottish approach. There has to be a unanimous score of excellent before we determine it’s ready to be bottled Jerome Lebel-Jones of Sullivans Cove on its single cask whisky sampling process “On average it takes 12 years to make a bottle, but we don’t produce on a schedule.” Sullivans Cove is known as a single cask whisky brand, as its whiskies are not blended from the contents of more than one barrel. “There is a team of six or seven people who get together in a room and they’ll taste samples of whisky from the barrels that we think might be ready,” says Lebel-Jones. “There has to be a unanimous score of excellent before we determine it’s ready to be bottled.” The rarity of such unanimous scores explains the limited selection available at Sullivans Cove, a 15-minute drive to the east of Hobart. The Sullivans Cove tasting room is simple, with several leather studded chaises and a couple of shelves displaying the few vintages available to buy. The starting price is around A$400 (US$270) for a 70cl bottle, easily double that of any other Tasmanian whisky. If you make it to the tasting room, you are at least guaranteed a bottle of the elusive whisky, although purchases are limited to two or three bottles per person, depending on the vintage. For a less intense experience, take a 90-minute drive from Hobart towards Port Arthur. Before reaching the town, turn off down a 1km (0.6-mile) dirt road towards the McHenry Distillery. Australia’s southernmost distillery, McHenry is known for its gin. The property has its own creek, the only water source for all of McHenry’s spirits. The McHenry single malt is not as decorated as other labels, but is highly rated online and comes at a reasonable price of A$180. Back in central Hobart, the Lark tasting room is only a stone’s throw away from Sullivans Cove – not the distillery of that name, but the part of the coast that was the initial landing site for settlers who made their homes in the city. The Lark premises have the vibe of a gentlemen’s club, with plush red chairs and oak furniture. Is a US$380 Le Cordon Bleu cooking class in Hong Kong worth it? We try one Lark distils its whisky into 150- to 200-litre barrels, allowing flexibility to play with blends. A variety of releases are available for a tasting menu, with more exclusive releases available to sample by the glass. In 1992, Bill Lark, dubbed the father of Australian whisky, secured the overturning of a ban on distilling whisky that dated back to 1838. Although the original ban was amended in 1901, regulations still required a minimum still size of 2,700 litres and the provision of bed and board for a full-time “supervising officer”. These were an effective bar on entry to the whisky business. Having successfully challenged those restrictions, Lark was granted the first distilling licence in Tasmania in 154 years. About 25km northeast of Hobart is Richmond, a town defined by its 1820s Georgian architecture. Here, standing in a small paddock surrounded by young oak trees, is the Killara distillery, established in 2016 by Kristy Booth-Lark, Bill Lark’s daughter. ‘First make delicious food’: top chef ahead of new Hong Kong opening In 2021, Booth-Lark’s single malt whisky scored gold with 95 points in the world whisky category at the 2021 International Wine and Spirits Competition, and a year later she was awarded distiller of the year in the Australian Whisky awards – quite an achievement for a young distillery, not to mention one of the few women in the whisky world. For those travelling around Tasmania, there are many other notable whisky makers to visit. Among them are the Belgrove and Old Kempton distilleries, the owners of which both built their pot stills from scratch and grow their own grains. Overeem, Spring Bay, and Hellyers Road are also producing magnificent whiskies, and their tasting rooms, too, are worth a visit.