Category: Australian whisky

Articles pertaining to Australian whisk(e)y

Bakery Hill – The Blunderbuss

With new local distilleries or independent bottlers/releases launching and popping up all over Australia, it’s easy to overlook some of the long-time brands that have been waving the flag all along. But you overlook these at your peril – particularly when one of those distilleries brings along something that truly hits great heights.

Bakery Hill is one such distillery. Established in 1999, it is one of the oldest of the current crop of Australian distilleries, and – as we explored in this article previously – it’s a quiet achiever that lets its whiskies do the talking. You’ll not see or hear much from them on social media, even as they steadily and consistently win awards and accolades from around the world. But your tastebuds should tune in to what they’re doing.

One of Bakery Hill’s great appeals is its consistency of product. Whilst several distilleries still lurch from good to poor to spectacular to mediocre with each successive single cask release, Bakery Hill has been around long enough to find its operating and procedural “sweet spot” and they stick to it. It has a core range of products that both impress and deliver – case in point, their Peated Malt Cask Strength was awarded “Southern Hemisphere Whisky of the Year” in Jim Murray’s 2020 Bible.  No mean feat.

So with such bona fides established, it’s exciting when they then bring along something new to the table.  And delicious to boot.  Bakery Hill’s “The Blunderbuss” is one such whisky, and its story is worth telling….

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Australian whisky – It’s got an image problem

What does Australian whisky taste like? One of the biggest problems for the Australian whisky industry – actually, it’s not a problem, it’s simply a mistake – is that a lot of people try to pigeonhole Australian whisky with a crude, base descriptor. To be fair, other whisky categories have the same problem: According to “the rules”, Scotch whisky is peaty; Irish whiskey is light; American whiskey is sweet; Japanese whisky is expensive, etc, etc. You get the idea.

Of course, such generalisations and stereotypes can often be wide of the mark, but the reality is that both consumers and marketers rely on such pigeonholes, and once these things stick, they become incredibly hard to shift.

So how do you describe Australian whisky? What does Australian whisky taste like? What’s a one-size-fits-all, catch-all statement that’s vaguely applicable? I’ll answer that in just a moment, but first some preceding comments to soften the blow…

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Icons of Whisky 2020 – The Australian Awards

The Icons of Whisky 2020, Australia awards were held in Sydney on October 21st this year.   The Icons of Whisky is an awards program convened by Whisky Magazine and its international agents to recognise the people, places, and products that strive for excellence in the whisk(e)y industry.

Originating in the UK back in 2007, the awards have since grown to recognise the local players in many international markets, with countries/regions such as America, India, Australia, Scotland, Ireland, and Rest of the World now holding annual awards.  The winners in each category in their local awards go forward to be part of the Global Icons of Whisky Awards, held in London.

The Australian awards were a fun (if slightly boisterous) affair, with the room filled with distillers, distributors, brand ambassadors, bartenders, hospitality managers, whisky tourism and visitor attraction personnel, accounts managers, sales teams and, yes, even the occasional whisky writer.  James Buntin, a long-time whisky ambassador who’s worked with many of the brands over the years, was an appropriate MC for the evening.

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Bakery Hill – the view from the top

There’s a lot of noise and activity in the Australian whisky scene at the moment – most of it to do with new distilleries being established or newer distilleries releasing their first matured spirit. Or, frequently, you’ll hear about some Aussie whisky collecting an award at an international spirits competition.  Meanwhile, some distilleries are simply getting on with making good whisky.  Bakery Hill is one such distillery. Not the most vocal brand on social media, Bakery Hill is happy to let its whiskies do the talking. And talk, they do. Continue reading “Bakery Hill – the view from the top”

Australian whisky – a frank discussion

Earlier this year, Whisky & Wisdom published an article titled “Trouble brewing for the Australian whisky industry”.   It was an extremely comprehensive and honest account of the challenges facing the Australian industry and raised a number of issues that continue to lurk beneath the surface.   The article generated significant discussion amongst the whisky community and W&W received overwhelming responses and support from those within the industry.  You can read the original article here.

Fast forward six months later, and the article triggered a fantastic discussion/interview with James Atkinson at Drinks Adventures.   W&W recently sat down with Drinks Adventures for a frank discussion about what’s happening in the Australian whisky industry; the learning curve that distillers need to put themselves through; and the issues that consumers are now raising.

If you’re interested in Australian whisky and the Aussie whisky scene, it’s a fantastic podcast to listen to.  The link to the Drinks Adventures episode is here.

Joadja Distillery

The news and noise associated with the explosion and proliferation of new Australian distilleries popping up everywhere tends to focus on Tasmania.   New distilleries on the mainland probably feel they have to make a bit more noise for their heads to be noticed above the parapet.  (I say “new” distilleries but, of course, by the time most consumers hear about or experience the product from a new distillery, the venture has been up and running for at least a couple of years).  Which makes it all the more impressive and endearing when a distillery just quietly goes about its business and lets others do the talking for them.  Joadja is one such distillery.

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Distillery a victim of political correctness

Ripples shot across the pond of the Australian distilling industry this week when the PC brigade flexed its outraged muscles and seemingly strong-armed a distillery’s marketing department into an awkward about-face.

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TIB’s Old Kempton Distillery Cask RD0012

There’s been no shortage of chatter about Australian whisky in recent months.  To be fair, Whisky & Wisdom may inadvertently have triggered some of that, courtesy of this article, but if you read the comments and sentiments expressed across the Australian whisky community – particularly on the Facebook groups – there’s an undercurrent of caution about Australian whisky releases and the complex relationship between age, price, provenance, quality, cask-type, bottle size (i.e. 500ml vs 700ml) and availability.  Thank goodness, then, that there are still some positive constants and consistencies that can be relied upon.  I refer, in particular, to TIB – Tasmanian Independent Bottlers – and this was brought home (again) this week whilst tasting one of its latest releases:  Old Kempton Distillery (Redlands Release No. 8, Cask TIB RD0012).

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Trouble brewing for the Australian whisky industry?

Pour yourself a big dram of your favourite Australian whisky and get comfortable.  It’s a long read…

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Believe it or not, Australian whisky existed prior to 2014.  Australia enjoyed a rich history of whisky distillation from the 19th century into the 1980’s before resting for a few years of silence.  But it was in that fateful year of 2014 that a single cask release of Sullivans Cove won the accolade of World’s Best Single Malt, and Australian whisky suddenly lit up on everyone’s radar.  But whilst Sullivans Cove’s success that year told a story for 2014, it also told a story – for those that cared – about the Australian whisky industry’s previous 20 years.  And, as both producers and consumers jumped on the bandwagon, it also played a role in contributing to a brewing storm and some concerning issues now looming…
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TIB – Tasmanian Independent Bottlers

The local Australian whisky scene continues to expand and self-cultivate.  Between the many new distilleries starting up and the older distilleries bringing new and matured stock to market (plus a couple of larger enterprises starting to flex their muscles), there’s plenty to taste and get excited about.   It also seems that the scene can now sustain the one last gap that remained to be filled:  The Australian independent bottler.   And TIB – Tasmanian Independent Bottlers – is going the whole hog.

Tasmanian Independent Bottlers is not the first Australian independent bottler (Trappers Hut possibly took that honour over 10 years ago) and there are certainly other labels around – Dark Valley and Heartwood being obvious examples.  But it’s no accident that we mention Heartwood here, for TIB is Heartwood’s younger cousin.

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