As the Australian whisky revival and renaissance marches on, there are now countless highlights and spikes on the radar. Australian whiskies winning awards; new distilleries being established; new releases being launched…the scene now generates its own continuously scrolling newsfeed.
As for the Australian distillers and distilleries themselves, the field has grown to the point where there is a marked split between the craft players and the big guys that now run genuinely industrial and commercial operations.
This article looks at the Australian whisky brand Heartwood, and also discusses its offshoot, Tasmanian Independent Bottlers (TIB)….
The Australian whisky industry needs no introduction. Its distilleries and bottlings are consistently winning awards and accolades around the world. Much has been written about Bill Lark and his efforts so many years ago to have Tasmanian legislation amended and to set out on the journey that, ultimately, has led to the vibrant and dynamic industry which now exists.
But in distilling the Australian whisky industry into words, attention naturally focuses on the distilleries, because this is where the action is at. This is where the whisky is being made; it’s where the whiskies are crafted and matured; it’s the story of adversity, hard yakka, passionate individuals, and – eventually – bottled spirit.
Notwithstanding this, the Australian industry has grown to a stage where it can now sustain a number of independent bottlers. These are the enterprising types who acquire the casks of whisky from the distillery and then bottle it under their own label. But if there is one enterprising person who has risen above the pack and forged completely new ground (let alone a whole new way of thinking), it is surely Tim Duckett – the man behind Heartwood.
Interested in Australian whisky history? Who were the pioneers of the Australian whisky appreciation scene? Read on…
“The whisky appreciation scene and the whisky enthusiasts’ community is booming.”
Captain Obvious, 2022.
For anyone who’s climbed aboard the hurtling whisky juggernaut in the last five years or so, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was always this way. Here, in Australia, we have brand ambassadors flying around the country and presenting whiskies to established fan bases and new audiences. We have multiple whisky bars operating in the capital cities and out in the suburbs. We have countless whisky clubs that meet regularly. We have online whisky clubs and groups that exist in various Facebook spheres. We have a selection of 40 to 50 different whiskies to choose from in the supermarket chain retailers. We have online whisky stores that ship the latest and greatest releases to your doorstep. We have whisky expos in each of the capital cities. We have distilleries opening up or establishing all across the country. Australian whisky history has not seen anything like it. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: We ain’t never had it this good before.
But it wasn’t always this way. Hard as it might seem to believe, there was a time when life for the Australian whisky enthusiast was the polar opposite. Imagine being a whisky fan in the mid-1970’s when less than a handful of single malt brands were available. Imagine going into a bottle shop in the late 1990’s and having a selection of no more than six different bottlings to select from. Imagine no whisky bars. Imagine no online whisky resources or communications. In fact, imagine no internet!
It was in those seemingly primitive times that the first pioneers and members of the whisky enthusiasts’ community of Australia set out trying to (a) source malt whisky, (b) share their enthusiasm with other people, and (c) gather together a community of like-minded souls around them.
