Which is the best Australian whisky? With interest in Australian whisky at an all-time high, combined with the staggering number of Australian distilleries now bringing mature spirit to market, it’s certainly an understandable question to ask. But can one realistically answer that question? Well…we’ll attempt to offer some guidance in just a moment but, first, it’s important to establish some ground rules…
Tag: Heartwood
Matching a whisky to every James Bond film
James Bond and whisky? Whisky has been paired with food for decades, although in more recent years we’ve seen whiskies paired and matched to cigars, watches, music, and even movies! If you’re going to sit down in your comfy sofa and pass away a few hours being entertained by 007, then having a good dram in your hand goes a long way to enhancing the James Bond experience.
Of course, Bond’s drink of choice may be a vodka martini, but we can shake and stir things up for the whisky drinkers out there who are James Bond fans: Here is our effort to pair and match the perfect whisky to every (official) James Bond film.
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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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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).
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.
The heart of Heartwood
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.
Whisky’s key ingredient
How do you make good whisky? In fact, what are the ingredients of whisky? If you answered barley, water, and yeast, then you were correct. And yet, there’s so much more…