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.