Which is the best Australian whisky?

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…

First of all, ask yourself this: In asking such a question, what is your measuring stick? On what basis should the answer be founded? It is risky putting too much emphasis purely on taste, because that’s highly subjective. After all, what tastes spectacular to one consumer might not be appealing to the next.

Can we assign a title of best Australian whisky based on quality? If so, what constitutes quality? Is it the ingredients the distillery uses? The age and condition of their production equipment? The types of casks they use? How “pure” the cut is and whether the distillate dips too far down into the feints?   In a sense, it is none of the above considerations. Rather, we measure quality by whether or not a whisky has faults or flaws. For example, is it out of balance? Is it too dry or woody? Is it over-oaked or tannic? Has the choice of cask overpowered the spirit? Is it too aggressive or “hot”? Too thin or too spirity? Is it one dimensional and lacks complexity?  Does it come across as being artificially sweet, or does it just taste like a highly alcoholic fortified wine, rather than a spirit made from cereal?  Are there still too many aggressive volatiles in the spirit, either from poor distillation or poor maturation? For the purposes of answering the definitive question, “Which is the best Australian whisky?”, whiskies, distilleries, or brands that consistently exhibited the types of flaws discussed above were quickly discarded from contention.

What about affordability or value? Is a whisky that costs $600 necessarily four times better than a whisky that costs $150? If the “best” Australian whisky is priced at a cost well above what most people will happily pay, then is it really ticking all the boxes? Some brands have recently taken to putting out extremely expensive, highly limited releases that play to the collectors’ market, rather than to the drinkers’ market.  Do we take such pricing into account?  Australian whisky, as a collective whole, had an unfortunate reputation for many years of being relatively expensive. That said, some brands and releases have come along in recent times that are changing that perception and laying down the gauntlet to others with very affordable releases that offer impressive “bang for your buck”. These distilleries arguably deserve a nod if their whisky is “up there” in the quality stakes.

What about availability? One of the biggest issues in the Australian whisky industry at the moment is the sheer difference in size and scale of the players. Some Australian whisky brands are widely available through retail; others are just “cellar door” sales (usually via their own website) or sold at local community markets. Some of the more widely respected whiskies are coming out of small operations with tiny production outputs, which means their releases are very limited; they disappear quickly, and they’re hard to access. Do we thus give a nod to the players who simply have product that’s more widely accessible and have more visibility? (Pssst….the answer is no.  But I’m sure the above considerations got you thinking!)

Another aspect that could be considered is whether or not the distillery does its own mashing and fermentation to produce its own wash. It seems Whisky & Wisdom ruffled a few feathers in the industry when we pointed out in our article here that many of Australia’s more celebrated whisky producers are merely beer boilers who rely on an outsourced, third-party beer brewery to do a lot of the work and flavour development for them. Should this be taken into account, or do we turn a blind eye and simply celebrate the end result in the bottle?

What about consistency? For reasons that we explored a few years ago in this article here, many of the newer, smaller Australian distilleries are filling their spirit into a diverse variety of casks and many elect to release single-cask bottlings. Some of these releases are absolute winners; others occasionally miss the mark…by some margin. Can we award a title of “best Australian whisky” to a distillery that releases such varied and variable products to the market?

Finally, what about the brands/distilleries that have won awards? Some folks might point to the various spirits and drink awards programs around the country and internationally, and put faith in the medals and trophies won at these programs. Whilst they are certainly another indicator or yardstick, one must consider such achievements in context. Firstly, several of the “louder” whisky awards programs are “pay to play”, or simply operate by way of popularity contests and which brands campaign to garner the most votes. There is also increasing commentary around the traps that some awards competitions hand out a statistically-unusually-high number of medals.  (For example, the oft-coveted San Francisco World Spirits Competition handed out medals to 86% of all submissions in 2021). 

Secondly, and perhaps as a result of the preceding point, not every single distillery or brand participates / submits entries to awards programs. They either can’t afford (or see no value in) the entry fee; they can’t spare the time or stock to sacrifice to these programs; or they see no merit in submitting entries because, by the time the results are announced many months later, they’ll have already sold out of the single cask expression or release in question.   As such, the playing field at many awards programs can be pretty small and uneven. Winning “Best Australian Whisky” or a Gold Medal at an awards program is certainly a wonderful accolade that is, quite rightly, shouted from the roof tops and displayed on all the social media channels – but it’s not the full picture if only ten of our 120-odd distilleries were actually represented in the competition.    

With all the above complex parameters to consider, it is thus a brave person who’ll stand on a stage and declare “XYZ is the best Australian whisky”. So whilst yours truly certainly has a list of favourites and has some runs on the board as an accredited judge/taster/critic in numerous whisky competitions and publications dating as far back as 2005, I’m acutely aware that my own personal biases will enter the equation here. I’ll also readily acknowledge that I’ve not tasted every single Australian whisky. (But then, who has???) For these reasons, I’m thus not prepared to nominate the best Australian whisky (or whiskey, as some distilleries are electing to style themselves), but I’m happy to list those widely considered to be amongst the best. In compiling the below list, I have taken into account aspects of all the abovementioned considerations (taste, quality, lack of flaws, consistency, affordability, awards), and I’ve endeavoured to incorporate the opinions and vibe of the broader Australian whisky-drinking community. That is, the general mood, comments, nominations, and opinions largely voiced through social media; and the (literally) hundreds of comments and remarks made to me at the many whisky fairs/shows/festivals/ tastings I present at or attend.    

The following list is in no particular order….

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Iniquity (Tin Shed Distillers), South Australia

One of Australia’s older players, having been distilling since 2004, Iniquity is showcasing the benefits of time, patience, and experience. Having been in the game for so long, they’ve learned what works for their spirit (and what doesn’t!); how to choose and manage their casks; how to blend; and how to produce gold.   So much so, their pick of the bunch “Iniquity Gold”, released sporadically in batches, is a consistently shining light. Yours truly wastes no time in buying a bottle each time a new batch comes out. Their Peated Shiraz Solera is undoubtedly one of the tastiest peated Australian whiskies at a very attractive price.  For more information on the distillery’s history and philosophy, you might like to read our feature article, Iniquity whisky and Tin Shed Distillers.

Iniquity’s quality is increasingly being recognised further afield, with the distillery taking out the overall Category Winner award for Best Single Cask Single Malt (No Age Statement) at the 2023 World Whiskies Awards.  

 

Bakery Hill, Victoria

Another one of Australia’s “oldest” distilleries of the modern era, having been founded in 1999, Bakery Hill has stuck to its guns over the years in producing a core-range of three different whiskies, and releasing only the occasional unique bottling or limited release. The “Peated Malt Cask Strength” is undeniably one of the greatest whiskies in the land, and has been winning high praise, accolades, and multiple awards since 2005. Many people have commented over the years that Bakery Hill is one of the more “Scotch-like” Australian whiskies, and even the distillery describes one of its core-range products as being in the “Speyside” style.  For more information, you might like to read our previously published feature article, Bakery Hill – the view from the top.  With founder David Baker slowly handing the reins over to the next generation in the last year or two, the challenge is for the next custodians to maintain their father’s high standards and practices, particularly with the length of time the spirit is aged for.

 

Amber Lane, New South Wales

A very new player on the scene, some might question how a distillery so young and with only a handful of releases under its belt managed to get on this list? The answer is simple: They are making sensational spirit and maturing it beautifully.  Whisky & Wisdom has admittedly had the privilege of tasting numerous casks and works-in-progress that have yet to be released, so we’ve arguably got some inside running in including this distillery in the list…but great whisky is great whisky. Amber Lane outsources its brewing to a local brewery, which may or may not be a detraction in your book. But having quietly watched other start-up distilleries take some mis-steps or make poor choices with their casks and maturation practices, Amber Lane trod a different path – opting for full-size cask maturation from the get-go and filling into quality ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks, plus the odd virgin oak cask. And then they waited. Patiently. The results speak for themselves, and even though their initial releases are still relatively youthful, Amber Lane’s whisky shows significantly more balance and refinement than many of their peers. More info at our feature piece here.

 

Hobart Whisky (Devils Distillery), Tasmania

Established in 2014, Hobart Whisky sailed under the radar in its early years, possibly concealed amongst the many Tasmanian distilleries that started up around the same time.  But their time in the shadows wasn’t wasted as they slowly worked out what casks and maturation techniques worked for their spirit and their environment. Tasmania has its challenges with its dry climate, and plenty of Tasmanian distilleries found out the hard way that maturing in small ex-wine casks can lead to dry, tannic, over-oaked whisky after just two summers. By 2017, Devils Distillery had switched to inhouse brewing and was filling into 200L American oak, ex-bourbon casks. Their Signature expression is one of the more balanced and consistent drams coming out of the Apple Isle, but they also put out numerous limited releases each year that showcase maturation or finishes in other exotic casks.  And, yes, they’re delicious.

 

Heartwood

No, Heartwood is not a distillery. At its core, Heartwood is an independent bottler, but the term grossly undersells and fails to capture what Heartwood does.  Based in Hobart, Heartwood is a producer that takes the spirit from other distilleries (usually new-make, but occasionally spirit that’s already spent time in cask) and turns it into incredible whisky.  And while there are many, many Heartwood releases that all vary in style, texture, and character, the brand deserves a spot on this list because, frankly, every release is a winner that displays balance, refinement, character, and flavour. For those that put emphasis on such things, Heartwood would arguably be Australia’s most awarded whisky brand, winning high praise and accolades from high calibre entities such as the World Whiskies Awards, Dominic Roscrow, Jim Murray, and many more. The brand consistently wins Gold Medals, Trophys, and – perhaps more importantly –  all-out Category Winner awards.  And it’s been doing so since 2013.

Tim Duckett is the man behind it all, and he’s seemingly perfected the art of shaping and concocting spirit to remove flaws and achieve the desired flavour profiles. Many releases are effectively blended malts, using spirit from different distilleries, cask types, and peating levels to put together a recipe where the result is, indeed, greater than the sum of the parts. Want to know more? Whisky & Wisdom has written numerous articles about Heartwood (as well as its sister brand, Tasmanian Independent Bottlers); why not start with this article we wrote here?

 

Black Gate, New South Wales

Brian and Genise Hollingworth founded Black Gate in outback NSW back in 2009. Dealing with a hot, dry climate (i.e. very low humidity) can be a challenge for maturation, but Black Gate makes an unusually rich and oily spirit that seemingly dovetails perfectly with the casks they fill and their environment. A small-scale distillery with a small output (around 3,000 litres a year), their releases are highly limited and get snapped up quickly. Taste one, and you’ll learn why.  

 

Fleurieu, South Australia

Fleurieu is one of those marvelous Aussie distilleries that quietly goes about its business, not really making much of a song and dance on social media or shouting its name from the rooftops. One of the reasons for this is that they don’t need to – plenty of people are doing the rooftop shouting for them. One of the industry’s many husband and wife operations, Gareth & Angela Andrews started out producing beer in 2004 before adding whisky distilling to their CV’s in the mid-2010’s. Their first single malt release came out in 2016, and they’ve been consistent award winners ever since.  It is no accident that Fleurieu’s spirit has been purchased and bottled by numerous independent bottlers.

 

Limeburners, Western Australia

Founded in 2004 and thus one of the older distilleries of the modern era, Limeburners was a whisky that teased drinkers in its early days, putting out single cask releases that varied tremendously in style and quality. Some were brilliant; others less so. It was a difficult brand to pigeonhole initially, but that’s changed. With the benefit of time, experience, and an inventory of casks that have been aging whisky for longer than many other distilleries have been around for, Limeburners now offers arguably the most developed product range in the country…boasting a great mix of delicious, consistent, core-range offerings, together with some spectacular single cask releases. For the core-range offerings, the spirit is typically matured initially in second-fill, ex-bourbon casks; their Port Cask and Sherry Cask expressions are subsequently given a short finishing in those respective ex-fortified casks. Their Peated expression – a gently smoked whisky using locally-sourced peat – is produced via a solera method, offering balance and consistency from a solera with casks typically containing five to eight year old spirit. Their Darkest Winter releases – all single casks, and thus a little varied in character – are admittedly at the more expensive end of the spectrum, but are essays in quality and complexity.

 

The Aisling, New South Wales

The Aisling distillery, in the south-west of NSW, was founded in 2014 by Mark and Michelle Burns. Coincidentally (or perhaps not!) they’re also the team behind Burns Welding – a still manufacturing company that has built and supplied copper stills to a huge number of Australian distilleries. Founded in the wake of heightened interest and excitement around Australian whisky after the Sullivans Cove award, it would have been tempting to release their spirit as soon as it legally became whisky. Instead, they waited and let the spirit slumber for longer – one of the benefits of originally filling into larger sized casks.   Aisling also made the decision to vat and blend their casks to create a house style and consistent product, rather than be at the mercy of idiosyncratic single cask releases. Their portfolio is expanding, but focusses on their flagship Tawny and Apera offerings. For fans of Australian whisky matured in ex-fortified wine casks, these two releases are doing it better than most, and the Apera expression, in particular, is superb. Aisling’s recent limited release, the Cnoc Neamh, matured in American oak, ex-bourbon barrels, was also a winner.  

 

Overeem (Tasmania)

We’ll be up front – when this article first went online, Overeem wasn’t on the list.  That said, it had certainly been considered and it was top of the list of several highly-regarded distilleries that just narrowly missed the cut.  It was an agonising decision to leave it off but, evidently, not nearly as agonising as it was to the dozens of people who emailed W&W or commented in other forums that it deserved to be here.  So we’ll address our oversight and give it the due it deserves…

Overeem was founded in Hobart by Casey Overeem in 2007.  Running for many years in the family’s garage, it was a small distillery whose format and operations mirrored closely that which Bill Lark had established at his distillery.  In 2014, Casey set the wheels in motion for retirement and sold the brand and distillery to Lark Distillery, which only the year prior had also had a major change in ownership itself as Bill looked to ease out from the coalface. (See what we did there?)  The years of ownership under what was then Australian Whisky Holdings had its issues and, after much unrest, the Overeem family bought the distillery and brand back in 2020.  Today, it is run by Casey’s daughter and son-in-law, Jane and Mark Sawford. 

Overeem’s core-range whiskies are typically matured for five to five-and-a-half years in 100 litre casks and generally sold as single-cask releases.  The core-range consists of three variants (Port Cask, Sherry Cask, and Bourbon Cask, with the first two being French Oak), and all are available in both 43% and 60% expressions, but other interesting and limited editions come along from time to time.  (Such as the 12yo Bourbon Cask expression – an age statement you won’t see too often in Australia!)  In our humble opinion, the Sherry Cask is the pick of the bunch, (we’ve always got a bottle open and on the go) but you won’t go too wrong with any of this distillery’s output.

It’s now a little out of date, but you might like this article we wrote in 2016 which featured Overeem.

 

Ones to watch…

A number of newer distilleries have put out some initial or early releases that show great promise. They deserve a mention. Other distilleries have been around for a while now and have put out great whiskies that are marked improvements over their earlier releases, which should also be acknowledged. With so many distilleries experimenting and filling their spirit into all manner of different casks (particularly ex-wine casks or ex-fortified casks, given their abundance in this country), some distilleries are possibly still discovering which casks work best for their spirit, local environment, and maturation practices.

It would be fair to say some distilleries are also working out which casks work best for their accountants.  (We must never deny the challenges facing many distilleries with funding, cash flow, and ever-rising costs of operation.  Casks can be expensive, with the cost of some re-coopered barrels now approaching $2,200).  So, while some distilleries might arguably still be looking to tick all the boxes with respect to consistency or nailing down their house style, they’re clearly making good whisky – and some of their individual or one-off releases have been exceptional. Taking all the above into account, the ones to watch include Morris, Chief’s Son, (their Distiller’s Select releases, in particular, have been incredible), Highwayman, Backwoods, Joadja, Killara, Launceston, and the very-new-on-the-scene Cape Byron.

 

The non-malt players…

The above list focuses purely on producers making single malt whisky from barley. However, there are a number of Australian producers making excellent whisk(e)y from other grains. Rye features heavily, although some are also making corn and wheat-based mashes that more closely resemble bourbon in their production and style. It would be remiss not to acknowledge the incredible rye whiskies being made by Belgrove (Tasmania), The Gospel (Victoria), Backwoods (Victoria), and the multiple-award winning Archie Rose (New South Wales).  In the bourbon-style, it’s hard to go past Tiger Snake (Western Australia) from the Limeburners’ stable, and Whipper Snapper (Western Australia).

 

 

The elephants (not) in the room…

Keen readers will have spotted by now that some pretty big names are missing from this list. For example, how do you compile a list around the best Australian whisky and not mention the distillery that won the World’s Best Whisky award back in 2014? Well, it’s pretty simple: Things change. Some of those distilleries have deviated from the practices that previously brought accolades. Some of the bigger names you might have expected to find on this list have also changed ownership in recent years. There are now different people at the helm; some of the new owners have different objectives; some distilleries lost the people, experience, expertise, and philosophy that made them well-known brands in the first place; and some of the companies or ownership structures behind the distilleries and brands are now more interested in their share price than their product. Some prefer to focus on distilling quantity, rather than quality. (That’s perfectly fine and not a criticism; there’s nothing wrong with driving your business for profit.)  Samples and bottles tasted by Whisky & Wisdom (and other respected colleagues with whom we conferred for this exercise) in the last six months suggest the output from those well-known brands is not at the level they previously achieved.

There’s another big name that certainly deserves applause and credit for making good Aussie whisky that’s widely available and affordable – even more so for their two-grain blend that was a genuine game changer. But being big, well financed, widely available, affordable, or having won accolades 10 years ago does not necessarily make you the best Australian whisky in 2023. There are other considerations, as discussed at the start of this article.  

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As we said at the start, taste is subjective, and you may not agree with some of the names on the above list. You may equally feel some deserving names are missing. If you feel there’s a worthy name missing, share your thoughts in the Comments section below, but be sure to provide more substance and evidence than merely, “I think it tastes great!” or “The owners are wonderful people doing a great job”.  

Cheers,
AD

PS…to see the full list of Whisky & Wisdom’s articles about Australian whisky, check out the Categories panel in the sidebar at the top on the right-hand side (or scroll down to the bottom if you’re reading this on a phone) and click on Australian Whisky.  Or, hey, you could just click here!