Whisky Guide > Australian Whisky

What is Australian Whisky?

The rules around what constitutes a whisk(e)y in Australia are not as well defined as in some countries. The short version is it has to be a spirit made from cereal grain that smells, tastes and looks like whisk(e)y (phew - thank goodness for that!) that has been aged in wood (i.e. shoved in a barrel or similar) for at least 2 years (no specific mention of oak strangely). Whisk(e)y in Australia can legally be bottled as low as 37% ABV (compared with a minimum of 40% ABV in the US and UK and 43% ABV in the Republic of South Africa - the low ABV in Australia apparently a holdover from the early 1900's due to war rationing and the temperance movement). These loose regulations have allowed for some 'innovative' or 'blasphemous' whiskies to emerge on the local scene depending on your point of view. We'll go into more depth about this another time.

From the above rules we can infer then that Australian whisk(e)y is a 2 year old+ spirit made following the above rules, in Australia.

To date the vast majority of modern era Australian whisk(e)y has been made in a similar fashion to Scotch and aged in either Sherry/Apera (Apera an Australian term for Australian made Sherry style fortified wine), Port/Tawny (Tawny being an Australian term for locally made Port style fortified wine) or ex-Bourbon barrels. Virgin Oak is also being used to a lesser extent but is growing in popularity.

Are there many types of Australian Whisky

This one is easy - yep.  Thanks to the fairly lax laws and regulations around what constitutes whisk(e)y in this country and the varied backgrounds and ideas (good or otherwise!) being brought to the table by the large and growing number of distillers and distilleries, pretty much every style of whisk(e)y is being made - even some that definitely wouldn't qualify as such in other countries.

We have compiled a basic rundown of the existing popular styles and a brief spiel on the distillers and/or distilleries having a go at them.

Peated whisky fans need not fret either - for whisky made using Australian peat (which is generally much less pungent/medicinal than the stuff from Islay) you can get whisky from Lark and Belgrove (among others - once again going of the top of our heads here - aka easy mode) that use Australian sourced peat. Laws on 'mining' peat vary from state to state and territory and is a bit of a minefield of red tape (like most everything these days) so Australian peat is not as easy to come by as you might expect.

Also, none of the larger Australian malting houses (who normally produce malted barley for beer - our favourite four letter word) are kilning or drying malt at scale with peat yet which is also an impediment.  Most of the 'peated' malt made in Australia is made using a technique where the already malted barley is moistened and then has the peat smoke introduced to it.  Results so far although delicious, rarely see the peat characteristics hit the same intensity and levels as the more heavily peated Scottish barley out there.

To circumvent this some Australian producers are importing barley that has been peated in the traditional fashion, i.e. the barley is dried at the end of the malting process by peat fired kilns, from Scotland and making whisky from it locally.

Black Gate from Mendooran in NSW are one such example of an Australian distillery making peated whisky using Scottish peated barley which tends more towards the Islay style of peated whisky but with the big, brash flavour Aussie whisky and particularly Black Gate whisky are known for.

This is a drop in the ocean of what's already available and what is coming down the pipeline.  It is rare for a week to go by without a new release on the local market or news of a new distillery breaking ground.  It is an exciting time to be a whisk(e)y drinker in Australia



Who makes Australian Whisky?

Historically - a lot of people have made whisk(e)y or something approximating it in Australia - some legally, some not so much. In 1838 the then Governor of Tasmania, John Franklin introduced some legislation which overnight killed off the burgeoning Tasmanian distilling scene (16 distilleries had popped up in just 16 years!). Federation in 1901 saw this legislation go nationwide and it wasn't until a certain Mr. Bill Lark (The unofficial Godfather of modern Australian whisky) petitioned the government to amend the legislation which effectively banned small scale distilling (which copper pot stills effectively are by definition) in the early 1990's, no one was making small volume (sometimes referred to as craft) spirits or whisk(e)y at all. Prior to this distilleries were either making large volumes of spirits (think Bundaberg) or not at all.

Why?

This questions has many answers and depending on who you ask you will receive different answers. As best as we can surmise its mainly for the following more common reasons;

1. Because we can - Whisk(e)y is the best, so why wouldn't you want to make some on your home turf and share it with friends, family, the country and the world?
2. A general trend towards less, but more considered drinking - the rise of craft gins and vodkas along with the explosion in local whisk(e)y distilleries and consumer data from licenced venues and retailers bear this out.
3. Australia grows a LOT of barley - like a butt load (official term). Traditionally this has been used for brewing beer and animal feed and Australian barley is well regarded worldwide and is in demand. Australian barley accounts for 30-40% of the worlds malted barley trade - which means a lot is going into beer and whisk(e)y. We'd be mad not to cash in on this fantastic resource and keep sending it overseas.
   
   

Why are my whisky drinking mates obsessed with Tasmanian whisky/Lark/Sullivans Cove? Why are they always banging on about it?

Because they aren't as well versed in Australian whisk(e)y as you! There is some serious hype around Sullivans Cove in particular since they won best Whisky in the World in 2014 (not entirely undeserved - we're just salty because the prices have gone crazy and ‘you blink you miss’ their special releases). Lark basically kicked off the local whisk(e)y industry and Tasmania are doing a pretty good job establishing themselves as a distinct brand from Australian whisky off the back of their tourism efforts and cracking good whiskies. Sadly, this has been to the detriment of a lot of other amazing producers around Australia. Our advice? Try what sounds interesting to you, don't buy into the hype and just have fun. Life is too short to take too seriously and whisk(e)y is first and foremost about relaxing with a good dram in good company.

In all seriousness though there are some amazing whiskies coming out of Lark/Sullivans Cove and Tasmania in general but this doesn't mean you should overlook the rest of the country. That would be doing yourself and the other amazing distilleries a major disservice.

Bonus Question: Homework Edition!

Below is a list of some of the whisky brands of Australian whiskies that we have tried - how many have you tried? Now go out and find the ones you haven't or re-visit the ones you have :) - friendly reminder, you can find all of these and more on our handy little map page.

New South Wales

Queensland

South Australia

Tasmania

Victoria

Western Australia

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