Australia has really pushed itself to the forefront of the whisky world in the past few years. The combination of traditional methods and innovative new ideas has created some truly remarkable releases from the distilleries based there.
This was highlighted in 2014 when Sullivan's Cove, made in Cambridge, Tasmania, was named the world's best single malt at the World Whisky Awards.
Tasmania is very much the hub of whisky distilling in Australia, with pioneers such as Bill Lark who has been crafting whisky there for over 20 years. It's easy to see why Bill thought making whisky on Tasmania was a good idea - with its fields of barley, fresh water and naturally cultivated peat it has everything you'd need to make a single malt whisky. However, distilling had been banned in Tasmania in 1838 and Bill had to petition to change the law in order to start creating the whisky he so dearly wanted to. In 1992 the law was changed the Bill Lark's house became Tasmania's first legal distillery in over 150 years.
As the reputation and popularity of Australian whisky grows, so does the number of distilleries. This is an exciting territory in the world of whisky with lots new ideas and techniques being used and developed. We're very much looking forward to the next few years to see how Australian whisky develops.