I Tasted Australia's Oldest Whisky - Here's My Verdict

"Established in 1994, the distillery helped ignite what would become one of the most exciting movements in modern spirits: the rise of new world whisky. Now, more than three decades later, Sullivans Cove marks a milestone that few could have imagined possible at the dawn of its journey, the release of two 25-year-old whiskies, the oldest single malt ever to emerge from Australia."

"In the 1990s, single malt whisky was facing tough times. Scotland saw 20 distilleries close their gates in the 1980s, with seven more falling to the same fate in the early 1990s. In the same period, just two new distilleries opened. The notion that this island off the southeast of Australia might carve a name for itself in world whisky was quietly radical."

"Yet, as one of the earliest exponents of single malt whisky-making outside of Scotland, Ireland and Japan, Sullivans Cove built a dream on local grain and water, and on the belief that time would be the truest ingredient of quality single malt. That conviction was rewarded in 2014, when a Sullivans Cove French oak cask was named World's Best Single Malt at the World Whiskies Awards."

Sullivans Cove Distillery in Hobart, Tasmania, established in 1994, has released two 25-year-old single malt whiskies, representing the oldest spirits ever produced in Australia and among the oldest from any continuously operating new world distillery. During the 1990s when traditional whisky regions faced significant closures, Sullivans Cove pursued single malt production using local grain and water, operating on the principle that time would be essential to quality. The distillery's commitment was validated in 2014 when a French oak cask expression won World's Best Single Malt at the World Whiskies Awards, becoming the first whisky from outside Scotland, Ireland, and Japan to achieve this recognition, surprising even experienced international judges.

Read at Elite Traveler