Sullivans Cove

Sullivans Cove is Australia's craft whisky unicorn – the closest thing to the rabid fandom of whiskies like Pappy Van Winkle bourbon and Yamazaki Japanese single malt. With precious few bottles available, almost all released via ballot, and mortgage payment pricing if you're lucky enough to score a bottle, it's the kind of whisky way more people have heard of than have ever had the opportunity to taste. Considered one of the founding distilleries of the Tasmanian whisky industry along with Lark, Hellyers Road and Overeem, Sullivans was established in '94, just 2 years after Lark, but technically beat it to market with the release of a 2yo single malt in March '97. Since then, Sullivans Cove has been through 3 changes in ownership. In '14 a seismic shock hit Sullivans and the rest of Australia's still tiny local distilling scene in the form of a major international award. A release of Sullivans Cove French Oak bottled from a single 300L Seppeltsfield tawny cask (HH0525) was named the World's Best Single Malt at the World Whisky Awards in London. Interest in Australian whisky exploded, and investment dollars flowed in with over 100 new distilleries opening in Tasmania since '14. Demand and, consequently, prices for Sullivans Cove (and Tassie whisky in general) went through the roof. Heather Tillott is now at the helm as production manager, has one of the best palates in the country, and is obsessive about doing things the right way. As such, the consistency and quality of Sullivans Cove bottlings continue to improve from an already high bar.
The whisky is made from 100% Tasmanian barley, grown and malted on the island, then fermented using a proprietary combination of yeasts for maximum flavour. Fermentation was previously contracted out to various Tasmanian breweries (Cascade for the majority of Sullivans' history) but is now handled entirely in-house. It's rare to see Australian whisky bottled at over 10 years of age, because only a handful of distilleries have been around that long, and even fewer have the patience to mature whisky for more than a decade. Considering Australia's much hotter, drier and more variable climate (even in Tassie) compared to Scotland, it's even more astounding to see Aussie whisky aged for that long. But that's what Sullivans Cove does. This brand rarely puts out whiskies under 10 years old, while every other distillery in Australia considers a double-digit age statement a very special occasion. As such, Sullivans Cove continues to win awards and demand very high prices. Nothing produced in Scotland or Japan (or the rest of Australia) tastes quite like Sullivans Cove, and its put in the hard yards to get where it is. -FRED SIGGINS