Distillers Drams July 2009
Written by Patrick Maguire, distillery manager/director.
Another year has past and the whisky produced in 2000 is turning nine. The whisky I have tasted recently from that time is steadily improving and I'm happy to report I am finding more and more barrels that are passing the taste test. It seems age is now all that is required to get that good finish.
That good finish was confirmed in the 2009 edition of the Whisky Bible. Once again Sullivans Cove Whiskies came up trumps with scores and comments like these;
Sullivans Cove Cask Strength bourbon maturation, barrel no. HH0270,
dist 22 Apr 00, bott 22 Jun 07. Score 94.5
Nose 23 textbook bourbon cask influence; ultra busy, mildly prickly oak pushing towards faint honey and liquorice but delicate enough for a clear site of the very clean barley.
Taste 24 voluptuous delivery; the barley hangs on the palate as the oaks storm through with that semi-bourbon character which specially involves Demerara sugar; for all the oak the tastebuds are flooded as the salivation levels go through the roof.
Finish 23.5 long, with a hint of cocoa but the interlinking between the oak and barley almost makes the heart swell with joy and in the meantime the sweetness persists.
Balance 24 rarely do malts balance our quite this beautifully, Dramtipodean genius. 60% 175 bottles.
Sullivans Cove Cask Strength port maturation, barrel no. HH0544,
dist 10 Nov 00, bott 25 Jun 07 db. Score 92
Nose 24 allow to sit in the glass for ten minutes before nosing; this allows the grape to oxidise slightly and allows the many nuances of barley and oak to shine; One of the most delicate wine-shaped whisky noses found outside the warehouses of Glenfarclas.
Taste 22 juicy grape meets juicy barley. The result is, well...juicy. The oak does try to thump its way through and leaves a slightly bitter trail. But the spiced élan of the malt is not for one moment spoiled.
Finish 23 fruit and nut chocolate - with plenty of raisins; the oaks are dry and vanilla-clad but the grape, at times roasty, remains to the end.
Balance23 one of the best wine-matured whiskies I have tasted for a long while - and simply because the balance and complexity are never lost for a second. 60% 402 bottles.
It doesn't get much better than that. These high scores and comments confirm the consistently high quality of this whisky. To score high in one edition is great but to score this high in successive years is cementing our place in the whisky world and attracting attention from the right places.
The attention the Sullivans Cove is getting from the Whisky Bible has prompted distributors from Canada, the USA and Germany to contact the distillery and we are close to securing orders from them.
Marketing: This time last year things were looking good for the distillery. We were finding more distributors around the globe and orders were coming in at a small but regular rate. This gave us the ability to engage a marketing consultant whose brief was to look at our business, the markets we are in and what we can do to secure more sales in those markets as well as find new ones. The consultant has begun to investigate the whisky world with an aim to develop a marketing plan that should take to distillery, together with your whisky, to the world's whisky markets in a more sustainable and profitable way. This will take some time, initial investigations have revealed that its one thing to find a distributor, its another thing to find a good one. The consultant will be developing a system to help find or attract more effective distributors and then to arm them with the right support to increase sales. Our marketing/sales team will be heading to Melbourne over the next few months to find out more about distribution and sales.
Sullivans Cove: One thing that was identified is that Sullivans Cove whisky should be more involved with the place it was named after. For those that don't know, Sullivans Cove is Hobart's port area. This is where the first settlers set up camp to establish the city of Hobart. In recent years Sullivans Cove has transformed from a working port into a vibrant restaurant, market, art and pub precinct, frequented by locals and visitors. Events such as the Sydney to Hobart yacht, the Australian Wooden Boat Festival and the Three Peaks Race are held in the heart of this precinct. A marketing strategy was developed to get involved with the area and these events as outlined below;
As the Sydney to Hobart yacht race finishes at Sullivans Cove it was decided we should find a yacht that would take a barrel of Sullivans Cove whisky on the board for the race. Three yachts put their hands up for the honour and the one we ran with was Skandia. Skandia, a super maxi at 98 feet was the biggest and fastest of the yachts and also had the biggest media presence. Grant Wharington, owner and skipper happily bolted a 15lt barrel of Sullivans Cove whisky into the yacht and to my surprise all the whisky was returned at the end of the race. Not a drop was drunk by the crew during the journey. I guess they didn't have time as Skandia missed out on line honours by only a couple of hours after a very fast two day race. The whisky in the 15lt barrel was returned to the 500lt solera barrel it came from and bottled under a special collectors Sydney Hobart Skandia label. The bottles were presented and sold at the Taste of Tasmania in Sullivans Cove the day after it was retrieved from the Yacht. Only a few bottles remain which will be available at next years race event. The solera barrel will be filled again ready for the next race. It is planned for this to be an annual event where a series of collectors bottles will become available over the years.
See www.wildthingyachting.com.au
The Australian Wooden Boat Festival is one of Tasmania's premier events and is held at Sullivans Cove. This four day festival is all about wooden boats, from models to tall ships, its all there. Tasmania Distillery signed up as one of the sponsors for the event and it proved to be a valuable marketing exercise. The Sullivans Cove ‘Distilled with Conviction' logo featured on the festival flag. Over 450 boats flew the flag form their rigging throughout the event and these flags will be seen around the world as the boats return to their home ports. Master classes, presented by me, were held over three days of the event. During this time a few hundred whisky enthusiasts (including a few Scots men and women) tasted our whisky for the first time. Most were very pleasantly surprised at the quality and taste of the whisky, almost all bought at least one bottle including the Scotsmen who wanted to take some back home to show the locals they may have some competition from down under. A special bottling was put together for this festival as well. Once again only a few bottles remain and will be on sale together with the second AWBF bottling at the next Festival to be held 11 - 14 Feb 2011.
See www.australianwoodenboatfestival.com.au
The Three Peaks Race, a gruelling sailing and running marathon held over Easter. The race starts at Beauty Point on the Tamar River in Tasmania's north. The yachts race to Flinders Island where two runners from each yacht run to the summit of Mt Strzelecki and back. The race continues on to Coles Bay on the east coast where the runners scale Mt Freycinet. On return to the yachts they immediately hoist the sails and head for Sullivans Cove where the runners must run to the summit of Mt Wellington and back to the yacht to finish the event. The sailing distance is 335 nautical miles, the running distance is 133 kms and the total ascent is 2646m. The distillery sponsored one of Hobart's fastest and most successful racing yachts a Sydney 38, formally known as Asylum, owned (with husband Roy) and skippered by Diane Barkas. The yacht is now known as Sullivans Cove Whisky and is berthed in Sullivans Cove at the Kings Pier Marina for all of Hobart to see. Diane was once again successful winning the Fully Crewed division of the event. This event attracts a lot of media attention from around the world. In the first two days there were 90,000 hits each day on the web site to track the progress of the Race. All Australian Newspapers followed the event as did radio and TV. Sullivans Cove Whisky was mentioned numerous times across the media and a number of images of the yacht were published. The crew also enjoyed a well earned dram or two at the end of the race. See http://www.threepeaks.org.au/ .
This is just the start of our marketing ideas. These event sponsorships will be continued and developed in future years and others ideas will be explored. Two promotional items on the calendar this year are David Jones stores and the Whisky Live Events in Sydney and Paris.
David Jones stores and Tasmania Distillery have got together to promote Sullivans Cove whiskies throughout August until fathers Day in September. Sullivans Cove whiskies will be available at participating David Jones stores around the country and a special Heritage Irish Crystal ships decanter filled with our first 8 year old whisky will be featured at the Market Street, Sydney store. The decanter will be featured in a wooden presentation case complete with crystal whisky glasses and for sale at $4500. This is really something special and a one off so head to the Market St, David Jones store if you want that ‘something very special' fathers day present or any of the other participating David Jones store if your credit card is not up to four figure purchases.
Whisky Live is the whisky tasting event of the year, taking place from London to Tokyo, New York to Glasgow and this year for the first time in Sydney. Appealing to both the enthusiast and the novice alike, and with expert advice on hand and the opportunity to learn about the whisky basics, hear first hand from distillers from around the world and taste the best. Whisky Live will provide the ultimate whisky experience. If you are interested in whisky then you should not miss this. Sullivans Cove whisky will be available for tasting under the ‘Tasmanian Single Malt Wild Spirit' banner. I will be presenting master classes and attending whisky degustation dinners around Sydney in the week leading up to the event. For more information see www.whiskylive.com/australia/sydney-2009
Our Australian distributors, Barmania, will be hosting this event. A big job for them but it does have rewards. The crew from Barmania are dealing with the organisers of Whisky Live - Paris. Between them a deal has been struck. Barmania will import the French produced single malt whiskies into Australia and the French group will import the Australian whiskies including Sullivans Cove whisky into France. A fantastic opportunity for Tasmania Distillery and the Australian whisky distillation industry. The French are one of the world's most enthusiastic consumers of whisky, so this could be good.
I have been invited to the Paris event to present our whiskies, naturally I responded to the invite with a ‘Yes'. To good an opportunity to miss. While I am there I'll be visiting our potential British and German distributors to get them over the line and our Dutch one as well.
The Tasmanian Government's, Department of Economic Development and Tourism is supporting Tasmania Distillery and the Tasmanian Whisky distillers industry group with the Whisky Live events in Sydney and Paris.
The DED&T has supported Tasmania Distillery with all overseas market development and helped Tasmania Distillery become the winner of the Tasmanian Export Awards ‘Small Business' category 2008. Thank you from all at the distillery to the crew at the DED&T.
On a less happy note for me but a happy one for Paul Monks, my right hand man since the beginning. Paul has left the distillery to pursue his own business interests. Paul has successfully built a cleaning business, Tailored Clean, from the ground up over the past two years. So successful, he needs to devote all his time to it. So a big thank you to Paul for his solid work and support through the interesting times and the transition from the previous ownership, to the creation, growth and success of the new Tasmania Distillery company. I Couldn't have done it without him and I wish Paul all the best with his ventures.
Stepping into Paul's shoes is Philip (Jacko) Jackson who has been with us for a year or two now. Jacko has a keen pallet for the whisky and appreciates Tasmania's unique position for quality production. We may have lost one but as we agreed the other day, there is more for us now.
Once again if you own a 50 or 100 litre barrel of whisky I'd recommend you have it bottled and take it home. It is ready to be bottled now. For information on the costs and procedure contact the distillery on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
