Tasmania has some of the cleanest water in world, making it an ideal place for producing world class whisky.
Tasmania also has some of the best barley growing land in Australia. The combination of good grain and good water is the foundation of all good whisky. We only ever use 100% Tasmanian malted barley to make our whiskies.
The malted barley is brewed into wash (basically an un-carbonated and un-hopped beer) for us by local brewers with decades of experience.
We then double distill the wash in our unique, Tasmanian built pot still (her name is Myrtle). The first distillation, known as the "wash run" produces "low wines" of about 20%ABV. We then put the low wines back through the still for the "spirit run" to produce a spirt of around 70%ABV.
We then dilute the spirit to 63.5%ABV before entering it into the casks for ageing. The majority of our whiskies are aged in either 200L American oak ex-bourbon barrels, or 300L French oak ex-tawny barrels. Allowed to mature over many years in the unique Tasmanian climate - generally between nine and eighteen years.
Once the whisky has rested for a few years, we begin sampling and tasting. Our most intriguing and complex whiskies go into our single cask bottlings, allowing each cask to express its own unique character.
Every bottle of Sullivans Cove is filled, labelled, polished and packed by hand right here at the distillery. And while we're not limited to age statements, preferring to bottle our whiskies when we reckon they're ready, the small white side tag will tell you exactly what's in every bottle.
This is the most important part. We hope you do so with good company and good stories. Cheers.