If you’re a whisky aficionado like ourselves, you’ll know that Tasmanian single malt whisky is exploding onto the international whisky scene. We’re home to whiskies awarded the best in the world and there’s an ever-growing list of up-and-coming whiskies to taste. So, Tasmanian single malt has proven itself worthy but what does it mean to be a truly maritime Tasmanian whisky?

To us, a maritime single malt whisky meant one that’s truly influenced by its maritime environment. One that’s been set to rest right on the edge of the ocean (the enviable view just a bonus), so close that you can smell, taste and touch the salt that rusts the rings of the cask. To us, it had been proven that maritime influenced whisky tastes bloody good but was not yet fully embraced in Tasmania. To us, it felt like an extension of ourselves as ocean lovers and something we’d dreamed of having on our (ever-growing, nearly overflowing) whisky shelf.

Thankfully, maritime-influenced whisky doesn’t make for salty whisky. We like to use the analogy of the humble (but delicious) roasted potato. Adding salt doesn’t make the potato salty, it enhances and extracts the beautiful, natural flavour. We believe the maritime environment has a similar effect on the cask. A cask is a living, breathing thing and as it breathes in and out, the coastal, salty air penetrates the cask and the spirit inside, drawing out its unique and rich character.

From the night around the campfire when the idea of starting a whisky distillery was just a dream after a few drams (how else..?) the feeling in our guts only grew as we began to envision something pretty special; something that was a reflection of ourselves and our values and allowed us to share even just a tiny piece of the stunning natural beauty we get to call home. You know, in case you’re into orange-lichen covered rocks with seals sunning themselves, the wild ocean crashing behind with nothing for a good 16,000+ kms and the kind of salty, crisp Tasmanian air that slaps you in the face, in the best kind of way. It felt like maritime single malt whisky chose us, not the reverse. So we did what anyone would’ve done and said ‘where do we start?’. Luckily we had the best man/whisky distiller/marine biology & yeast cultivation nerd/craftsman on the job.

Ultimately, it’s all in the little things. A maritime provenance won’t make an average whisky taste great, it’s merely one of the elements that goes into creating our rich and oily maritime spirit. As a fellow whisky lover, you’ll know there’s also the water source, the barley, the yeast, the casks, the distillation technique and skill of the distiller that go into producing a great whisky (..or a not so great one). Of course, we get pretty excited about each of those too but we’ll come back to that another day ;)