153 years of silence
Tasmania banned distilling in 1838 — and the ban held until Bill Lark, on a highland trout-fishing trip in 1992, wondered why an island with brilliant barley, soft water and peat bogs made no whisky. He overturned the law, took the first licence in 153 years, and every Australian distillery since walks through that door. In 2014, Sullivans Cove's French Oak cask HH525 was named World's Best Single Malt — the first winner from outside Scotland or Japan.
On the mainland, Starward matures Melbourne malt entirely in wet Australian wine barrels — shiraz, cabernet, apera — while Sydney's Archie Rose took World's Best Rye 2020 with malted rye.