Sullivans Cove American Oak ex-Bourbon Single Cask HH0231

Sullivans Cove

Arguably Australia’s number one whisky distillery, Sullivans Cove was originally founded in 1994 as the Tasmania Distillery just outside of Hobart. Second only to Lark in 1992, it is one of the oldest distilleries in Australia’s modern whisky producing revolution and experienced a somewhat tumultuous period throughout its early life. A brandy still was commissioned for Sullivans and began operation shortly after, generating everything from liquors to brandy and gin. Due to poor financial decision making from the initial owners, Sullivans Cove failed in 1999 before being purchased by a new set of investors. Seeing the potential in the distillery and the progress that Bill Lark had made at the new Lark distillery, they hired him to be distillery manager and help turn the business into a quality single malt producer. Whilst Bill was at the helm of Sullivans Cove, it was ultimately his friend Patrick Maguire, whom he had brought along from the Lark distillery, that would prove to be the biggest factor for the distillery’s long term success. After the business again failed in 2003, Patrick purchased the entire business and became owner, distiller and general manager of Sullivans Cove.  
 
The first move made by Patrick was to relocate the distillery 20 minutes away to Cambridge, as the site was much better suited to large scale whisky production. The focus was to create a top quality Australian single malt whisky and Patrick was at the helm, redesigning everything from their production methods to the now iconic packaging. Sullivans Cove whisky became a stable Australian choice in the domestic market in the years that followed, but would see major international success when in 2014 French Oak HH0525 won “best single malt whisky in the world” at the World Whiskies Awards in London. This would be followed up by American Oak HH0351 winning “best single cask single malt” in 2018, along with French Oak TD0217 winning the same award in 2019. Suddenly the world was aware that Australians are making some of the world's best whisky and international demand for Sullivans Cove products shot through the roof. With every release now being available only by a ballot and some of the world’s best bottlers, critics and collectors looking towards Sullivans Cove, it's fair to say their whisky is the most sought after in Australia. Of note is the TD vs HH tags applied to each cask type filled. The HH moniker refers to Highland Holdings, the company that owned SC from 1999 until 2003/04 whereas the TD symbol suggests ‘Tasmania Distillery’, the name of the distillery from 2004 until 2016. Barrels filled since 2016 will begin to appear under the ‘SC’ tag.