Heartwood 1999 Mt Wellington 1st Release // Tasmania Distillery (700ml)

Heartwood

Whilst Heartwood’s first release came out in 2011, we really have to look all the way back to 1992 to get an understanding of this truly unique Tasmanian brand. It was during this year that Tim Duckett, the owner and founder of Heartwood, was introduced to Bill and Lyn Lark of Lark distillery. In 1992 Tim met the pair through his work as an environmental consultant and as an avid collector of single cask Scotch whisky, was in love with the idea of whisky made in Tasmania. Over the following years as Bill and Lyn began creating their own malts, gins and liqueurs, Tim would keep a close eye on them and even purchased the first publicly available Lark barrel in 1999. This barrel is ultimately what kick started the Heartwood brand. Over the next 13 years he would purchase many casks from distilleries across the state, including barrels from Tasmania Distillery, now known as Sullivans Cove. It was in 2012 that Tim realised he had a number of barrels reaching the end of their life and if he left the whisky any longer it would likely be irredeemable. With the release of “Mt Wellington” in 2012, Heartwood was officially an independent bottler. 
 
Throughout the following decade Tim, also known as ‘Mr H”, would bottle some of Australia’s oldest whisky. It isn’t uncommon for a Heartwood release to contain anywhere from 10-18 year old whisky, a truly unique selling point when many distilleries are putting out 3-5 year old products. In 2015 he launched the Tasmanian Independent Bottlers (TiB), a label that aimed to cater to a wider range of pallets. A typical Heartwood is bottled at cask strength and is often very intense on its flavours, making it somewhat unapproachable for people who are newer to whisky. The TiB label seeks to fill that gap by sourcing casks from all across Australia and even New Zealand before adding water to find a sweet spot of quality and palatability. Mr H notes that he had no real intention of being a whisky bottler when he was purchasing barrels from distilleries in the early 2000’s, but the evolution of Aussie whisky and the quality of casks he had in his possession became something he wished to share with the world.