With more than 80 distilleries, a growing collection of international accolades and a new generation of makers putting their own stamp on the spirit, Tasmania makes a compelling case for a whisky-tasting trip.
At Killara Distillery, half an hour from Hobart, a hedge of juniper borders gardens filled with botanicals, where the hills of the Coal River Valley roll away towards kunanyi/Mount Wellington.
On clear nights, you can see the Aurora Australis. Soon, barley will be growing in the lower paddock.
“It’s really peaceful,” says second-generation distiller Kristy Lark-Booth, who founded Killara in 2016, making her the first female distillery owner-operator in Australia.
It’s here she produces small-batch whisky, gin and spirits made with pure water, local ingredients and a hands-on approach.
Killara is part of a much bigger story playing out across Tasmania, where whisky makers are drawing on the island’s wild landscape, cool climate and agricultural heritage to create an increasingly sought-after spirit.
With over 80 distilleries, Tasmania represents the highest density of whisky-makers in Australia, ranging from boutique operations to global exporters.
The world is starting to take notice. At the 2026 World Whiskies Awards, Tasmanian distilleries collected 80 medals, 14 category awards and five Icons of Whisky honours.
For Lark-Booth, whose parents Bill and Lyn helped restart Tasmania’s whisky industry 35 years ago, it’s well-earned international recognition for a small region “full of passion and knowledge” that is “hitting goals”.
“The whisky scene is so exciting right now. I think we’re at the cusp of really gaining momentum and taking Tasmania to the world,” she says. “We’re all just poised, ready to jump – and the jump is just about to happen.”
A new world of whisky
Tasmania’s modern whisky story began in 1992, when Bill Lark challenged a prohibition that had kept legal distilling dormant for more than a century. Widely regarded as the godfather of Australia’s new-world whisky movement and the founder of Lark Distillery, he helped establish an industry that has grown substantially in the past decade.
With a still outside her bedroom window growing up, Lark-Booth was immersed in the world of distilling from an early age. She remembers sitting around the table helping her parents bottle and label products, and watching as they supported other distillers to develop their skills and establish their own businesses.
“Dad always said he wanted to make the best whisky he possibly could and wants others to make the best whisky they can. It’s great to see that legacy of helping people is passed on.”
The term ‘new world’ encompasses an emerging category of whisky produced outside of Scotland and Ireland by distillers utilising non-traditional methods and a focus on provenance.
For Lark-Booth, “new world” is less about a particular flavour profile than a place making waves on the global whisky stage. Scotland and Ireland have centuries of tradition behind them, but Tasmania’s relatively young industry has room to experiment while respecting the craft’s fundamentals.
“We’re proudly Tasmanian. We’re not even remotely trying to be Scottish,” she says.
Makers across the island produce everything from single malts to whiskies drawing on Irish and American styles, each with its own interpretation. “In terms of new world whisky, I think we’re pushing boundaries, we’re growing, we’re expanding.”
A question of terroir
Tasmania is “a really special environment to be maturing and making whisky”, says Lark-Booth.
Exposed to the Roaring Forties, which are powerful westerly winds that circle the Southern Ocean, the island experiences rapidly changing weather and pressure systems. Lark-Booth says these shifting conditions encourage interaction between the whisky and the wood during maturation, helping the spirit develop throughout the year.
But climate is just one part of what gives Tasmanian whisky its sense of place.
“Tasmania has its own terroir,” she says. “It’s those differences in climate, in altitude, in temperature. We have some of the cleanest, purest air and water in the world.”
Then there’s the landscape itself. Coastal distilleries such as Furneaux on Flinders Island work in close proximity to the sea, where the maritime climate becomes part of the maturation story.
At Spring Bay Distillery on Tasmania’s east coast, even the rainwater carries traces of the sea.
“It’s so close to the ocean there’s a bit of salinity that comes through in the rainwater. It’s a bit like cooking where you don’t taste the salt, but it enhances the flavour.”
Further inland, at Western Tiers Distillery in Westbury, the team uses water sourced from the Highland Lakes and names its spirits after nearby landmarks. It’s a connection to place that’s as much about mountain water as it is about the climate and geography in which the spirit matures.
Tasmanian peat has a different character from Scottish peat, too, with a toastier, earthier flavour profile.
Some makers are also growing their own barley, bringing grain production closer to the distillery. The result is not one definitive Tasmanian style, but a range of whiskies with a strong sense of provenance.
Make a trip of it
With 80 distilleries spread across the island, Tasmania makes the ideal whisky-focused holiday.
Every August, Tasmanian Whisky Week brings the whisky community together for seven days of events and experiences. Outside of that, Lark-Booth suggests allowing five to seven days to explore more than one region.
Launceston Distillery in the north is a good starting point, where single-malt whisky is handcrafted in an historic aviation hangar.
From there, travellers can head down the East Coast towards Bicheno, where Waubs Harbour’s former oyster hatchery is now home to a working distillery and salt-laden air permeates the bond stores where whisky barrels age.
Alternatively, the Midlands route towards Hobart takes you through the historic sandstone town of Oatlands, home to Callington Mill and its 1837 windmill.
And in Hobart, Lark Distillery now has three venues, including a working whisky village, cellar door and a whisky bar, The Still.
Visitors to Killara can taste a special release for its tenth anniversary this year: an “infinity cask”, created by reserving a portion of every cask the distillery has bottled since its beginnings and marrying the samples together.
The result is a living record of Killara’s first decade, one that will continue to evolve as more whisky is added over time.
For travellers keen to venture further, King Island Distillery is a destination in its own right, with the island’s exposed position in Bass Strait producing micro-batches of whisky that channel the rugged coastline.
Tasmania’s whisky industry may still be young by international standards, but its makers are earning recognition well beyond the island.
With so many distilleries to discover, there’s enough variety for a week-long trip and plenty of reasons to return.
“It’s a really exciting time to visit,” says Lark-Booth of an industry whose next chapter is only just beginning.
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