Cambridge has been a place of learning for a long time. Since the 1990s.
It educates its students’ noses with deep herbal tones of sage, thyme, and rosemary, layered with liquorice ice cream, star anise, and salted caramel.
A Cambridge education teaches them an appreciation of roasted plums, stewed peaches, subtle hints of cinnamon quill, dried curry leaf, and honeyed macadamia.
They leave with their palates attuned to the dense, layered flavors of caramelized pineapple, rose water, Turkish Delight, and dried apricot.
Cambridge, Tasmania, is the home of Sullivan Cove, which, in 2014, became the first distillery outside Scotland and Japan to win the World’s Best Single Malt at the World Whiskies Awards.
Originally, based in Hobart’s old brickworks, in 2003 production moved to Cambridge outside the city, where Distillery Manager Heather Tillott leads her dream Sullivan Cove Distillery Sensory Team.
Labelled #HH0005 is believed to be one of the oldest Australian single malts, following in the footsteps of its predecessor release, #HH0004. Both whiskies were laid down in October 1999, with #HH0004 released in 2024. Aged in a 300-litre American oak cask, #HH0005 was transferred to a 225-litre ex-Apera cask in 2017. The liquid spent seven years in this cask before being bottled in October 2024 at 51.1% ABV.
Comments Heather: “Vanilla-laden oak, meaty and robust spirit from a bygone era, and the fun fruit of Apera have co-created pure brilliance under the unrushed guardianship of Sullivans Cove’s guiding palates. What has unfolded is not merely a finish – it’s a complete integration, where spirit and cask have truly married. Impeccably balanced, unmistakably Sullivan’s!
“And then, there’s the age – felt in the body, the texture, the citrus, the gamey notes. Telling of its time, and all the better for it.
“We meticulously select full-size casks (200L-300L) and avoid temperature control during maturation to let the idyllic Tasmanian climate transform the spirit into a whisky that is full of character – every cask unique and different from the next. Tazzie barley is a really, really interesting one because of the strains that we have.”
The 2024 World Whiskies Awards Distillery Manager of the Year’s first taste of single malt whisky was “ a massive brain explosion, almost like a revelation. It was a whole new thing that was unlike anything I had experienced. I came from New South Wales, where whisky was for Coke and the pool table.”
“Temperature-wise, we are somewhere in between Kentucky and Scotland. Tasmania has a temperate maritime climate. This has a profound effect on the maturation of our whisky. Our barrels lose a higher volume per year than our Scottish counterparts (up to 4%). As we have a dryer and somewhat warmer climate, we tend to lose more water than alcohol. This has the effect of increasing or concentrating the alcohol percentage in the barrels. The barrels are filled at a strength of 63.4% abv, and we often decant a mature barrel, 10 to 14 years later, at over 70%, sometimes up to 73% abv. The moderate temperatures and dry conditions help to dissipate the volatiles at a faster rate than in Scotland, giving us some creamy, rounded, and flavorsome whiskies sooner.
“If you use just science, you end up with something that has no soul. You must marry art with science.”
The distillery’s AUD$1,136 Old & Rare 18-year-old French Oak Second Fill Cask No TD0110 has been described as one of the most important whiskies of the 21st century.
Sullivan Cove’s other whiskies include Nova, Honeycomb Double Grain, Two Fold, and ex-Pinot Noir.
The very limited edition $AUD 2,272 24-year-old American Oak Second Fill barrel HH0004 was laid down in the distillery’s fifth year, so the liquid has spent 24 years in the Sullivan’s Cove bond store, soaking up the rich oak flavours of the second fill barrel.
“It’s a very, very full, intense whisky. If you like big Jamaican estuary rum, like Hampton’s Estate, you’ll be at home. You can trace that lineage back to 2014, and he decorated a French Oak ex-Tawny cask.
“The sensory panel tasted HH0004 19 times in the past three years alone, ensuring the cask was bottled at the peak of its flavour and harmony.”
Every glass of Sullivan’s Cove whisky is a lesson in the treacly arts and the acutely integrated interface of savoury, floral, and syrupy notes.
Cambridge schools you in the arts and science of “ the orchardy and apothecary” and “the striking interplay of savory and sweet.”
Which is the hallmark of a privileged single malt whisky education down in the southern hemisphere
