Milestone malts and The Whisky Club: the home of Australia’s most important whiskies

The Whisky Club has partnered with Sullivans Cove distillery to release the most important whisky in Australia’s craft spirits industry.

This is the first time Tasmania’s Sullivans Cove – or any Australian whisky – has been bottled at 25 years old, making it the oldest ever Sullivans Cove and the oldest ever Australian single malt.

This single cask, 25 Year Old Single Cask HH0010, is the brother barrel to the legendary 2000 vintage, cask HH0525. Awarded World's Best Single Malt in 2014, Cask HH0525 put Aussie whisky on the world map, making it one of the most important Australian whiskies ever.

Not only is Sullivans Cove 25 Year Old Single Cask HH0010 the oldest Australian whisky, it’s believed to be one of the oldest ever to emerge from any continuously operating new world whisky distillery.

Single Cask HH0010, according to distillery manager Heather Tillot, is “…a profound display of age and character, and an enduring piece of Tasmanian and global whisky history.” 

Laid down in 1999 by then distillery manager and owner, Patrick Maguire, Single Cask No HH0010 was matured in 300L American Oak Refill cask.

“To see two of our casks mature out to 25 years is  something we did not expect,” Maguire says. ”These casks were filled during the early days of the distillery and distilling in Tasmania. We had hopes that our locally grown barley and pure Tasmanian water would be the basis for great things.”

The Whisky Club is proud to give Members first access to this historic whisky, and we’re thrilled to partner with Australia’s most important distilleries to bring our Members these milestone malts as our local whisky industry comes of age.

Members have early exclusive access to this this historic malt. Available to buy now in your account. If you’re not a Member, join free now to own your piece of Australian whisky history. 

“From The Decade Series to Sullivans Cove Single Cask HH0010, we bring Members some of the most important releases in Aussie whisky history,” says The Whisky Club’s Director of Whisky Seamus Carroll. “We like to think being a Member of the Club is like having VIP access to an Aussie whisky museum with a catalogue of the country’s most significant releases.”

In December last year, we released the grand finale in The Australian Decade series – the oldest ever multi-distillery collection of Australian whiskies from some of the country’s founding whiskymakers.

It was a celebration of our local industry coming of age and the very first time Australian 10-year-old whiskies have ever stood side-by-side in a series.

“This series marks an important milestone for Australian whisky, which has grown from 28 whisky distilleries in 2014 to over 150 distilleries in 2024,” said The Whisky Club’s Co-Founder, Emily Ashbolt Cason.

“For some of the founding distilleries we’ve worked with on The Decade Series, this is the first time they’ve released 10-year-old whisky, and we’re humbled to now be bringing it to Australian whisky drinkers around the country,” Ashbolt Cason said of the five-part series.

The inaugural bottle in the series was the Bakery Hill 10 Year Old Single Cask, the first ever 10-year-old age statement whisky from mainland Australia’s founding craft single malt distillery.

Then came Overeem 10 Year Old Lightly Peated Sherry Cask - the first ever 10-year-old from one of Australia’s founding distilleries and one of the last casks distilled by Aussie whisky legend Casey Overeem himself.

The third release in the Australian Decade Series was Limeburners 10 Year Old Created Exclusively for The Whisky Club. This was the first ever ten-year-old and age statement from the Western Australian distillery, and also their oldest release to date.

The fourth much-anticipated bottle in the history-making series was the McHenry 10 Year Old French Oak Port Cask: Cask Strength - the first cask strength 10-year-old from Australia's southernmost whisky distillery.

And the series concluded with Hellyers Road 10 Year Old Peated & Pedro Ximénez. This was the first ever peated Sherry whisky from one of the modern Australian whisky industry’s four founding distilleries. 

Back in October 2023, we released the Hellyers Road 21 Year Old Single Cask. At that time, it was the oldest official bottling of an Australian single cask to date. It was a huge milestone for the Hellyers Road, the oldest continually operating whisky distillery in the country.

Fully matured in American Oak cask (number #2157.05) and filled on 6th June 2002, the single malt was distilled by one of the founders of the modern Australian whisky industry.

“I understand why this cask was set aside early during its life for longer maturation,” said Hellyers Road Head Distiller Fiona Coutts. “I am very fortunate to be beneficiary of the foresight from Pokes and Halpin who earmarked casks for extensive maturation early on, allowing us to live up to our position as Australia’s oldest continually operating whisky distillery.”

In October this year, Overeem, one of Australia’s founding distilleries celebrated 20 years of distilling. We collaborated with them to create a release to celebrate with Whisky Club Members – Overeem Very Old Port Casks. 

And they pulled out all the Port Cask-stops for this, as Jane Overeem explains: “This might be the perfect expression of our love for South Australian Port casks – it’s classic Overeem Port Cask, but even richer, fuller and longer, thanks to the age and quality of the casks we used.”

In July 2022, we released Lark The Rising Tide to mark 30 years of Australia’s craft distilling community. We were truly humbled to present one of the most significant Australian whiskies to our Members.

In celebration of this very special moment in Australian distilling history, we worked with Bill himself, together with his successor, Chris Thomson, to create an iconic whisky to celebrate the anniversary of 30 years of craft distilling in Australia.

A marriage of single malts from six Tasmanian distilleries not only close to Bill’s heart but those that represent the DNA of Tasmanian whisky, The Rising Tide showcased the spirit that put Tassie whisky on the global map.

Earlier that year, we released Lark 30th Anniversary Edition, a monumental whisky to celebrate a milestone, made by the country’s founding distillery for Australia’s biggest community of whisky lovers.

It was a celebration of Bill and Lyn Lark (AKA the Godparents of Tasmanian whisky) and the three-decade anniversary of the pair who established the Australian single malt industry. It was, as the Godfather himself put it, “Tasmanian single malt at its best.”

The Whisky Club is honoured to share unparalleled relationships with the country’s best distilleries, and we’re proud that the country’s founding distilleries celebrate their milestones, and their most iconic releases with our community. 

If you want Australia’s best whisky, from the founding distilleries to the rising local stars, then join free now.