Online whisky marketplace, the Whisky List, has signed a deal which will see the company sell, market and distribute Hobart Whisky in mainland Australia.
Co-founder of the Whisky List, Oliver Maruda, outlined that this latest addition to the company’s portfolio was the result of careful consideration of which Tasmanian distilleries to partner with.
“Here at TWL, we pride ourselves on maintaining a unique and premium range of products for our specialised independent whisky retailers, bars and restaurants, who will be given the first pick of these new products,” Maruda said.
“Hobart Whisky have consistently proved their prowess in creating an award-winning range of Tasmanian single malt whiskies and liqueurs.”
For Maruda, the strength of Hobart Whisky is reflective of the general quality of Tasmanian spirit.
“Tasmania has a global reputation for their high-quality single malt whiskies. We’re stoked to have partnered with one of the most innovative and progressive distilleries in Tasmania. John Jarvis and the Hobart team are making some of the tastiest craft Aussie whiskies around,” Maruda commented.
Maruda pointed to the distillery’s significant success in recent award shows as another sign of Hobart Whisky’s quality.
“In the last 12 months, Hobart Whisky won at the highly prestigious World Whisky Awards, securing multiple bronze, silvers and gold medals,” Maruda said.
“Hobart Whisky took out the Best Single Malt Australian Category Winner for their bottling Hobart Whisky Tawny Port Cask Matured. Their honey/whisky based Hobart Whisky Liqueur won the World’s Best Honey Liqueur award in the World’s Liqueur Awards, alongside the dozen of other Australian and international awards, cements Hobart Whisky as one of Australia’s leading craft whisky brands.”
John Jarvis, Distillery Manager of Hobart Whisky, also expressed his excitement at partnering with the Whisky List.
“We’re stoked to be working with the TWL team, who will continue to help us expand into the mainland market across retail, wholesale and on-prem channels,” Jarvis said.
“We’ve seen tremendous growth and demand for our whiskies over the last couple years. For us it was important to partner with a team who understands our business, products and customers, and can scale with us as we continue to grow with more mature whisky coming online to meet this demand.”
New core bottling for Hobart
Alongside this new distribution partnership, the distillery has announced the launch of a Pedro Ximénez Solera whisky, which will join the distillery’s core range.
This dram has been produced using traditional solera methods, a mainstay of the sherry industry which is seeing increasing use by whisky producers around the world.
A solera system sees only a portion of the spirit batch bottled at one time, with newly aged whisky topping up the system when bottling occurs. This means that the cask, vat or maturing vessel used is never fully emptied, and there remains some very old spirit in each batch, ensuring consistency and quality between outturns.
The Whisky List has rapidly expanded its portfolio since launching its distribution arm back in September 2021. While the first Australian distillery bottlings on the Whisky List’s books, Hobart Whisky joins existing distribution deals for Scotch brands Bunnahabhain, Deanston, Tobermory and Ledaig, alongside Scottish indie bottlings Highlander Inn and Dràm Mòr, and Aussie indie bottler Remnant Whisky Co.