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Peak industry body for Australian craft distillers

Spirits making in Australia dates to the formative years of the penal colony of New South Wales. From the early 1790s, locally grown wheat was fermented and illicitly distilled in the bushes and valleys surrounding Sydney Cove. To stamp out sly distilling and overconsumption, Governor John Hunter prohibited distilling in 1796.

The ban remained in the colonies of New South Wales and Van Dieman’s Land (Tasmania) until it was eventually lifted on 1 August 1822.

Australia’s first legal distilleries were then established in Sydney and Hobart and permitted to distil surplus local grain, sugar, molasses and fruit brandy. The Sorrel Distillery in Hobart was the first distillery to legally produce spirit, distilling malted barley in 1822. Eight distilleries opened and closed in Van Diemen’s Land over the next 15 years before the industry was shut down by the Prohibition Distillation Act of 1838. The act was repealed in 1847, but distilling wouldn’t recommence in Tasmania for 150 years. In New South Wales, distilleries producing gin and rum continued to operate, with the Sydney Distillery and Brisbane Distillery the most notable.

Queensland rum

Rum distilling then followed the development of the cane industry in northern New South Wales and Queensland. The Distillation From Sugar Act was passed in Queensland in 1866 encouraging the distilling of molasses, the profitable by-product of sugar refining. By the 1890s, 18 rum distilleries were operating between Brisbane and Mackay, and two of Australia’s most significant distilleries were established in Queensland during this time.

In 1884, cane growers John Davy and Francis Gooding established Beenleigh Artisan Distillery in the City of Logan, Queensland, distilling molasses from their own crop. Still active today, Beenleigh is Australia’s oldest operational distillery.

Bundaberg Distilling Company was then established in 1888, producing the iconic Bundaberg Rum that remains the top-selling Australian-made spirit to this day.

Victorian spirits

Further south, Victoria boomed following the gold rush of the 1850s. Illicit distilling was rife on the goldfields and surrounding regions and the Victorian Distillation Act of 1862 was introduced to control the practice. The modest duty set down in the act encouraged those with capital to enter the trade. The Warrenheip Distillery was constructed outside Ballarat in 1863 following passage of the Act.

It later developed into a leading distiller of quality malt whisky, gin and brandy, with a capacity to produce 900,000 litres annually at its peak. One of the world’s largest distilleries, the Federal Distillery, was then established in Port Melbourne by the Joshua Brothers in 1884. When fully operational in the early 1900s, it was producing over four million litres of whisky, brandy, rum and gin a year.

In South Australia, the Distillation Act of 1876 enabled winemakers to distil their own fortifying spirit and brandy. Established firms including Milne & Co, Tolley Scott & Tolley and Seppeltsfield began producing their own whisky and gin brands.

Federal regulations

Following Federation, the Distillation and Excise Acts of 1901 were introduced. The Spirits Act of 1906 also came into effect, and together these reforms were among the most progressive in the world at the time. They set down stringent labelling and production requirements and mandated a minimum ageing requirement in a wooden vessel for whisky, rum and brandy. This was well before similar regulations existed in many traditional producing nations overseas.

In 1925, the Bruce government further assisted the distilling trade by increasing tariffs on imported spirits. Conditions for distilling in Australia became more favourable than in Britain, where rising duties were hampering distillers, or in the United States, where Prohibition was at its peak. Scotland’s Distillers Company Limited (DCL) built the mammoth Corio Distillery in 1928 in Geelong to capitalise.

Corio’s first product was an Australian-made version of the UK brand Burnett’s Dry Gin. The company also created a substantial whisky program which was expedited by DCL’s acquisition in 1930 of a controlling stake in Federal Distilleries, itself an amalgamation of Victoria’s four largest whisky producers. This gave DCL, which became

United Distillers Limited (UDL) following its merger with Federal, millions of litres of mature stock to blend into new whisky brands.

W&A Gilbey’s, the second largest distiller in the world at the time behind DCL, followed suit. Gilbey’s Distillery in Melbourne was opened in 1937 and the firm later acquired Thebarton Distillery in Adelaide from Milne & Co in 1946. In the post-World War II period, over 60 distilleries were operating across the country despite consolidation occurring. Corio 5 Star Whisky, first released in 1956 for the Melbourne Olympics, sold a staggering 8.5 million bottles in Australia and abroad in its first four years on the market. W&A Gilbey’s also found success with a range of Australian blended whiskies including Bond 7 and Gilt Edge.

Brandy booms

Several renowned winemakers in South Australia produced whisky during this period, with Penfolds, Hamilton’s Ewell Vineyards and Samuel Smith & Son releasing a suite of different products. But brandy was South Australia’s dominant aged spirit, and the industry had grown significantly since the days when ‘hospital’ or ‘invalid’ brandy was prescribed as a common cure-all. The brandy industry boomed following a grape glut in the 1950s. To make use of the oversupply, the Menzies government reduced the excise rate on brandy in 1955 and Australian brandy sales almost tripled in a decade.

When the brandy excise rate was increased in 1973, partly due to lobbying by whisky and gin companies, Australian brandy sales fell sharply and never recovered. Further decisions by successive Australian governments had a disastrous effect on the local spirits industry.

Industry headwinds

High tariffs on imported spirits were removed in the early 1960s. Excise duty on Australian-made spirits was then increased in 1965. Market leaders United Distillers and Gilbey’s suddenly had no reason to produce and market quality Australian spirits with their vast portfolios of international products.

Corio produced whisky and other spirits throughout the 1970s, but in greatly reduced quantities. The last distillations at Corio were carried out in 1979–80 and the distillery was closed in the years following. It was a similar story for W&A Gilbey’s.

In the 1970s, the company flagged the lowering of import tariffs and the raising of Australian excise duty as disastrous for its Melbourne operation. In 1985, all bottling and distilling operations were ceased at Gilbey’s Melbourne plant and moved to New Zealand, marking the end of over 120 years of continuous Victorian whisky production.

Premixed pioneers

Despite the closures, spirits manufacturers continued to bottle and can a wide range of premix ready-to-drink products. In 1965, United Distillers created UDL, the world’s first premix drink. UDL launched with six ‘perfectly mixed, ready-to-drink’ cans including brandy and dry ginger, rum and cola, and gin and bitter lemon. Australians rapidly embraced this new format, and the visionary move enabled the convenient enjoyment of spirits outdoors.

It established Australia as the global leader in production of ready-to-drink spirits, which did not get established in other markets until many years later.

The modern era

After Australian whisky making briefly paused in the 1980s, it didn’t take long for enthusiasts to wonder why the spirit wasn’t being produced in Australia. In Tasmania, husband-and-wife team Bill and Lyn Lark were among the first to experiment with making single malt whisky.

But when they attempted to apply for a distiller’s licence in the early 1990s, they were confronted by an old requirement in the Distillation Act 1901, where the minimum still capacity was set at 2,700 litres. After querying this stipulation, the Larks were granted a general distiller’s licence in May 1992, the first distilling licence issued in Tasmania in over 150 years.

In the Kimberley in Western Australia, Spike Dessert applied for a distilling licence to produce rum from local sugar cane. Spike’s Hoochery Distillery in Kununurra was eventually opened in 1995. The Sullivans Cove and Small Concern distilleries also came online in Tasmania at this time.

In 1997, the minimum still capacity requirement in the Distillation Act was repealed and distilleries of every size and type opened across the country. The efforts of the early pioneers in this modern distilling revival paved the way for many small-scale producers to follow, and over 700 distilleries are now operating in Australia.

The Australian Distillers Association Code of Conduct and Regulations can be found here