The Story
The whiskies from the Bakery Hill Distillery are quiet achievers. One of the earliest ventures in Australia’s recent distilling renaissance, David Baker started his distillery in 1999, leaving a career as a food scientist behind him. His first whisky hit the market in 2004, years before many recent Aussie distilleries were even an idea, and he certainly felt the force of this isolation early on.
While the Tasmanian distillers had their island sanctuary, Melbourne-based Baker can vividly recall whisky pedants condemning him in his goal to produce an Australian single malt equal to those from Scotland. But encouraging early reviews from whisky writers Michael Jackson, Jim Murray and Dominic Roskrow emboldened Baker and assured him he was on the right path.
His approach to whisky making is slightly more rigorous and scientific when compared to some of his early Australian counterparts, and this is one reason why Bakery Hill whiskies have been the most consistent Aussie malts over a number of years. His use of ex-Bourbon casks from Jack Daniel’s, which have been re-coopered at Heritage Coopers outside Melbourne, has played a role in achieving this consistency, although some wood finishes with wine casks are planned for the future.
For many years, the Bakery Hill range has remained pretty much unchanged, a rarity in the Oz whisky industry. It comprises of the Peated Malt (with peated malt sourced from Scotland), as well as the Classic Malt and the Double Wood, the latter of which finishes ex-Bourbon matured spirit in virgin French oak casks. The Peated and the Classic are also offered at cask strength, and it’s these expressions in particular which have delighted professional tasters over the years.
Other expressions are now starting to emerge, like the Sovereign Smoke – Defiantly Peated, which utilised Belgian peated malt to create one of Australia’s most heavily peated malts. Whiskies matured in Australian apera and tawny have also been released.
Andrew Baker, David’s son, is now overseeing the distillery and progressing Bakery Hill forward. The brand will soon relocate into a new distillery in Melbourne’s inner-north and look to consolidate its position as one of Australia’s leading producers of single malt whisky.