C.L. Allport, Gore Street Mill, Hobart, painting, Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts, State Library of Tasmania
The Story
The Derwent Distillery emerged in 1823 from a brewery that had originally been constructed by Richard Loane in 1820. Curiously, the brewery didn’t brew any beer, and when the proclamation legalising distilling in Tasmania came into force in 1822, the site was re-purposed into one of Tasmania’s, and Australia’s, earliest legal distilleries.
To turn that beer into distillate, Loane imported a 1300 litre still and brought in the Towers brothers, James and Robert, who’d spent time at Thomas Midwood’s Sorrell Disillery, Tasmania’s first legal distilling operation. Tensions between Midwood and the Towers brothers had ended in court, so the creation of a distillery 20 minutes down the road was timely.
Two months after distilling commenced, spirit or ‘whisky’, likely made from barley, was available to the public for purchase in quantities of 100 gallons (380 litres) or more. But the tempestuous Towers brothers soon fell out with Loane, too, and they left the operation and established the Caledonian Distillery outside Launceston in 1824.
Distilling at Derwent became erratic, and Loane clearly didn’t have the metal to keep the operation going, frequently advertising distilling and brewing equipment for sale.
The distillery was eventually rescued by Irishman James Hackett, who arrived in Tasmania in 1827. Hackett had distilling experience in Ireland – he and his brothers had opened Hackett’s Distillery in Midleton, Co. Cork, right near the present-day site of Jameson Distillery. A family row had led James to withdraw his capital from the venture and try his luck in Van Diemen’s Land, and he quickly got to work at Derwent Distillery using a newly imported copper still.
By 1829, Hackett began advertising his new product range to the spirits dealers of Hobart: a ‘prime gin’ of ‘a very superior description’ and a number of cordials flavoured with cinnamon, cloves and peppermint.
In the years following, whisky ‘resembling’ or ‘equal to’ Irish and Scotch hit the town, and further into the 1830s everything from brandy, shrubs and a host of fruit liqueurs was produced at Derwent Distillery.
Whisky, said to be in the Irish style (which could mean any number of things), was even being held back for further aging and offered at a slightly higher price than Hackett’s regular juice.
Despite being one of Tasmania’s most successful distilleries, Derwent was eventually closed along with the rest of the industry when the Distillation Prohibition Act came into effect in 1839. In 1846, the premise fulfilled its original intention and was opened as the Artillery Brewery, and ran successfully until 1883 when it was bought out by Cascade Brewery Co. Ltd.
The site continued as a mill into the early 20th century. Today, some of the original distillery buildings survive and are now used as an aged care centre.
Present-day site
References:
Lloyd, Bernard. Tasmanian Whisky: The Devil’s Share. TAS Food Books, 2016.
Deutsher, Keith M. The Breweries of Australia: A history. Glebe: Beer and Brewer Media, 2014