The Story

Joadja Distillery is located in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, just over an hour south west of Sydney. The historic Joadja town, where the distillery is located, was first established in the 1870s by the Australian Kerosene Oil and Mineral Co. and was once home to an expansive shale mine and over 1300 mostly expat Scottish miners and their families.

Mining ceased in the town from 1903 when producing kerosene from oil shale became uneconomical, and by 1911 Joadja was all but abandoned. For the next 90 years, the remnants of the town were steadily reclaimed by the thick surrounding bush, preserving the town and its Victorian mining operations. In 2004, Joadja was heritage listed as a site of state and national significance, considered to be among Australia’s most important surviving relics of 19th century mining.

Seven years later, the Jimenez family breathed new life into Joadja. Elisa and Valero Jimenez purchased the town and the surrounding 1000-hectare property at auction in 2011. They hoped to revitilise the area with heritage tours and operate the distillery the previous owner attempted to establish as a small concern for curious visitors (the stills from this former operation were in fact relocated to Starward’s New World Whisky Distillery for their early production).

Advice was then sought from Bill Lark on the best approach to reignite the distillery. The spring-fed Joadja Creek, which cuts through the deep valley surrounding the distillery, was once put to good use by Scottish miners for making sly grog, so the site was ripe for a distilling venture. And when Bill found out about the Spanish heritage of Valero and Elisa – Valero hails from Málaga, Elisa from Jerez de la Frontera, the sherry capital – he suggested they set about creating a high quality malt whisky using Spanish sherry casks from their homeland.

The new distilling operation came online in 2014 with an 800 litre Knapp Lewer still from Tasmania. A larger locally-built 2400 litre wash still was later acquired to increase capacity. As suggested, the fruity and cereal-forward Joadja spirit was filled into a variety of ex-oloroso, pedro ximenez, amontillado and even palo cortado casks.

The first Joadja single malt whisky release came out in 2018 matured in re-coopered ex-oloroso casks. By this stage, the Joadja team had also revealed they’d been farming barley on the site since 2017 for the production of a paddock to bottle single malt.

Further batches of whisky were bottled, some matured in PX casks, before the inaugural paddock to bottle whisky was then released in March 2020. The whisky was a vatting of two ex-Bourbon casks giving fans a good look at this unique offering – one of a handful of paddock to bottle whiskies created in Australia.

Since then, the distillery has ramped up whisky production while also creating a range of other spirits and liqueurs. Around 10 to 12 tonnes of Joadja-grown barley are being used to produce paddock to bottle whisky alongside spirit made from locally-sourced pale malt.

What might have started out as a hobby distillery for the Jimenez family is now gathering steam. Elisa and Valero’s daughter Emily has come on board, production is continuing to increase, and this quietly determined operation is now producing one of the more intriguing Australian single malts you’re likely to come across.

Whiskies Reviewed:

Core range:

Joadja Single Malt Whisky Ex-Pedro Ximenez Cask (Batch 9)

Limited releases:

Joadja Single Malt Whisky Paddock To Bottle Cask Strength Ex Bourbon Cask (Batch 10)

Joadja Single Malt Whisky Paddock To Bottle Double Wood (Batch 12)