Image – Australian Whisky Auctions
EXCLUSIVE: A bottle of Joshua Brothers Pure Australian Standard Malt Whisky, believed to be the oldest Australian malt whisky in existence, is currently up for sale.
The whisky, presumed to be bottled between 1906 and 1924, is the showpiece exhibit in a forthcoming auction by the Melbourne-based Australian Whisky Auctions website alongside other historic Australian whisky and spirits bottles.
The incredibly rare find was first discovered a few years ago when the seller, currently remaining anonymous, came across a stash of old bottles while helping an older family member move house. The Joshua Brothers malt whisky was found along with an early bottle of Joshua Brothers ‘Boomerang’ Brandy and a King George IV blended Scotch whisky. The brandy is believed to be even older than the Joshua Brothers malt, bottled between 1901 and 1910, while the Scottish blend is a later 1930s-40s bottling.
Correspondence found with the bottles shows the owner had kept them for several decades, although it’s unclear how he originally acquired them. The finds have also been independently verified as genuine and of the period by a whisky and spirits authenticator in consultation with a major auction house.
Joshua Brothers Boomerang Brandy, Joshua Brothers Pure Australian Standard Malt Whisky, King George IV Gold Label Extra Special – Australian Whisky Auctions
Owain Phillips from Australian Whisky Auctions says the team feel exceptionally privileged to be featuring these bottlings in their upcoming auction.
‘We were stunned to see these bottles still intact and with the liquid still quite well preserved,’ says Phillips.
The Joshua Brothers malt whisky up for auction is an earlier bottling than the oldest uncovered in Charlie Leopoldo’s collection, a story we broke at Oz Whisky Review in 2020. The ‘Leopoldo’ collection has since become crucial in helping to understand and date historic Australian spirits bottles like the Joshua Brothers whisky featured here.
Melbourne’s Yarraville Sugar Works, 1872-3 – State Library Victoria
Boomerang Brandy advert, 1892 – State Library Victoria
The Joshua Brothers firm was first founded in Adelaide in 1841. Their Melbourne operations began a decade later, and as the success of their spirits merchant business grew, they expanded into the export trade in brandy and sugar, even establishing a branch of the family company in Mauritius.
From here, Joshua Brothers founded Yarraville Sugar Works in Melbourne in 1873 to refine Queensland sugar cane. It was bought out a few years after its founding, and Joshua Brothers used the proceeds from the sale to greatly expand the spirits side of their business, beginning construction of an enormous distillery in Port Melbourne in 1884.
The first spirits produced at the new Joshua Brothers Distillery, which ran both pot stills and a large Coffey still, were brandy and rum. But the firm’s ‘Boomerang Brandy’ became especially prized, winning a suite of medals in international competitions and being favourably compared to the top cognacs of the day by European critics.
Whisky production began around the same time, and by the early 1900s, Joshua Brothers ‘Boomerang Whisky’ was being promoted across the country. After the Spirits Act 1906 was introduced, the company began to market their Joshua Brothers ‘Pure Australian Standard Malt Whisky’ following the strict stipulations set down by the Act – stipulations which were decades ahead of those governing the production of Irish and Scottish whisky.
Port Melbourne Historical & Preservation Society
In the years following, competition between Joshua Brothers and Victoria’s three other major distilleries heated up, and they eventually amalgamated to create Federal Distilleries Pty Ltd in 1924. Numerous records and recently discovered bottlings suggest that anything bottled under the new company wore the ‘Federal Distilleries Pty Ltd’ title, which marks the Joshua Brothers whisky discussed here as clearly before that period.
In fact, considering the label makes no reference to the ‘Boomerang’ brand, which became commonplace for Joshua Brothers malt whiskies after 1918, this could be an even earlier bottling, possibly pre-World War I.
Records from the time indicate this whisky would have been distilled from a mash of either Victorian or UK-grown barley, malted, mashed and fermented onsite and then twice-distilled through Joshua Brothers’ large pot stills. It was then likely matured in either ex-Australian wine or whisky casks for a number of years beyond the two year minimum required.
Of course, older Australian whisky bottles may still be out there, but none I’ve seen contain whisky, and none are in the condition of this incredible relic of Australian whisky history.
Corio Extra Fine Old Whisky, Sullivans Cove French Oak HH0525 – Australian Whisky Auctions
Along with the landmark Joshua Brothers bottlings, several other milestone Australian whiskies are included in the upcoming auction. Two early bottlings from the infamous Corio Distillery are listed, as well as a highly sought-after Sullivans Cove French Oak HH0525, one of the 516 bottles that won World’s Best Single Malt at the World Whiskies Awards in 2014.
‘We hope people will enjoy learning about these gorgeous pieces of history, and discover just how much the whisky landscape in our country has changed over time,’ says Phillips.
The bottlings mentioned are now live on the Australian Whisky Auctions website, where the current auction concludes at 7pm November 27. The reserve for the Joshua Brothers malt whisky is currently set at $3000, while the Joshua Brothers Boomerang Brandy is starting at $2000.