On tasting: Sullivans Cove Millennium Gold, Sullivans Cove American Oak Cask Strength ‘HH0270’, ‘HH0200’ and American Oak 17 year old ‘HH0481’; French Oak Cask Strength ‘HH0511’ and French Oak 16 Year Old ‘HH0516’, and the Double Cask ‘DC072’
It’s not a simple task to properly unpack the history of Sullivans Cove whisky. The distillery that was founded by Robert Hosken in 1994 at Hobart’s old Gasworks is so far removed from the current brand that most industry folks like to pretend it never happened.
Hosken was something of a visionary for Tasmanian whisky and spirits production. But consider the legal trouble he was eventually mired in, from being issued court orders by the ACCC for misleading labelling, to his subsequent prosecutions for insolvent trading, and it’s little wonder many prefer to bury the Hosken part of the story deep under the cellar.
Left: Robert Hosken, developer and Sullivans Cove founder; Right: Old Gasworks, Hobart – The Mercury
On top of that, a number of the pioneering figures in Tasmanian whisky worked for Sullivans Cove in its formative years.
Lyn Lark was one of the original distillers when Hosken was in charge. Bill Lark then did a stint as general manager during the Highland Holdings period, when investors Tom Elvin and Neville Parton acquired the business in 1999 (something Lark Distilling recently drew attention to with the ‘Legacy’ bottlings).
Patrick Maguire worked as a still hand in the Hosken era, then as a full time distiller during the Highland Holdings period under Bill. Pat then took over the business in 2004 with two other investors, and over the next 15 years, steadily built the brand into the version fans know and love today.
Here’s a basic breakdown of the different periods:
The Hosken Era (1994-1999): Hosken acquires the Gasworks site and opens the distillery in December 1994; ‘Sullivans Cove Premium Whisky’ is released (see below), a blend of Scotch whisky sourced from the Invergordon Distillery – the bottling subsequently lands Hosken in court. Sullivans Cove ‘First Edition’ is released, a two year old distilled in March 1995 and bottled in March 1997. In 1998, Hosken is charged and convicted for insolvent trading.
Highland Holdings (1999-2004): in 1999, Sullivans Cove is purchased by Canberra-based investors Tom Elvin and Neville Parton under the joint company name Highland Holdings; production is improved and increased at the Gasworks site and numerous Sullivans Cove whiskies are bottled in subsequent years. Elvin and Parton fall out over unpaid debts and the business goes into liquidation in 2003.
The Maguire Era/Tasmania Distillery (2004-2016): Patrick Maguire and two other investors purchase the distillery and all its stock; the distillery is moved to an industrial park in Cambridge, two sheds down from its current location. By 2008, Maguire completely redesigns Sullivans Cove livery to its modern version and releases three core bottlings: American Oak, French Oak and the Double Cask. In March 2014, Sullivans Cove French Oak HH0525 wins world’s best single malt at the World Whiskies Awards.
The Sable Era (2016-present): Sullivans Cove is sold to a Melbourne-based family business headed by Adam Sable for an undisclosed sum; a number of new single cask and age statement bottlings are released, including a 21 year old, Australia’s oldest official distillery bottling to date.
For this review, the first of three on Sullivans we’ll publish in coming months, I wanted to look at whisky distilled during the Highland Holdings years and just before in the case of the Millennium Gold – a unicorn bottling distilled in the Hosken era and then bottled in 2000.
There were numerous whiskies bottled in the ‘HH’ years (there’s a great breakdown on the Sullivans website). I tasted a few of these years ago, and while they’re not the worst, I can see why Pat Maguire made it his mission to buy them up and take them off the market – they’re miles away from his ultimate vision for the brand.
‘Sullivans Cove Premium Whisky’ – the ‘Tasmanian Scotch’ bottled in 1994 that landed Robert Hosken in court
I’ve been lucky to try hundreds of Sullivans Cove whiskies over the years, most extensively when I was part of an independent tasting audit of Sullivans whisky stocks a few years back.
It’s a whisky I’ve always enjoyed, but never been particularly inspired by. Sullivans is the most Scottish of all the early Tasmanian malts, the best copy (despite the idiosyncratic production approach with the Charantais alembic still and wash produced by separate breweries).
That’s one of the reasons it’s performed so well in competitions overseas: internationally, it drinks like a heavy, old school Scottish malt (a serious achievement), especially those from worm tub condensers – Craigellachie, Mortlach, Benrinnes, etc.
The Sullivans Cove worm tub condenser
But on the flip side, Sullivans rarely stands out in spirits competitions in Australia.
The Sullivans subtlety often gets overlooked next to Australia’s big cask driven malts, although that’s been turned around somewhat in recent years with unique Sullivans single cask releases and an intense focus on only bottling the most complex whisky the team can find.
These days, anything Sullivans is fanatically collected, and the secondary market has driven these whiskies out of the hands of drinkers and into the hands of flippers (nearly all of the bottlings reviewed below would now fetch $1500-2000+ each).
It’s a shame, because the best fun you can have tasting Sullivans Cove is side by side: each single cask has its own signature, and when you explore whiskies bottled in different eras, you really get a sense of how the spirit progresses with time in barrel.
