Fifteen Tasmanian single malts on the shelf this week, a middle price near $169, some of the dearest whisky in the country. The value, though, lines up behind one distillery.
Tasmania makes the most admired whisky in Australia and it charges accordingly. Fifteen bottles here, a middle price of $169, running from the high nineties to a $259 cask-strength Lark at the top. On a shelf this expensive you would expect to overpay wherever you reached. You do not, quite. The Hellyers Road bottles keep landing under the whiskies the model rates nearest them, while the boutique cask-strength releases ask some of the widest premiums on the whole shelf.
Start with the bargain, because there genuinely is one. Hellyers Road Roaring Forties is $99, about 23% under its roughly $128 crowd, the widest discount on the Tasmanian shelf and the cheapest featured bottle. It takes its name from the westerly winds that batter the island's north coast, and it drinks light and creamy, banana and tropical fruit riding over a grassy, cereal base. For under a hundred dollars it is the easiest way into Tasmanian malt there is, and the model agrees it is priced well below its company.
1/Climbing the Hellyers Road range. Two Tasmanian rungs, one step apart. Hellyers Road 7 Peated, $139 this week. The Journeyman 8, $150. One peated and younger; one a year older, no peat. The question for each step: what does going up get you, and what does the younger bottle give the older one's drinker? Let's climb.
2/Step up to the Journeyman 8 at $150: a year's more age for $11. Those ex-bourbon casks give banana lollies and creme caramel up top, black bread and savoury stock underneath. Going up, it gives a 7 Peated drinker about 99% of what their own bottle does. Coming back down, the 7 Peated gives a Journeyman 8 drinker about 98% of what theirs does, for 93% of its price. What changes is mostly less of the wine-cask fruit, and that one year.
3/So, a yes for each. The 7 Peated if peat's your thing: light, sweet, an ashy finish like drawing on a cigar. The Journeyman 8 if you'd swap that wine-cask fruit for something drier and more savoury. At about $5.45 and $5.88 a standard drink, each pour at home sits under a $13 pint. More is not always better. Both earn a yes; take the one that's already yours.
The odd part first: the bottle that costs more is the cheaper drink. Manly Spirits Coastal Stone Sherry Cask is $5 more a bottle than Overeem's Port Cask, yet at 46% against 43% it pours cheaper — $7.99 a standard drink against $8.34. Per standard drink this week, side by side: Limeburners Infinity Solera (8yo) — $7.45 Manly Coastal Stone Sherry — $7.99 Overeem Sherry — $8.21 Overeem Port — $8.34 Strength quietly moves the cost of a pour at home, not just the price on the bottle. Where would you reach?
Standing at the bottle shop doing the sums in my head, and the cheaper sticker isn't the cheaper pour. Morris Rutherglen Muscat Barrel asks $10 more a bottle than Starward Panettone, yet at 46% against 40% it's the cheaper drink — $4.53 a standard drink against $4.75. Pour the Morris for dates, cocoa and cinnamon, the Starward for candied orange and spiced bread, the Lawrenny Homestead ($6.33, white peaches and smoked almonds) when you fancy a longer sit. The first two come in under a pub pint's $6.28, the Lawrenny just over — a yes for each.
310 bottles at Dan Murphy's can be priced per standard drink this week. Cheapest first: Grant's Triple Wood 1 litre at $1.99 a standard drink; the median is $4.16; Dalmore 21 Malt is the highest at $42.68. 235 of the 310 come in under a pint at the pub, which works out at $6.28 a standard drink.
305 bottles at Dan Murphy's can be priced per standard drink this week. Cheapest first: McAllister 1 litre at $2.00 a standard drink; the median is $4.03; Dalmore 21 Malt is the highest at $42.68. 228 of the 305 come in under a pint at the pub, which works out at $6.28 a standard drink.
The Tasmanian shelf tells two stories at once. One maker is giving you a single malt under its going rate. The other is charging well over.
| bottle | region | latest ticket | read | window price | CE 360° mean | premium | shelf rank | per std drink | drink rank | content |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Callington Mill Enigma Whisky | Tasmania | $99.99 | observed | $89.00 | $69.48 | 21.9% | #8 of 15 | $4.53 | #2 of 15 | 2 |
| Hellyers Road 7 Year Old Peated Single Malt Whisky | Tasmania | $149.99 | observed | $149.99 | $112.13 | 25.2% | #9 of 15 | $5.88 | #5 of 15 | 4 |
| Hellyers Road Double Cask Whisky | Tasmania | $119.99 | observed | $119.99 | $96.78 | 19.3% | #6 of 15 | $4.70 | #3 of 15 | 2 |
| Hellyers Road Roaring Forties Tasmanian Single Malt Whisky | Tasmania | $98.99 | observed | $98.99 | $78.83 | 20.4% | #7 of 15 | $3.62 | #1 of 15 | 2 |
| Hellyers Road The Journeyman 8 Year Old Tasmanian Single Malt Whisky | Tasmania | $149.99 | observed | $149.99 | $110.70 | 26.2% | #10 of 15 | $5.45 | #4 of 15 | 3 |
| IronHouse Distillery Tasman Whisky - Port Cask - Tasmanian Single Malt | Tasmania | $229.99 | observed | $229.99 | $135.50 | 41.1% | #14 of 15 | $8.86 | #12 of 15 | 2 |
| LARK No.151 Fire Trail | Tasmania | $168.99 | observed | $149.00 | $129.54 | 13.1% | #1 of 15 | $7.37 | #8 of 15 | 2 |
| Lark Cask Strength Single Malt Australian Whisky | Tasmania | $258.99 | observed | $362.59 | $255.17 | 29.6% | #13 of 15 | $11.32 | #13 of 15 | 2 |
| Lark Classic Cask Single Malt Australian Whisky | Tasmania | $146.99 | observed | $260.40 | $216.01 | 17.1% | #3 of 15 | $8.67 | #11 of 15 | 2 |
| Lark Rebellion Single Malt | Tasmania | $238.99 | observed | $334.59 | $272.31 | 18.6% | #5 of 15 | $13.77 | #15 of 15 | 2 |
| Lark Symphony Malt Whisky | Tasmania | $112.99 | observed | $205.79 | $115.33 | 44.0% | #15 of 15 | $6.82 | #7 of 15 | 2 |
| Lark Tasmanian Peated Single Malt | Tasmania | $214.99 | observed | $300.99 | $245.57 | 18.4% | #4 of 15 | $11.85 | #14 of 15 | 2 |
| Lawrenny Homestead Single malt Whisky | Tasmania | $154.99 | observed | $145.00 | $125.76 | 13.3% | #2 of 15 | $6.76 | #6 of 15 | 3 |
| Overeem Port Cask Single Malt Whisky | Tasmania | $197.99 | observed | $197.99 | $142.67 | 27.9% | #12 of 15 | $8.34 | #10 of 15 | 3 |
| Overeem Sherry Cask Single Malt Whisky | Tasmania | $195.00 | observed | $195.00 | $140.95 | 27.7% | #11 of 15 | $8.21 | #9 of 15 | 3 |