Hillwood Whisky

Hidden in a unique micro valley on the banks of the Tamar River, Tamar Valley Distillery offers a rare kind of serenity perfect for sleeping barrels to age. No rush, just time. A haven of privacy and seclusion where you can hear the wind in the trees and simply forget about the rest of the world.

Hillwood is our namesake and the place our family chose to build Tamar Valley Distillery. A small rural town about 20 minutes from Launceston, it’s a pure, unique community with no shops and no interruptions. Abundant with clean air and water, a place where we co-exist with nature and the land.

From grain to glass, our releases are 100% made by hand.

In fact, we’re one of a few select distilleries who create everything from scratch, each step of the way. We mill onsite, create the mash, ferment, distill, barrel age and bottle all on our Hillwood property.

Only the best local raw ingredients are selected. We use the highest quality yeast to produce our wash which ferments longer than your standard whisky and gives it the distinct flavour we’re proud of.

The still is where the magic happens. The 600L copper pot is an original family design, primarily powered with renewable energy.

Joining forces with legendary local craftsman Terry Harper, we created 16 revisions of the still design before we were happy with it, and then we continued to enhance aspects of it throughout the build process.

Terry incorporated distinct features into the design – a longer lyne arm, wider swan neck and modified internal structure – which contribute to Hillwood Whisky’s unique flavour. The heating system design ensures that contents of the still can never be overheated. The still also pays respect to our love of all watercraft – it has a ship’s porthole for viewing and cleaning, manufactured almost 100 years ago by the same company that built the Titanic.

Small handcrafted casks store our double-distilled spirit, which means each release of our single malt is very limited, with only 30-40 bottles per cask. The Tasmanian vineyard casks (French oak barrels of pinot, chardonnay and merlot) are locally sourced and filled on-site. Paul’s brother, Brendon Herron, is a gifted craftsman who lends his trade to coopering these casks by hand. Our other casks are made up of French oak barrels of port and sherry, and American oak of bourbon.

At least two years of ageing is guaranteed by law. We are in no rush to release our special product to the world; instead we prefer to give our whisky the time and stillness it needs to richly develop the flavour and character. Once the finished spirit matures in the wooden barrels, it is ready to bottle. Hillwood Whisky will never be chill filtered or advanced with artificial colourings or preservatives.