Single Malt Australian Whisky

Lark Distillery Co. is the country’s premier distiller of single malt Australian whisky. 

We’ve been in the business for over 30 years, handcrafting each and every bottle of our quietly extraordinary, award-winning Australian whisky, Australian gin, brandy, and rum in our distillery in Tasmania. 

What’s more, our labour of love earned us one of four distillery nominations for the Worldwide Whisky Producer of the Year in 2020 – so you know the Lark label is legit. If you're looking for the best single malt whisky, visit the Lark Distillery online store.

What is single malt whisky?

Single malt whisky refers to a type of whisky that is the product of the distillation of a single grain – always malted barley – at one distillery. Contrary to popular misconception, this doesn’t mean just one barley harvest, culled on a blue moon by one farmer and aged in just one barrel! It simply refers to being produced at one whisky distillery and the lack of any other grains in the ingredients. 

This is in contrast to a whisky blend, which combines malt whisky with grain whisky – often rye, wheat, or corn – coming from multiple distilleries. Lark Distillery Co.’s single malt Australian whisky is produced and aged in our distilleries and influenced by our peat bog in the Tasmanian Highlands region. By committing to the single malt process and regulations, we’re crafting a truly unique flavour. The essence of this is forever captured in our signature Classic Cask – representing the best single malt whisky, a Wild whisky.  We pursue excellence in everything we do and use our single malt Australian whisky to please palates by pushing the boundaries of flavour and experimenting with our brew processes. From our limited Chinotto release and sherry-aged whisky to our rare Japanese-inspired Rare Cask Mizunara – Lark Distillery is the leading label in Australian spirits.

What is so special about single malt whisky?

Creating single malt whisky is a long and laborious process. But that’s what makes our single malt Australian whisky so special: you can’t rush it, and there’s simply no substitute for the taste. In 1992, we became the first Australian distiller to produce single malt spirits in 154 years. When you visit our whisky distillery – located 15 minutes outside Hobart – we take you through the distillation process, from barley to barrel to bottle. To make a single malt whisky, the raw barley grain first needs to be steeped in water and aired, so it can germinate. This process is called malting. By encouraging the barley to sprout partially, it secretes an enzyme that converts its starches to sugars. 

We use freshwater sphagnum peat from Lark Distillery’s own peat bog in the Tasmanian Highlands. It is then transported to the distillery and used daily to smoke Australian-sourced barley in our custom smoker. The malt absorbs the phenols from the peat smoke, imbuing it with a unique flavour and smell, which is retained throughout the fermentation, distillation, and ageing process. 

Once smoked, the sugars are then extracted from the malt through mashing. The malt is mixed with hot water in the mash tun and slowly heated while being stirred. This process extracts the sugars from the grain in liquid form, known as wort. 

The wort is then cooled and pumped into our 1800L wash still, where yeast is added, and brewing and fermentation begin. It is at this point that alcohol is produced. The process takes approximately two days, at which point the wash is distilled twice - first in the wash still to separate the alcohol from the water, and second in our 500L Spirit to distill and collect the high alcohol content liquid. Our Wash and Spirit still operate seven days a week. 

From here, the ageing process commences, which is perhaps the most famous aspect of making the best single malt whisky. A myriad of factors can influence the final product’s impact, taste, smell, and quality – from the type of wood the cask is made of, what it previously held, and how long the whisky was kept sealed to age. With the right combination of all these factors, they can make whisky truly special and even drive up its rarity and price. 

Our single malt Australian whisky is primarily aged in oak casks carefully selected from Australia’s finest fortified producers, contributing to the signature house style of citrus on butterscotch found in our single malt whiskies. But as Australia’s leading whisky distiller, we believe in thinking outside the barrel and trying new things. We’re committed to supporting Australian farmers and industry; that’s why our products are all locally sourced. Over the years, we’ve experimented with new types of wood for our casks, played around with our peat, and tried out different types of yeast. The ensuing limited-edition spirits inspire us and continue to fuel our imaginations and tastebuds as we lead Australia in high-quality single malt spirits production. 

What is the ideal serving temperature for single malt whisky?

The ideal temperature to serve single malt Australian whisky is ‘room’ temperature – or somewhere between 15 to 20 degrees Celsius. But we do live in Australia – and those temperatures can be hard to come by! You can achieve optimum temperature by pre-chilling your whisky glass before you serve, keeping your whisky in a temperature-regulated chiller, or drinking your whisky on the rocks. To try our top shelf whisky and get a taste of the spirit of daring, visit the Lark Distillery online whisky store. 

From whisky liqueur and Australian gin to our famous whisky tasting set in Australia, we’ve got an Australian spirit for everyone – no matter how pristine or practised their palate. Whether it’s a gift or an indulgence, you can take advantage of our worldwide whisky delivery and try the best single malt Australian whisky today.