THE FIRST LEGAL DRAM FROM THE SHOALHAVEN

Living in the Shoalhaven, we found inspiration in the Shoalhaven's illict distilling history. As far back as 1882, the rugged Cambewarra Ranges that overlook Tara Distillery were notorious for their illicit whiskey stills. Newspaper reports of the time tell of brave police trudging through mountain tracks to find stills. There was much sadness from locals when these renegade distillers were hauled into Nowra Court for their comeuppance.   The spirit was renowned throughout the colony, with illegal shipments regularly leaving Berry and Bomaderry. 

Those days are sadly long gone and the ranges lay empty of both whiskey and copper stills. Today, we honour the Shoalhaven's history and are proud to be reviving the tradition of Shoalhaven distilling in almost 140 years. 

Before there was whiskey, there was Poitín - the ancient ancestor of all distilled drinks.  It was first made by Irish monks back in the 6th century in monasteries and known as "uisce beatha" (pronounced ishka baha) meaning the water of life. The word uisce is where the work whiskey comes from. 

In the Shoalhaven tradition, and as a nod to our Irish culture, we've released the first legal Australian Poitín. Milled from NSW malted barley, unmalted barley, and oats which is mashed and fermented before triple distilling in traditional copper pot stills.  The Exile Poitín is traditionally hand bottled straight from the still and we use a different mash bill to our whiskey. This is a malty, complex, characterful smooth spirit.

Tara Pot Still Whiskey and Tara Single Malt Whiskey are milled, mashed, fermented, and distilled in our copper pot still called Gráinne - the goddess of the harvest and daughter of the high King of Ireland.  

Our whiskey is influenced by our environment. Situation in Nowra Hill on the windswept south coast of NSW. We lay between the pristine white sand beaches of Jervis Bay and the stunning remote wilderness of the Morton National Park, overlooking the picturesque summit of the Cambewarra Ranges. The cool windswept maritime environment can produce temperature fluctuations from day to night so our casks work hard.

Sustainability is a key focus at Tara Distillery. We harvest pure natural Shoalhaven rainwater, run on steam stills, and our spent grain is fed to local cattle. We aim to re-use every part of the process for waste minimisation. 

Tara Whiskey is maturing and sleeping in a range of oak casks from 50L - 300L over the next few years.