Sullivans Cove

Founded in 1994 and named for the harbour where Hobart was first settled, Sullivans Cove spent its early years in obscurity — until cask HH525, a French oak barrel of Tasmanian malt, was named World's Best Single Malt at the 2014 World Whiskies Awards, the first bottle from outside Scotland or Japan ever to win. The distillery works slowly: local brewing barley (much of it via Cascade, Australia's oldest brewery), long fermentations, a single pair of stills, and bottling cask by cask so every release is its own small event. Prices went vertical after 2014; the quality stayed.