CRAFTING AN INDUSTRY

A C H A T W I T H G I N M A S T E R B I L L L A R K

Bill Lark is an industry legend. Often referred to as the godfather of whisky and gin, Bill and his wife Lyn pioneered the distilled spirits industries in Tasmania. We sat down with Bill to find out more about the Lark story.

SUCCESS THROUGH PERSEVERANCE

Bill Lark is often cited as the reason why Tasmania’s whisky and gin industries exist. “It’s one of those things where you have to be careful what you say because it just might happen,” Bill says about how he and Lyn came to open Lark Distillery in Hobart in 1992. It was an idea born almost three decades ago while on a fishing trip with his father in-law, Max.

Enjoying a glass of single malt whisky with some fish they’d just caught in the Tassie highlands, Bill pondered, “I wonder why there isn’t anyone making malt whisky in Tasmania?” Many subsequent conversations shared over glasses of whisky ensued. One was with a retired gentleman who had worked as a distiller in Scotland. Another with the distiller’s son, who made copper stills. “Wherever I went, I just found I was being swept up in this wave of enthusiasm from people wanting to see if we could make whisky in Tasmania.” Soon after, Bill bought himself an antique copper still for $65 at a local auction and started reading about distilling.

“It sounded simple. All you needed was malted barley, yeast and water. I didn’t know how to make a brew. I’d never done any home brewing, as such. So I went and visited Cascade Brewery, who I knew were malting their own barley for beer. They were very excited.” Bill left Cascade Brewery armed with all he needed to start making his own whisky and took himself off to Roseworthy College in South Australia to learn more about distilling.

All was progressing nicely until Bill approached the local customs office. Intending to register the distillery as a business and collect his licence, he was promptly told that was impossible. An outdated law dating back to 1838 prohibited distilling of any kind in Tasmania. And while the law was amended in 1901, it only allowedfor large-scale commercial stills, not small ones like Bill’s.

Determined to right a wrong, Bill met with local MP Duncan Kerr and told him about his problem. Duncan called federal MP Barry Jones and, within months, the law was amended to allow small distilleries. “And that’s how we got started.” Not long after, Lark became the first distillery to open in Tasmania for over 150 years.

While Bill and Lyn had armed themselves with as much knowledge as they could, they still felt somewhat out of their depth in the early days. “We were so lucky. Within two weeks of getting our licence I had a phone call from Scotland. Ten o’clock at night and I pick up the phone and it’s John Grant from Glenfarclas [Whisky]. I say, ‘How can I help you?’ and he says, ‘No, no, no, Bill. How can I help you? If you’re going to make whisky, will you let me help you make good whisky?’” Off Bill went to Scotland, where he said he was “embraced with open arms” by the Scottish whisky industry.

Many years later, Bill and Lyn’s daughter, Kristy, was awarded a scholarship to Scotland to learn how to make whisky. She now owns and runs her own distillery in Tasmania, Killara, producing premium whisky, gin and vodka.

TASMANIA’S FIRST GIN

While Bill was keen on making whisky, it was Lyn who was drawn to gin. “Lyn always wanted to make a gin, so she made the first gin in Tasmania. She started playing around with different Tasmanian botanicals and, along the way, she discovered a Tasmanian botanical called pepperberry, which is now used in a lot of Australian gins. Lyn found that on its own it makes a sensational product she called Bush Liqueur. That was the thing that really turned things on its head for us.” The response to Bush Liqueur was phenomenal, and what was initially a side project soon became a new business (in addition to the two they already had!), with the Lark Distillery cellar door opening soon after.

After Bush Liqueur, Lyn developed Pepperberry Gin. It is now known as Forty Spotted Gin, a traditional London drystyle gin made with juniper berry, coriander, lemon peel and, of course, Tasmanian pepperberry.

“Ten years ago, if I was to ask someone what their favourite gin was it would be an international name: Bombay Sapphire, Tanqueray, Hendricks – one of those gins. If I were to ask that same question now, most would come up with an Australian gin. I think that’s just amazing that we now have a market that wants Tasmanian whisky and Tasmanian and Australian gin.”

A TIGHT-KNIT COMMUNITY

Bill is proud of the sense of community Tasmania’s distilled spirits communities fosters. “When we started, we were the first ones. We learnt a lot of things along the way – what to do, what not to do. So when people came to me and said, ‘Bill, we’d like to start a distillery’ I’d say, ‘Sure, please let me help you.’ Those words of John Grant were ringing in my ears. If someone is going to make whisky or distil spirits, like gin, it should be good. On my own, I couldn’t create a business, let alone an industry. But with the help of other people making good spirits, we might create an industry – and that’s exactly what’s happened. “Others would say, ‘What are you doing? They are your competition.’ I would say, ‘I don’t see it like that.’ They became my friends and colleagues and we share knowledge, resources and learning. What we found was that we created a really collegial attitude, which I hope will be my legacy to this industry.”

While Bill has stepped back from running Lark Distillery (it was taken over by Australian Whisky Holdings), he remains a firm and authoritative presence in the gin scene. In March, Bill will act as head judge at the inaugural Australian Gin Awards in Sydney, which includes a variety of other gin-led events, such as Gin Palooza. Some 180 gins from 66 smallbatch Australian distillers have entered the Gin Awards. How exciting is that?” Bill says. “We truly have created a robust and vibrant spirits industry here in Australia.”

https://larkdistillery.com

www.ginsociety.com