The Product

Tasmanian whisky is the new boutique product sweeping Australia and the rest of the world. As the birthplace of the revival of whisky in Australia, Tasmania has a climate that is perfectly suited to whisky production and distilleries have sprung up all over the state following in the footsteps of the Small Concern Distillery and Bill Lark (the Whisky Godfather). And the whisky world votes with its feet and puts its money where its mouth is: Tasmanian whisky is good. Damn good.




The Problem

Tasmanian whisky is, generally speaking, a very small operation. Distilleries producing several hundred litres rather than the millions of litres produced by Scottish distilleries every year. The smaller output means that the distillers and experts can put more time and attention into perfecting the product. However, this means that to turn a profit and run their businesses, Tasmanian distilleries charge quite a bit for a bottle than the Scottish, Irish, and American distilleries. It's worth every cent, but having the good cents to buy a bottle is not something possessed by everyone who wants one. To buy a bottle from every Tasmanian distillery could cost in excess of $3,000 (the amount we are using as our target).

The Solution

What people need (or what we think they need) is a chance to taste a range of Tasmanian whisky to decide on which bottle to buy, or simple to have access to a dram when they feel like one drink. Those who have visited Lark, Sullivans Cove, Nant or Belgrove might want a drop of their liquid gold again to remind them of the amazing flavour or to keep for a special occasion. Those who have read Kudelka and First Dog's "Spiritual Journey" and want to relive the cartoonists' intrepid cycling tour from the comfort of their couches should be able to drink samples as their read their descriptions in the book. I'm sure at some stages of their journey, Kudelka and First Dog wished a product like already existed.

The Campaign

We want to create this very opportunity. We will make a tasting pack of 5 excellent Tasmanian whiskies chosen specifically to give both a good representative sample of the state's best export and also to provide access to the more expensive bottles. People will be able to buy this pack as an educational flight for themselves, a present for friends or family, a reminder of the great time they had in Tasmania, or as the tasty trigger they need to book in a Tasmanian whisky tour and see for themselves what Tasmania has to offer.

The use of our funds is simple. It will go to purchasing Tasmanian whisky and sending it to people who want it (i.e. the people who support our campaign). So this includes the whisky itself, and bottles, postage and packaging. We will use our discretion based on what is available to buy bottles of Lark, Overeem, Heartwood, Belgrove, McHenry's, Redlands, Hellyers Road, Sullivans Cove, Nant, and anything else we can get our hands on and split it up into packs to send to our supporters. Hopefully we can source some rare and unique drams to share with all those who pledge.

It costs about $10.00-$12.00 in postage per tasting pack to ship in Australia, so some of the funds raised goes to that, but we don't think the supporters of the project will mind a little more packing to ensure their drams arrive safely.

No funds whatsover are used for administration, marketing, branding, promotion, kickbacks, bribery, protection money or dowries. It all goes to the reward you are choosing and the means to deliver it to you.

There is really nothing to stand in the way of this project besides not getting the requisite public support for enough bottles to make it worthwhile. The whole reason we cannot do this project without your help is that there is a large capital outlay for the bottles and if no-one wants them at the price point we set then there is no cost recovery.

This is unlike other commercial operations and there is a reason this is being kept separate from our Dramatic Drams packs. We want to showcase Tasmanian whisky and then let it speak for itself. We need your help to do that. The video you can watch at the top of this page is a description of our motivation for starting Dramatic Drams, and the exact same motivation applies to this project: access to whisky for enthusiasts who support it.