Bottle Stats

• Produced by Spring Bay Distillery
• Tasmanian single malt whisky, with a production facility located near Hobart International Airport and a "cellar door" in Spring Beach / Spring Bay, about an hour by car northeast from Hobart city center.
• “The Rheban” name is derived from a 1,500 acre sheep station just south of the distillery, which overlooks Maria Island and pristine Rheban Beach.
• Bottled in early 2023
• No age statement, but presumably it's around 3 years old
• ABV is 58%
• Vatting of 16 casks (14 tawny port + 2 port)

Distillery Key Facts

• Established in 2015 by Cam and Suzy Brett
• Family-owned distillery on Tasmania's east coast
• 2,500 litre copper alembic pot still
• Uses Tasmanian barley and coastal rainwater

Why Spring Bay?

I've spent a lot of time in Melbourne, Australia. I absolutely love it there. The whisky, drinks, and food scenes are world class.

When I visited Melbourne in March 2023, I made a point to stop in to One or Two, a wonderful, relatively new cocktail and whisky bar in the city center. I struck up a conversation with Andy, proprietor and whisky-super-nerd, and I asked him which newer Australian single malt distilleries he was currently excited about.

Tasmanian producer Spring Bay was mentioned pretty quickly. As I recall, Andy's impression was that the distillery had been producing good quality spirit with distinctive character for several years at that point. Andy didn't have any Spring Bay whiskies on the bar at the time of my visit, so I kept my eyes open for it during my time in Australia. By chance, I found this Spring Bay "The Rheban" tawny port expression available by the dram a few days later at a winery (of all places!) in the Yarra Valley, and it was delicious. There's a lot of cask influence in this particular expression, but I still gained a sense of the distilate characteristics, which for me is distinctly maritime and even a wee bit Campbeltown'y.

A couple of weeks later, I had a flying visit to the distillery production site, which is located just a couple of miles from Hobart International Airport in a nondescript industrial park. If you threw a ball, you could almost hit international whisky darling Sullivans Cove Distillery, which is just up the road. Unfortunately I did not have time for a production tour, but I managed to pick up “The Rheban” tawny port expression that's featured on the Pacific Rim tasting.

Will the tasting attendees think Spring Bay exhibits some Campbeltown essence? Maybe, maybe not! In any case, this whisky has traveled a very long way, and it's most definitely a tasty wee beastie.

Distillery Locations

Cambridge, Tasmania, Australia

Spring Beach, Tasmania, Australia

Gallery