Hellyers Road 22 Year Old Whisky Review!

The oldest Hellyers Road single malt released to date, one of the oldest Tasmanian single malts released to date, and the second-oldest Australian whisky that I've ever tried. Judging by the 21-year old peated cask finish that I reviewed a few months ago, this 22-year old unpeated single cask should be good!

When this particular single cask of Hellyers Road single malt was distilled, way back in November 2002, the Tasmanian whisky industry was still in its infancy with only three distilleries operating on the island. Likewise the mainland Australian whisky industry, with only one tiny distillery operating; Melbourne's Bakery Hill, who were still a year away from releasing their first whisky. Sullivan's Cove, now easily the most-lauded brand in Tasmania, was only founded in 1994 and first launched in 2000 - and their very early releases under the original owner were a little murky and questionable. By now we all know the popular story of Bill & Lyn Lark resurrecting small-scale Australian whisky distilling back in 1992. But things were still relatively quiet for the subsequent decade and beyond - as recently as 2010 there were less than ten whisky distilleries operating in Australia, which is hard to imagine now! The boom in Australian whisky only began in 2014 when Sullivan's Cove won the top award at the World Whiskies Awards. This saw both Australian & Tasmanian whisky pushed into the spotlight both internationally and locally, whether the distilleries were ready or not - and many were certainly not. That's not to say that some of those earlier Australian whiskies weren't fantastic drams, many were, but some others were the polar opposite. Even today, save for a couple of the larger players and some of the more technically savvy operations, many of our distilleries still struggle with consistency, economies of scale, differentiation from the competition (without resorting to shock value), and cask management. 

That last point is probably the most crucial here in Australia. Our warm climate was initially seen as an advantage, with just about every Australian distillery thinking that it would enable them to "age faster" and start selling their whisky sooner. Compounding this, most were also filling into small casks of 20-50 litres, most commonly very active first-fill French oak ex-fortified wine casks. The best case scenario here was good but inconsistent whisky, while the worst case scenario was hot, immature whisky with some huge tannic fortified wine and wood influence overwhelming the spirit. Thanks to that warm climate of ours, a promising cask of whisky can take a sharp nosedive over the course of a month, or even less if it's in a small format cask during summer, and/or located a little further north. A missed sweet spot or an indecisive distiller can easily ruin what could've been a very tasty whisky, simply by leaving it for a month or two, whether by chance or by design. In my amateur opinion, as our industry has matured and most distilleries are now aiming for more consistency, more volume, and more maturity & complexity, the main obstacles in this pursuit are a) small format casks, and b) the local climate. Casks must be carefully checked prior to filling, particularly if they're ex-wine or ex-fortified and have been shipped from overseas, plus attention should be given to charring, toasting, and/or filling strength where needed. And once filled the casks must be watched extremely closely, particularly in the warmer months of the year. Even heavily peated spirit is not averse to this danger of being overwhelmed by cask, particularly when very long fermentation periods and tighter distillation cuts are used in order to give a "cleaner" peated spirit.

Back in those early-2000s, two Australian distilleries were bucking the local trends of small ex-fortified casks. Both actually began distilling in 1999; the first was Bakery Hill in Victoria, with David Baker choosing to follow a more "Scottish" method, initially using ex-bourbon casks of 50-100 litre capacity, then switching to 100-225 litre casks for longer maturation and more measured cask influence. David was also the first to use peated malted barley, rather than using the Lark method of "re-wetting" barley that was already malted before re-drying it with peat smoke. The other distillery bucking the trend was Tasmania's Hellyer's Road - who were also an early adopter of peated malted barley. Large format casks, relatively large scale production, international export, and a visitor's centre and café at the distillery - long before any of the other Tassie operations had thought about such things. Back then Hellyers produced a distinctly "funky" spirit, but not in a Campbeltown style or a worm tub condenser Scotch style. This was more of a metallic, butyric (sour & lactic), sulphuric style which certainly did not win the distillery many fans in those early days - steps have since been taken to rectify this at the distillery, including adding more copper to the still, increasing reflux and using more charred casks. But as we know from some Scotch whisky distilleries, when a funky, rough spirit is filled in to the right cask and left alone for lone enough, magic can happen. The right amounts of additive & subtractive cask influence and the evaporation & oxidisation of the spirit can round off those rough edges and add more complexity, turning that once unloved spirit into a lovely whisky. Which is just what we have here!

This 22-year old single cask release is the oldest Hellyers Road released to date. It was distilled from unpeated Tasmanian malted barley in November 2002, fully-matured in a first-fill American oak ex-Jack Daniels barrel, and bottled in March 2025 at 56.5% ABV without chill filtration or added colouring. The 200-litre cask yielded just 62-litres after those 22-years of maturation in northern Tasmania - a huge amount of evaporative loss - and there are only 80 x 700ml bottles released, available here at a retail price of $1,450 AUD. Yes that's a very expensive whisky, but as discussed here in my review of the 21-year old Peated Cask, compared to similarly aged whiskies from other Australian distilleries and some "world whisky" brands, it's actually reasonable. If memory serves this is the fifth oldest Australian single malt ever released, after two Sullivan's Cove 24-year old bottlings, and a 24- and 23-year old Cradle Mountain that were matured in the UK and bottled by Cadenhead's in Scotland. Obviously if we had decent regulations like those of Scotch whisky those two Cadenhead's releases wouldn't be classed as Australian single malt since they were neither matured in Australia or bottled in Australia, but I'm getting off topic - again! That Hellyers Road 21-year old Peated Cask Finish that I reviewed previously was surprisingly peaty, but it also had plenty of spirit character on show after such a long maturation period and then also the active cask finishing. That was a much larger release than this 22-year old too, with 300 bottles at $1,350 AUD, so you can understand the $100 increase for this older 22-year old with such a small number of bottles available - and again, this is the oldest Hellyers Road released to date. Thanks to David and the team at Hellyers for sending this generous sample for me to take a look it. Let's dive in!

Hellyers Road 22 Year Old, 56.5%. Tasmania, Australia.

Unpeated, distilled November 2002, matured for 22-years in single first-fill ex-Jack Daniel's barrel (200L), bottled March 2025. Cask #2325.03, 80 bottles. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. 

Colour: Amber gold. 

Nose: Malty, tropical, creamy. Buttery & nutty toasted oak, damp malted barley, creamy vanilla yoghurt. Toasted desiccated (shredded & dried) coconut, fresh peaches & nectarines, touches of mango & passionfruit around the edges. Herbal honey, lemon tart, and roasted macadamia with more time. 

Texture: Medium weight. Oily, tropical, sweet, rich, and malty. Slight heat, but carried well. 

Taste: Malty, tropical entry with sweet mango, peach, and nectarine, plus some passionfruit yoghurt in the background. No, make that passionfruit curd in vanilla yoghurt. Toasted oak, a little cinnamon sugar, eucalyptus leaves, lemon tart, and a touch of sandalwood. 

Finish: Long length. Roasted macadamias, eucalyptus leaves, and more lemon tart & passionfruit curd vanilla yoghurt. Touches of roasted almonds, toasted oak, and damp barley to round things out. 

Score: 4 out of 5. 

Notes: Lovely whisky. Those fresh tropical fruit & stone fruit notes are delicious, reminding me more of a similarly-aged Irish whiskey than any Australian single malt. The fruitiness is balanced by the oak, acidic lemon & passionfruit notes, and the creamy vanilla yoghurt in the background. There's a little spirit-y heat on the back palate, but there's enough texture/weight and enough flavour to carry it. This 22-year old Hellyers Road is the second-most tropical Australian whisky that I've tasted to date - only beaten by an old single cask from Sullivan's Cove which was a total freak of nature. And I'm thinking there's more complexity in this Hellyers Road. It's great to see what their early distillate - challenging, divisive, and rough around the edges as it was - can morph into when left alone in the right cask for the right amount of time. As said above, that's where the magic can happen with spirits like these! 

But that's not all folks! The team at Hellyers also sent a sample of their flagship age statement whisky, the 12-year old American Oak. This is a small batch semi-regular release that is fully matured in first-fill ex-bourbon casks and bottled at 46.2% ABV without chill filtration or added colouring. It was first released in 2022, which won "Best Australian Single Malt" at the World Whiskies Awards, the same organisation who gave Sullivan's Cove that famous "World's Best" award back in 2014. Pricing on this one, in a 700ml bottle, is $260 AUD. Let's see how this younger iteration fares!

Hellyers Road 12 Year Old American Oak, 46.2%. Tasmania, Australia. 

Regular small batch release, fully matured in first-fill ex-bourbon casks. Non-chill filtered, natural colour.

Colour: Gold. 

Nose: Dusty biscuity malt, red apples, orange peel, icing sugar, touch of lemon zest. Slight fizzy / effervescent - lemonade? Chewy caramel fudge too.  

Texture: Medium weight. Softer, creamy, no heat, but it's 10% lower in ABV of course! 

Taste: Sweet vanilla wafers, red apples, touches of fresh ground ginger & roasted macadamia. Orange peel, and sweet glazed puff pastry around the edges. 

Finish: Medium length. Chewy caramel fudge, vanilla wafers, apple pie, macadamia nuts. Orange peel to round things out. 

Score: 3.5 out of 5. 

Notes: Honestly, I don't think I'd pick this 12-year old as a Hellyers Road in a line-up. Like many longer-term Australian whisky drinkers I do have a little past trauma from their early releases (e.g. those bottled around 10-12 years ago), but the two well-aged releases that I've now tried in the last few months, and now this 12-year old release, have effectively cured me of that. The 22-year old is I think more recognisable as an Australian whisky, aside from those tropical fruit notes at least, whereas this 12-year old is much harder to pin down. If I was given this dram in a blind tasting, it would probably have me thinking northern hemisphere rather than Tasmania, and maybe at a more advanced age, since the age is definitely a factor in the quality of this dram. Definitely worth trying this one folks!

Age isn't everything. But how many Australian distilleries have a 12-year old age statement available for this sort of price? I'm actually struggling to think of any! Overeem did release their first 12-year old a couple of years ago, which was $400 in 46% ABV & 700ml guise, or you could get a 60% ABV version for around $600. Sullivan's Cove get close or beyond that age on a regular basis, but they're single cask releases ranging from $400 to $550 and beyond, and they're much harder to get your hands on. This is the advantage that Hellyers have, thanks to those relatively high volume early days they've been laying down stock for longer than just about anyone - except Sullivan's Cove at least, which Hellyers Road isn't far behind. And Hellyers have had something of an "economies of scale" pricing advantage since day one. I wonder who'll be the first to release a 25-year old Australian whisky? It would have to be one of these two Tasmanians. The (slow) race is on!

Cheers!