Furneaux Distillery

About the distillery

Furneaux Distillery is on Flinders Island in Bass Strait off the northeast coast of Tasmania, making maritime single malts shaped by salty air, rainwater, and the island’s own peat. Here, it’s not just the whisky’s style that’s tied to the place—the entire production is bound to it: barley is grown on the farm, peat is sourced locally, and the spirit is matured and bottled on the island. It’s a small, distinct place with a pronounced coastal taste and a sense of distance.

History

Furneaux Distillery started with two childhood friends, Damien Newton-Brown and Howard McCorkell, both of whom have a lifelong relationship with Flinders Island. The idea took shape during a harsh bushfire season, when firefighters battled fires that burned down into the peat underground. It was the moment the thought arose to make an iconic maritime peated single malt with ingredients from the island itself.

After that realization, Damien and Howard traveled to Islay to learn from the classic peated distilleries and to dig peat by hand. In 2019, Tom Ambroz and Nicole Kennedy joined the story after a chance meeting on the beach at Killiecrankie. Six months later, they had moved to the island, and Tom was standing with the new copper stills, made in Tasmania by Peter Bailey. On 13 December 2019, the first whisky reached the market: batch #001-002, an unpeated French Oak ex Sherry cask, distilled in Launceston and finished maturing on Flinders Island. Since then, the distillery has grown from a small room into a farm-driven production with its own bond store, its own barley, and a clear ambition to make the entire journey from field to bottle on the island.

Ingredients and production

The production is built around a paddock-to-bottle approach, where the distillery grows its own barley, uses rainwater, and works with local peat from the island. The barley is roller-malted, and the peated expressions are created by smoking the grain on the island with peat from saline aquatic herb-lands, where vegetation such as salt grass, melaleuca, and swamp-grasses give the smoke profile its special maritime edge.

Distillation takes place in two copper pot stills: a 1600-liter wash still and a 700-liter spirit still, both with full copper bodies, shell & tube condensers, and electric heating. The lantern-glass shape is designed to create less turbulence, more copper contact, and more reflux, so the spirit becomes clean and refined. Fermentation is long, and should produce a fruity, floral, and complex wash with good mouthfeel, while distillation is kept relatively tight to preserve elegance, texture, and complexity. The water comes 100% from rain tanks, is held in a closed cooling system, and is only lightly filtered with sediment and UV.

Maturation and cask types

Maturation takes place in a dunnage-style bond store with an earthen floor, where the maritime air and high humidity help keep the casks cool and moist. The distillery works with old oak and uses both used tawny quarter casks, bourbon barrels, Apera casks, Topaque puncheons, and other seasoned casks to build depth, structure, and texture. There’s also a focus on slow proofing, where the whisky rests and is diluted slowly over days, so that water and spirit are properly integrated before bottling. Some releases are unfiltered to preserve as much mouthfeel as possible.

Whiskies

The core range brings together the unpeated Sawyers Bay and the two maritime peated expressions Flinders Island Peated Single Malt and Smoky Wedding Peated Single Malt. In addition, there is the more powerful Sawyers Bay Distiller’s Cut as a limited edition. Overall, the range spans everything from textured, fruity, and sweet malt whisky to a distinctive peat smoke with brine, mineral notes, and a clear coastal character. The assortment reflects a producer that wants to showcase both the island’s raw maritime nature and the rounder, fruitier side of maturation on good casks.

Whisky style and flavor profile

Furneaux whiskies move between three distinct tracks: fresh fruit and malt with red apple, nutmeg, mace, and citrus; sweetness from casks with caramel, toffee, treacle, vanilla, and honey; and a maritime smoke with brine, salt, mineral notes, iodine, and aromatic coastal peat. In the peated bottlings, fig, dates, fruitcake, cherries, and tropical fruits also come through clearly, while the unpeated style especially emphasizes texture, dark fruit, and a soft, balanced sweetness.

Visit the distillery

Furneaux Farm is open to visitors, and you can drop by the working distillery and farm, take a tour, taste whisky and gin, get light snacks, or have a drink on the deck. A guided tour lasts about an hour and ends with a tasting of the three core range single malts and gin. In winter 2026, opening hours are Monday to Friday from 12:00–15:00. Booking is not required, but you can call or write if you want to secure a spot, and larger groups or private visits can be arranged directly.

The stated opening hours are Winter 2026: Monday–Friday 12:00–15:00. Tour duration is about 1 hour.

Philosophy and craft

The distillery is clearly guided by a love for the place and a strong belief in self-sufficiency. They work according to simple principles: do the simple things well, show respect for ingredients and process, and let time work for the spirit. That means long fermentation, slow distillation with lots of copper contact, slow dilution, and a clear willingness to wait—because the whisky needs years to mature properly.

Sustainability

450 kL rainwater storage onsite.
57 kW solar system on the roof.
100% of water from rain tanks.
Closed-loop condensers.
Electrically heated stills.
Minimal environmental impact.

Latest news

5 Years of Furneaux – 2024-12-13

Five-year anniversary of the first bottling of Flinders Island maritime whisky, with a look back at the first whisky, the first steps with peat, the first small distillery at The Flinders Wharf, and later the move to the farm model at Sawyers Bay.