The age-old tradition of distilling whisky involves just three simple ingredients: water, yeast, and barley. It is the purity of these elements that creates the complexity of character evident in the finest single malts. Tasmania is celebrated around the world for the untouched splendour of its natural environment, yielding an exceptional purity of barley, yeast, and water that is the very essence of the Nant Single Malt.

 

Water

It is difficult to overstate the importance of water quality in the distilling of a premium Single Malt. Water literally is the lifeblood of any environment — the chief benchmark by which the natural essence of a place is measured. Apart from its direct role as an ingredient, water naturally informs the character of the remaining elements used in distilling.

Tasmania is rightly celebrated around the world for the purity of its water and, indeed, for the matchless state of its air quality and overall environment. In the case of Nant Estate, the lifeblood of our local environment are the highland waters of the Tasmanian Central Plateau, winding its way along the Clyde River. The distillery draws its water directly from the historic Mill Pond on the estate which is fed by the Clyde River.

Conditioned equally by the natural occurrence of granite, sandstone and peat, our water ensures a magnificent end result.

 

Malting

The Nant Single Malt is made with 100% Tasmanian barley, grown and harvested in the fertile fields of Tasmania. The Nant Single Malt will also profit enormously from the presence of central highlands peat — much sought after for adding character in the malting process. The heritage listed stable complex on the Nant Estate is being converted into traditional floor maltings.

To malt barley first the grain is steeped in water, triggering the first stages of germination in which some of the starch (carbohydrates) are converted into sugars and enzymes. The grain is then rapidly dried out, ending the germination and leaving the sugars trapped within the grain husk.

 

Mashing and Brewing

The next stage is to grind the malted barley into grist (a coarse flour). At the distillery we use the historic Nant flour mill built on the estate in 1823 to grist the barley. This is then mixed with hot water in our mash tun to commence the brewing stage. Here the remaining starches are fully converted, and all the fermentable sugars are dissolved into the liquid, producing a sweet, sugary liquid. After mashing, the liquid  is cooled, yeast is added and fermentation begins. The resulting malt liquor is known as ‘the wash’, and has the strength of strong beer.

 

Distilling

The wash is then distilled, with the resulting vapours separating the alcohol and other volatile compounds from the water. The distiller’s craft lies in deciding when the distillate has attained the optimum strength and  quality, at which point the skill is to take the ‘heart of the cut’ of each batch. Every Single Malt owes something of its character to the shape of the spirit stills used; in our case, the stills have been  designed and commissioned exclusively for the Nant Distillery to produce a spirit full in character with a smooth easy drinking style. The distillate is clear, colourless and has an alcoholic strength of over 70% by volume.

The spirit takes around a 10 days to produce from brewing to distilling. The spirit is then filled into carefully selected casks and stored on the estate.

 

Maturation

Maturing takes place in traditional American and french oak casks, which have previously been port, sherry or bourbon. It is from these casks that the whisky takes on its colour and some of its character. In the age old tradition, Nant Single Malt casks are stored on site in old sandstone buildings that have stood for over 150 years, and then left to mature in an environment of quietude and tranquillity. The result is unique Tasmanian Highland Malt Whisky that truly speaks of the central highland environment from which it has been created.