OUR STORY

Our founders, childhood friends and business partners Damien Newton-Brown and Howard McCorkell have a lifelong connection to Flinders Island, having grown up spending their summers surfing, diving, exploring our island home. The idea for Furneaux came later, when, during a bad bushfire season, the fire fighters were having a really hard time putting a blaze out in the wild scrub along the east coast. The fires were burning down into the peat underground, and they were pouring thousands of litres of water down to dampen this smouldering earth. Everyone on the island was talking about the peat, the peat!

A man with a mustache wearing a cap and plaid shirt holding a paper plate with a bun. In the background, there are people gathered outside of a building, with a clear sky and scattered clouds overhead.
A man smiling and holding a cup, walking in a parking lot with other people and parked cars, under a partly cloudy sky.

Damien had the lighting-bolt moment - if we had peat on Flinders Island, maybe we had the ability to create an iconic style of maritime peated single malt whisky using only ingredients from the island. The idea for Furneaux was born, and slowly nurtured over the next couple of years. Damien and Howard went on a pilgrimage to Islay in Scotland, the home of peated whisky and the distilleries that have inspired our whisky journey; Laphroaig, Lagavulin, Bruichladdich, Kilchoman. They dug peat by hand, and wandered through dunnage warehouses, soaking up the inspiration to hold a mirror to this beloved (and sometimes divisive) style of whisky, and put our iconic island identity to it.

A man wearing a tan hat, black puffy jacket, and green boots is digging in a muddy trench in an open grassy field with overcast sky, while a woman in a blue raincoat and rubber boots is walking away in the background.
A man in a gray hat and blue jacket standing in a room with wooden barrels, holding a glass with a drink. In the background, there is a wooden barrel on a table with bottles and a funnel on top, white brick walls, a window, and various equipment.

Then in 2019 a chance meeting happened. Brought to the island from Hobart by the allure of crayfish plucked from the sea, and deserted beaches on a remote island, Tom Ambroz (now Head Distiller) came for a weekend with Nicole Kennedy (now Operations Manager for the distillery). They met Damien and Howard on the beach at Killiecrankie, and over a feast of the day’s catch, they started discussing all things whisky. 6 months later, Tom and Nicole had packed up and moved to Flinders Island, and Tom was commissioning our brand new lantern glass copper pot stills, made in Tasmania by Peter Bailey.

A person with a beard wearing a gray and red cap inspects or works on a large copper distillation still labeled "FURNEAUX SPIRIT SAFE DISTILLERY 2018" in a distillery with natural light coming through windows.

Since then, we have grown into a farm distillery where we farm our own grain, brew, distil, mature and bottle all onsite at the beautiful beachfront pasture of Furneaux Farm. We have a dunnage warehouse which sits tucked away in the trees on the farm, maturing our casks slowly in the salt air. We have 450kL of rainwater storage onsite, and a 57kW solar system on the roof, utilising as much of our natural resources as we can. We’re so proud of our range of single malt whisky and gin, and how much they speak to the terroir of Flinders Island, its maritime climate, resilience and beauty.

Aerial view of a farmland with a winding dirt road, a large barn with a gray roof, a parking lot with several cars, green fields, and the ocean in the background under a partly cloudy sky.
VISIT OUR DISTILLERY
THE FARM

We started with a distillery team of one, and now we have a wonderful crew on the island who are distilling, brewing, bottling, labelling, running events, tours, tastings and generally making Furneaux Distillery the kind of place we feel blessed to work at.

A group of five smiling people standing outside in front of a large window, with some greenery at the bottom of the image.
Two women smiling and standing together inside a distillery with copper stills and bottles in the background.
A man with a beard wearing a black hoodie is holding a can of Emita Bitter beer in one hand and a glass in the other, standing in front of a corrugated metal wall with some grass at the bottom of the frame.
Untamed Gin 700ml Untamed Gin 700ml
Untamed Gin 700ml
$85.00

Exploring the Furneaux Islands is an aromatic adventure. You find flowering kunzea, luscious as honey, native rosemary, fragrant and herbal and wild fennel with its sweet aniseed. These untamed ingredients alongside traditional gin botanicals produces a gin which highlights the native flavours of our islands.

We use a combination of vapour distillation to extract the brightness and soft spice from our botanicals, and pot distillation of juniper to give the gin body and depth of flavour. Perfect with soda and fresh grapefruit, or mixed in a Negroni or Gin Paloma.

Sawyers Bay Unpeated Single Malt 700ml Sawyers Bay Unpeated Single Malt 700ml
Sawyers Bay Unpeated Single Malt 700ml
$200.00

NEW RELEASE: DOUBLE OAK

MALT: 100% TASMANIAN UNPEATED

MATURATION: VINTAGE SEPPELTSFIELD TAWNY & HEAVEN HILL BOURBON

ABV: 43.3%

50 Year Old Seppeltsfield Tawny Port quarter casks form the heart of this dram, building a rich and expansive palate layered with lush dried fruits, muscatel grapes and dates alongside the deep, vinous sweetness that only long-seasoned fortified wine casks can deliver. These remarkable vintage casks lend both intensity and structure, though their lingering tannin called for a gentle counterpoint.

A selection of bourbon casks was introduced to the vatting, bringing soft vanilla sweetness and creamy oak that rounds the back palate and smooths the finish into a beautifully balanced whole.

TASTING NOTES:

Musk, red apple and cinnamon on the nose. Palate is full, juicy, muscatel grapes, a hint of dark chocolate. The finish is wonderful with a lingering sweet front profile, and caramel on the back. Very full and very moreish.

Flinders Island Peated Single Malt 700ml Flinders Island Peated Single Malt 700ml
Flinders Island Peated Single Malt 700ml
$220.00

BATCH: FPA2

MALT: 100% TASMANIAN, FLINDERS ISLAND PEATED

MATURATION: FRENCH OAK APERA CASK

ABV: 49%

The second Flinders Island peated sherry cask we have bottled so far, and a beautiful fruity and juicy expression of the style. 100% Flinders Island peated malt - distilled and matured for almost 5 years in French Oak Apera casks on Flinders Island. Slow proofed, unfiltered.

TASTING NOTES:

Bold, sweet spice, fig, date and fruitcake on the nose. On the palate it bursts with bright cherry, a nuttiness, and a hint of licorice which develops to the oily, aromatic smoke characteristic of our coastal peat. The finish carries that gentle smoke, and a lovely sticky sweetness.

Smoky Wedding Peated Single Malt 700ml Smoky Wedding Peated Single Malt 700ml
Smoky Wedding Peated Single Malt 700ml
$220.00

BATCH: FSPB5

MALT: 50:50 FLINDERS ISLAND PEATED & SCOTTISH PEATED

MATURATION: AMERICAN OAK BOURBON CASK

ABV: 47.9%

Maritime character is at the heart of this bottling. The salt and minerality of our rainwater with the peat smoke leaning toward the iodine-laced profile of the great Hebridean malts. Maturation in bourbon casks has preserved brightness and clarity in the spirit, giving soft vanilla sweetness and subtle spice while allowing the layered smokiness to take centre stage.

TASTING NOTES:

Bright, briny and smoky nose. A big peat punch comes through on the palate, softening up to tropical fruits, melon and a round vanilla sweetness. The fruit profile lingers through the finish, with oily peat sticking with a iodine, cresol smoke.