Winter tastings

Taste your way through Tasmanian spirits, wine, beer and cider this winter – best executed by the fire.

During the Off Season, bespoke tastings and immersive experiences celebrate Tasmania’s cool-climate tipples. Get cosy with a dram inside a charming distillery, or discover your new favourite wine within the warm and welcoming walls of a cellar door.

Go in blind 

Embrace the dark at Brady’s Lookout Cider near Launceston for a sensory tasting of their Méthode Traditionelle cider, then create your own dosage to take home.

Did the rum send them wild, or did the wild make the rum? You can decide at New Norfolk Distillery in Willow Court, a former hospital and asylum complex in the Derwent Valley. Drop in for a spirit tasting any day of the week.

Pay a visit to Leven Valley Vineyard in the hinterland behind Ulverstone on the north-west coast to taste their cool climate chardonnay and pinot noir varietals, using single estate grapes handpicked by the owner’s friends.

DIY drinks

The old saying “teach a man to fish” may also apply to spirits. Learn how to make your favourite spirit this winter at Alchymia Distillery @ Table Cape, a small batch distillery near Wynyard.

Shadow the head distiller as they make their next batch of gin or whisky.

In the historic Georgian town of Oatlands, Callington Mill is a big, new, state-of-the-art distillery and restaurant sitting flush with a heritage windmill and outbuildings. During their Serendipity experience, after a tasting of five raw whiskies, you can blend your own single-malt to take home.

At Birchs Bay, with Bruny Island in the distance, visit the charming Ewenique Tasting House, on a working sheep farm famous for sheep-milk cheeses and sheep-whey spirits. Experience the ultimate in gin mixology – learn about botanical profiles and mix your own bottle to take home.

Meet the winemaker

In a restored farmhouse at Sassafras on the north-west coast, Eastford Creek Vineyard runs weekly vineyard walks – sample wines in progress and learn more about the rhythm of the vineyard. On the east coast, the family-run Boomer Creek Vineyard produces beautiful sparkling riesling, chardonnay, rosé and pinot noir wines, all grown on site.

Don’t want to limit your wine discussions to just one winemaker? Join Ageing Barrel Tours for their Valley of Vinos guided itinerary and visit four wineries – two in the Derwent Valley and two in the Coal River Valley.

Taste wintry craft beer 

Dark, stouty beers by the fire? Hard yes.

Hobart Brewing Company, just a moment from Hobart’s waterfront, serves a core range as well as small-batch specialties from their onsite brewery. There’s also a tour every Friday.

Seven Sheds Brewery Meadery and Hop Garden is in the village of Railton – during winter, enjoy a chocolatey brew or a cherry saison after a day of hiking or mountain biking nearby.

Want to enjoy a knock-off beer with the locals? Little Rivers Brewing Co. in Scottsdale is the place to wind down by the open fire. Bring your own food, or pick and choose from the grazing fridge.

Want more?

Sip, swill and savour your way through these tantalising Off Season offers:

• Relish an oceanside tasting of single malt whiskies and Tasmanian treats at Waubs Harbour Distillery. This wintry dusk experience brings you to the edge of Bicheno, where the salty sea meets the orange-lichen coastline.
  
  
• Strahan Village wines and dines west-coast style this winter. Book your Harbour View room with a Gordon River Cruise ticket included: unwind, then indulge aboard the boat’s premier upper deck.
  
  
• Heat up in a deep stone bathtub among verdant surrounds. Hunter Huon Valley is an architect-designed luxury cabin worth visiting this winter – your stay will come with a Tasmanian whisky flight and cheese board beside a crackling fire.
  
  
• By the end of Brook Eden Vineyard’s winter wine tasting, guiding you through 10 years of cool-climate vintage pinots, you’ll feel sufficiently warmed up.