Hellyers Road wins State Export Award

Burnie based Hellyers Road Distillery has been recognised as Tasmania’s Small Business Exporter of the Year at Austrade’s recent awards ceremony held in Hobart.

This award comes on the back of a stellar couple of years for the distillery which has seen overall export growth up by 150%, with its whiskies finding strong favour in Europe and Japan.

On accepting his company’s award, general manager and master distiller, Mark Littler said that the growth had come on the back of a lot of perseverance and hard work from many people.

“With our distribution footprint in Australia firmly planted we are now starting to make significant inroads in Europe and in the last 12 months Japan has also become a key player in our export growth. In Europe, our whiskies can now be found in 25 countries, thanks largely to the work of our French based distributors La Maison du Whisky and the agents they engage across the continent.

I recently returned from a trade visit to Europe and was delighted with the strong resonance our brand now holds with consumers and the trade. Tasmanian Whisky is very highly regarded and Hellyers Road Distillery whisky is becoming more and more sought after,” Mr. Littler said.

Mark and the Hellyers Road Team will now turn their attention to the National Export Awards to be held in Brisbane in late November. “All State winners automatically go into the National Final. We will be up against some stiff opposition but are hopeful Hellyers Road’s exciting overseas growth will hold it in good stead, “Mark Littler concluded.