Wollongong-made whisky and vodka get gold from every judge at world comp

The medal is given to spirits who receive a gold medal from every judge at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, which is the oldest and largest competition of its kind and attracts entries from all over the world.

Headlands co-founder Dean Martelozzo said he and his colleagues were "stoked" with their results for 2024, which saw their Muscat Cask Whisky and Seacliff Vodka get the highest recognition.

"It's huge for us getting the international recognition," he said.

"We're competing against distilleries that are significantly older, significantly more well known than we are, and significantly more resourced than we are.

"We're just a couple of guys from Wollongong that decided to start a distillery - and we're beating some of the world's best."

This is the second time the whisky has been given a double gold in San Francisco, and third time double gold for the Seacliff Vodka.

He said the awards helped more people to hear about Headlands, and gave the business confidence that what they are doing works.

Founded in 2015 by a group of friends, Headlands Distilling Co is one of a growing number of Illawarra spirit makers.

Mr Martelozzo said it was a significant achievement to make a world-beating whisky in a relatively short time.

"What's so interesting and so fun about whisky is that when you put it into the barrel, you don't actually know what it's going to taste like at the end because the flavor changes so much through the years," he said.

"You're constantly sort of checking and sampling, and it's not quite as simple as just more years in the barrel means that it's going to be better.

"There's a lot more that will impact the flavour, like the climate that the barrels are in or even the position in the warehouse.

"Our musket cask whisky is a bit sweeter than some of the other whiskys, and I get a butterscotch and vanilla note on the finish. It's 46 per cent, which is little bit higher than a lot ofthe whiskys you'll get in the bottle shop, but it doesn't have that harsh burn."

He said the business took a "grain to glass" approach with its spirits, sourcing high quality grains to make each from scratch.

"WIth the Seacliff Vodka, it's so smooth and the reason that it is so different is because we make it from scratch," he said.

"We do everything in house from fermentation, we distill it, we bottle it, we do quite literally everything by hand and have complete control of the process from start to finish."

Five other Headlands spirits also got medals in 2024, with Mr Martelozzo particularly proud of the gold medal awarded to the unique Illawarra Plum Cask Whisky.

With empty casks from some of the other products the distillery makes using the native Illawarra Plum, the distillery owners decided to experiment to see what would happen if they finished a whisky in them.

"We thought, let's experiment with it - we think we're the first distillery to do anything like that using Illawarra plum, which is really exciting because it's local," Mr Martelozzo said.

"We're just really excited to be showcasing the flavour and showing the world how good it is."

Mount St Thomas's South Coast Distillery also received medals, getting silver for Limited Release London Dry gin and Wheat Whisky.

Headlands Distilling Co

South Coast Distillery