Belgrove distillery
Contents
Belgrove distillery is a rye focused farm based artisan distillery in Australia. Founded in 2015 on the island state of Tasmania by Peter Bignell. Belgrove is the only distillery in Australia selling paddock to bottle rye whisky. As a small farm distillery Belgrove is growing rye on site.
How is Belgrave whisky Produced?
stainless steel mash tun with aCapacity of 1,000Liters
The also 1,000Liter fermentation tank from Waldner imAllgäu (BRD) is a converted cooling container forMilk. Two plastic containersare of the same volumealready ordered. Fermentation took 5-7 days, according to Mr. Bignell, and results in aRye beer with about 7 percentAlcohol. This is then done ina first firing step forlow wine with a good 25 percentAlcohol worked up. Eachthree batches of low wineare then in the pot stilltogether as a spirit run to thefinished new make burnedSo far there have been three suchspirit runs that produced usPeter offers to try. The nose has flowery
History
Peter Bignell came to whisky-making by agricultural accident in 2008. Following a bumper crop of rye at his farm in Kempton Peter bought a welder, got some lessons off a friend, built his own 600 liter still and started making whisky.
A reclaimed laundromat tumble dryer is used for malting, cooking oil from the roadhouse next to his farm provides the fuel for distillation. In time the agricultural scientist hopes to follow the Floki example and use sheep manure from under his shearing shed as an alternative to peat.
The maltings are managed on a small 2-3 metre squared space as only 20% of the grain for the Belgrove is malted, the remaining 80% is left unmalted. This is possible due to the high diastatic power of malted barley.
Belgrove factsheet
| Name | Pronounced | AKA | Region | Country of Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belgrove | Tasmania | Australia | ||
| Status | Active | Whisky Type | Website | Tours Available |
| Active | 2010 - Present | Rye | Belgrove | Not Available |
| Manager | Distiller | Blender | Owned by | Parent Group |
| Peter Bignell | Peter Bignell |
Can I tour Belgrove?
Yes Belgrove distillery is tourable. On Trip Advisor the distillery has been rated as excellent by 18 of 20 tours to date. This gives Belgrove an overall rating of 5.0
Latest reviews
Great Experience
by Tonypark50
Tasmania is getting a great name for distilling whiskey and gin and this location is an easy find, just of the Highway in Kempton. Definitely well worth the time to break your journey.
A Must Visit
by Tony R
This was a trip back in time, reminded me what American stills would have been like, in terms of their layout. Whilst it appeared to be a disorganized layout, our guide Luke, knew his stuff and provide a great overview of how whisky was made. The finished product is worth the taste and the Rye after-dinner liquor was a good buy.A must see, worth every minute there.
More Than Your Typical Distillery
by Sarah C
We had an awesome trip down to Tasmania, was lucky enough to visit Peter Bignell and the Belgrove Distillery Peter is a champion of a bloke. Love how innovative he is, he has a wealth of knowledge and combines it with skill to produce some great whiskies. Was awesome to tour the distillery and see each part of the process, including the fields where the grain is produced and harvested. Enjoyed a great tasting at the end of the tour and looking forward to what Belgrove will produce in the future. We highly recommend a visit to Belgrove if visiting Tassie.
| Rating | Reviews |
|---|---|
| Excellent | 18 |
| Very good | 1 |
| Average | 0 |
| Poor | 1 |
| Terrible | 0 |