General News
11 February, 2020
Walkamin distillery has world’s best Whisky.
Walkamin distillery has one of the world’s best Whiskies.
Seven years of hard work has paid off for the Mt Uncle Distillery when it took top honours for their single malt Watkins Whiskey in the ‘12 Years and Under’ category at the 2020 World Whiskies Awards in London over the weekend.
Based in Walkamin halfway between Mareeba and Atherton, Mark Watkins set up the Mt Uncle Distillery in 2001.
The Watkins Whiskey Co. single malt will now be considered for the prestigious title of the World’s Best Whiskey.
“It’s pretty much the Olympic Games of the whiskey world,” distiller Mark Watkins said.
“Performing well here is epic for us, a great testament to the team and we’re stoked to put Walkamin on the map.”
The World Whiskies Awards is a prestigious competition held in London annually, where the best Whiskies from around the world compete to be crowned champion in their respective categories.
Everything from blended whiskies to limited edition single malts and world blends gets their chance to shine as experts blind taste and score each one across several rounds, with the final winner being announced in March.
In recent years, Mt Uncle Distillery has collected a swag of awards – their flagship product, the Mt Uncle Botanic Australis Gin has collected national and international medals;
One day, Watkins was wandering the Tablelands looking for Botanics. A bushfire had recently happened, and some of the Botanics he had gathered were smoked. He decided to use them and ‘Bushfire’ Smoked Gin, Australia’s first-ever smoked gin, was borne. The drink went on to win silver in the 2018 International Wine and Spirit Competition and is now sold at Dan Murphy’s.
The Mt Uncle FNQ Co Platinum Rum won gold at the 2019 Hong Kong International Wine & Spirits and was ranked second overall out of all rums worldwide, and the FNQ Rum Co Iridium Gold was named World’s Best Pot Still Rum (5 Years & Under) at the World Rum Awards in 2019.
Mt Uncle Distillery is at 1819 Chewko Rd, Walkamin
