The Guide to the Whiskies of Tasmania July 2015 | Page 11

distillery where he had his own wash-backs. This enabled
the wash to be made to his own specification using his
own sourced yeast. The mash comprises a 50-50 mix of
unpeated barley (with the peat smoke being added once
the barley has been malted) and slightly peated barley.

Overeem (formerly Old Hobart)
Distillery, Blackman's Bay
Better known by the name of its founder and the
product – Overeem – Old Hobart is the first of the new
breed of Tasmanian distilleries to disappear as a separate
entity, but only to find a natural home alongside Lark.
And given Bill Lark's long-standing friendship and close
association with Casey Overeem, this looks like a merger
made in heaven.

After all that, the resultant wash is then transported to
the Overeem Distillery where it goes through a
conventional distilling process using a wash still of 1800 L
and the much smaller spirit still of 600 L. This all takes
place in a semi-urban residential area in what is truly a
backyard distilling environment. Casks which previously
held Sherry, Port or Bourbon are used for maturation and
this has contributed considerably to the success of the
Overeem brand and its various expressions whether they
be at the conventional 43% ABV or, more pleasingly,
closer to full cask strength at 60% ABV. No wonder the
stuff sells out overnight!

Jane Overeem

Accidents do happen

The Overeem success seems
to have happened almost by
accident and Casey, when he
started his experimenting with
distilling and doing his
homework on field trips to
Scotland and Norway, would
have had no idea that his
product – which is the most
attractively packaged of all the
Tasmanian whiskies – would
get the sort of ecstatic ratings
Casey Overeem
given by Jim Murray consistently in the Whisky Bible of
the last few years.

Well-wishers will want to see the Overeem make and
brand continue, but that will depend on commercial
realities and the benefits of co-location, joint marketing
and personality synergies, which will come into play as
the enlarged Lark/Overeem enterprise moves forward.

Longstanding link

The link with Lark goes back a comparatively long way
in terms of Tasmanian contemporary distilling history.
Casey Overeem always had his mash done at Lark

Overeem must not die. Hopefully, Casey's daughter,
Jane, wh