The Furneaux distillery is located at Sawyers Bay, northeast of Tasmania on Flinders Island, the largest of the Furneaux Group of islands with a population of around 900 islanders. Famous for untouched beaches with crystal clear waters and some of Australia’s greatest produce, the island has been a chef’s secret pantry for many years. The distillery was born from a love of whisky and a fascination with the art of distilling by co-founders, Damien Newton Brown and Howard McCorkell, who met in kindergarten as childhood friends and have remained thick as thieves ever since. Their ‘light bulb’ moment was a visit to Islay in Scotland, where they realised that Flinders Island also had, in abundance, the elements to create an island-produced whisky that would speak of its maritime environment.

The team has spent most of 2023 and 2024 relocating the entire distillery from 16 Esplanade Whitemark, Flinders Island to Damien’s farm in Sawyers Bay next to their dunnage warehouse on Flinders, and the new location is absolutely breathtaking. It’s 1.5km of untouched beachfront pasture on the west coast of Flinders Island, with the relocation also including a new brewhouse, bottling room and cellar door.