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Mark Littler, General Manager and Master Distiller, in the Distillery.

The winner of the 2017 Tasmanian Exporter of the Year Award is Hellyers Road Distillery from Burnie.

General Manager and master distiller, Mark Littler, accepted the prestigious award, as well as the EFIC Small Business award.

The annual export awards event is Tasmania’s highest recognition for our exporters of Tasmanian goods and services.

Hellyers Road Distillery has been producing varieties of single malt whisky since 1999 and since then has grown to become Australia’s number one seller of single malt whisky worldwide.

It is the southern hemisphere’s largest producer of single malt whisky and also produces vodka and liqueurs.

The distillery began exporting in 2009 after establishing a partnership with French distributor La Maison du Whisky. Its whisky is currently available in over 20 European countries, in Japan, India, China, Argentina and Vanuatu.

Hellyers Road Distillery is a fully-owned subsidiary of Tasmanian company Betta Milk.

Attached to the distillery in Burnie is a Visitor Interpretation Centre which welcomes over 40,000 visitors each year, many of whom are overseas tourists and some who make the specific pilgrimage to visit the place where their favourite whisky is produced.

Hellyers Road Distillery whiskies have been recognised for their quality on the world stage winning numerous awards in Europe and Australia.

In 2013, the Distillery’s Pinot Noir Finish whisky was judged Best New World Whisky at Whisky Live Paris and in 2015 the same whisky was anointed a Global Whisky Master in the Global Whisky Master Awards (UK).

In 2016, Hellyers Road’s Port Cask Matured single malt won Gold at the World Whisky Masters and earlier this year its Master Series Peated whisky won Gold at the Australian Distilled Spirits Awards.

Other Export Award category winners were McKay Timber who accepted the DFAT Agribusiness Award, ISW who won the Aus-Industry Business Services Award, the Austrade Digital Technologies Award went to Echoview Software, the TasPorts Regional Exporter Award went to Premium Fresh Tasmania, and, the Austrade Education and Training Award was won by Australian Honey Products.

All category winners of the 2017 Tasmanian Export Awards now progress to the 2017 Australian Export Awards being held in Canberra on December 5, to compete against the category winners from all other States and territories.

We wish them well!

For international trade and investment assistance contact the TCCI’s TradeStart Adviser, Sally Chandler, at sally.chandler@tcci.com.au or phone 1300 559 122.