March Outturn 2025 Feature Article
In this long-form interview and charming, candid exchange, Miranda Lidgerwood (Sullivans Cove Brand and Communications Coordinator, and ex-Whisky & Alement legend) chats with Sullivans Cove Distillery Manager Heather Tillott about her career, experiences, and the Australian Whisky Landscape for International Women’s Day. A huge thanks to both parties for agreeing to do this.
ML: Hi, Heather.
HT: Hi, Miranda.
ML: Thank you so much for joining me today. We’re here to chat for The Scotch Malt Whisky Society’s International Women’s Day Outturn and I’m really delighted to be speaking with you, Heather Tillott, Distillery Manager of Sullivans Cove.Heather, you’ve spent years walking the line between art and science in whisky making and ensuring that every bottle captures the essence of Sullivans Cove.
So, today we’ll be reflecting a little bit on your evolution, the evolution of the Australian whisky industry, the journey of your own distillations and some broader shifts in just a little bit of chit-chat. So, thank you so much for joining me.
HT: This is exciting. Thank you so much, Miranda. I’m very pleased to be here.
ML: It’s great and it’s actually really apt we’re doing this now because when I was preparing for this interview, I happened to stumble upon an SMWS livestream that you’d done with Matt Bailey four years ago. So we get to link back to that today, which will be really interesting. Before we do, though, let’s set the stage. Distillery Manager now — but it didn’t start that way.
HT: Yep.
ML: You’ve been with the company for an incredible nine years this week, right? Can I ask where you began?
HT: That’s correct. It’s funny, I was actually thinking “How long have I been with Sullivans?” and I realised it was actually this week, nine years ago, that I joined the team. So, how exciting. I began distilling and you know, some Cellar Door stuff like we all did back then. And uh, I think it was about 2017 I stepped up into the Production Manager role and then again in about 2019, 2018 – 2019 I stepped up into the Distillery Manager role, so it’s been a really awesome journey with Sullivans and…yes, it’s a…It’s a family as well. It’s a wonderful community.
ML: And you’ve had a hell of a journey just this past year with everything that’s been going on, you know, huge distillery renovation you’ve been overseeing and reopening.
HT: Look, it’s been a huge journey for all of us and I think we have all survived the site works. The commissioning of the new plant and equipment and it’s been a really, really intense period. I’m so proud of how we’ve all worked together as a team and grown together through that massive teamwork so much.
Respect for everybody, so proud. Huge effort and you know, we’ve got some amazing site upgrades as far as the plant, the equipment in the production space goes, the visitor experience is stunning and tours are open. It’s a wonderful experience, and we’re all very, very happy to be growing and learning our new space.
ML: Oh, wonderful. And then hats off to you for your leadership. During that time, when I was at the distillery at the end of last year, it was commissioning and things were going wrong, as you say, because that’s how commissioning goes. But you were cool, calm, collected, and you were just like “we expected this”. I’m so glad to hear it’s gone well and congratulations on pulling off the big commissioning.
So, a little bit of background. I know that you started out in winemaking, then there is the story of you riding your bike around Cambridge and you happened to stumble upon a wonderful distillery. Is that how it goes?
HT: Yes, it was. It was so fortuitous and unexpected. I was hellbent on wine. I mean, I still love wine. How it’s made, the branding, the stories, the piece of art that wine is — people, place and art all in a glass. Obviously, I’m hellbent on pursuing that within Tasmania, but totally stumbled across whisky and I guess it kind of just got me — got its hooks into me — and I had a very, very strong realisation that whisky is not what I thought it was at all. It has that thing that wine has — it can move you. You know it? It’s all the things; story, people and place, and it can genuinely move you and I just think that’s incredible. To be able to experience that in whisky, and then to be part of crafting whisky that you can share with people and they get moved is phenomenal.
ML: Oh absolutely.
HT: It never gets old. Never ever gets old.
ML: So what you’ve said there with ‘whisky just got its hooks into you’ reminds me of something when I was getting into the whisky industry. I’ve got this theory that there’s kind of two main ways how people get into the whisky industry.
One is you fall in love with the community first — you love the bars, the people, you go to these events, and then you realise “Ohh my gosh, this actually does smell like roses. This does smell like orange”. That’s real. So, you can fall in love with the community and then have your ‘aha’ whisky moment.
Or, like yourself, you fall in love with the liquid first. Maybe you found it, stumbled upon it in a bottle shop, maybe you had a brother who shared a bottle with you that sparked an interest one day, and you find yourself with an innate curiosity, and you need to understand the magic, the flavour, and then you find the community while doing that. It’s kind of community first or liquid first is how I’ve seen people crack in, and it’s funny because each leads to the other eventually anyway.
HT: Yes I think that’s a brilliant, brilliant way to put it. It’s spot on. And as you said, it was liquid for me. It was that moment where I was moved. And you know everything. The universe stops moving or something weird, and like existential happens, you know, and you think “Oh man, there was everything before this moment in my life and now there’s the rest of my life”. It sounds really kind of tacky, but you can’t unsay it when you’ve had that kind of moved experience and it’s from a sensory experience.
ML: That’s real passion. Like, a mind-blowing moment?
HT: Massive, huge light bulb ping.
ML: So, that SMWS livestream with Matt Bailey that I mentioned from four or so years ago. Watching that, there were some really interesting insights that I just loved seeing. It was 2021, so it was kind of that COVID-era where everybody was online and socialising through these virtual tastings and connecting with the industry through these screens. So, if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to revert back to some questions that Matt asked you four years ago and follow on and see how the crystal ball has fared. So, four years ago.
HT: Oh dear (laughs).
ML: Great. Four years ago, you spoke about the Australian whisky industry entering a crucial phase where the spectrum of style, scale and business approach was really fleshing out, with bigger companies and blends emerging alongside the premium end and the middle end of the market growing to support industry longevity.
Do you think that balance has taken shape like we expected? And just to make it really wordy: as the industry continues to evolve, what do you think is most important for producers to focus on to ensure its sustainability?
HT: Well, look, it has, that balance has kind of grown. I think it has. We’ve got more single-malt whisky. Like Australian, sorry, Australian-made products, Australian brands on shelves in, in venues on people’s mantle pieces, in people’s glasses and that’s fantastic.
That’s saying, yes. Yes, it has. I think there’s more to go. We haven’t stopped because, you know, you can’t just build a distillery and turn it on in three months. It takes time to establish a brand, etcetera, etcetera. That takes time, so there’s so much more in the wings to come, which is really exciting.
It’s a wonderful time to be a part of the industry, and if I were to look into the crystal ball again and make another five-year prediction, I would say more of the same, you know? And we’re growing as part of that global community.
Where is the market? Where is the consumer base? How do we make really delicious and really inclusive drinks for our people? I think as a bit of bonus material to answer that question, I think we already are seeing it. I mean, we’ve got the likes of Diageo all over it already, with their low and no alcohol offerings across the drinks industry and I think that this will continue a — really at face level — a bizarre melding with the Wellness industry.
The Wellness industry is huge and people across all generations are genuinely starting to think, “Hey, holistic health is a thing, you know?” It’s becoming more mainstream and alcohol consumption is part of that. It’s a scary thing to talk about as alcohol producers. Whenever there’s fear, whenever there’s a threat, a perceived threat, or a risk, you have to see opportunity and the only way that will be sustainable in our industry is if we take that approach and say “Where is the opportunity? Let’s do this and do it together“.
ML: Yep, find our little place in that big picture.
I’m going to go back four years again. So, with Matt, you spoke about Distilling as walking the line between art and science, balancing intuition, soft skills, and sensory awareness with hard data, numbers and spreadsheets.
I found that to just be a really well-articulated little nugget of what being a distiller and working with whisky is, so now, with four years more under your belt and the benefit of time, how do you think your perspective on that balance has shifted and what tools do you use to stay present and focused in those soft sensory skill moments?
HT: HT: Awesome question. I think, like, I have more and more begun to see it as less there being a line between the art and science elements, like taking that line away and actually having both of those elements coexist in harmony. It’s more just coexisting. And I think that when you have the tools of both that analytical thought process and the creative one in each hand doing a task in the moment you get a better result.
But to answer your question “How do you get into that sensory space“, that’s a brilliant question because it’s at anyone. Like many people reading this, and anybody in the industry or in any kind of sensory field, whether it be perfume or tea blending or whatever, will know that you have to be very mindful. You have to be in the moment. You have to be in the glass. And if you are angry or upset or you’re feeling flat or you’ve got an upset tummy or whatever, it’s going to be hard.
ML: So true.
HT: It’s literally like a mindfulness exercise. It’s fascinating. You’ve got to be so present. You know, in a busy lifestyle — I know certainly in my role — to walk into a room and immediately do sensory, it’s not easy. So, one of the tools that I use regularly, that people probably don’t actually seize, is that often in my office or quietly in my car or something, I’ll meditate for 10 minutes. If I know I’ve got a big sensory session to do, I’ll make sure that I’ve meditated for half an hour that morning or 10 minutes in between meetings.
ML: Yes, that’s so true. I actually can remember when I was working on-site with you and I had a tasting note to do, but I’d had a bad morning and you said: “Don’t do it when you’re mad.”
HT: Don’t do it, mate. don’t do it.
ML: So talking about tasting and sensory, I’m really curious, those whiskies that you’ve distilled are now reaching full maturation. What does it mean to you to taste the results of your own distillations finally reaching maturity? And do you feel like that goal to weave that thread through it is really coming to a head now or has it been coming to a head for longer than we might realise?
HT: Oh look, I mean, there’s a little bit of relief haha. I have seen my role at Sullivans as being, you know, needing to be able to find and articulate that essence of Sullivans that has been there through the decades. Because like every distillery, you know, there’s certain eras where a certain flavour is a bit more prevalent and then it changes a bit just from normal tweaks.
What I found interesting in assessing the spirit across the whole lifespan of Sullivans is that there might be some kind of different schemes here and there. But there’s always this underlying essence. So, I thought, “Well, we’ve got to define it, right?” So, to be honest…it’s actually happening quicker than I thought.
Which is really, really awesome. So, you know, tasting five – six-year-old liquid going. “Oh Dang” like, I mean it was clear. You know, we would be playing with this yeast and that yeast and tweaked to cut point here, but it’s still Sullivans.
ML: Oh that’s amazing. You’re telling me that the 11 secret herbs and spices of Sullivans Cove are written down somewhere?
HT: Oh yes, 100% — absolutely. I love this kind of stuff and it’s super interesting and fulfilling. But to see it coming through and be like “oh yes!” — it’s really exciting.
ML: And a proud moment. A relief moment.
HT: Yes. Proud parent moment.
ML: I just love the language that you own that the Sullivans team uses around our casks because we speak of them like our offspring.
HT: Yes, we do. We personify them. I think most people in the industry do. It’s a funny personal thing you get, you know, and with barrels.
ML: So, what is a piece of advice that you were given in your career that you still hold on to today? Or, a piece of advice that you wish you were given?
HT: It’s a bit of everything. Pat Maguire — a very wise man obviously, but as a human outside of the whisky God status that he has. He’s a very wise man and literally one of the last things — his parting words with me when he finished up with Sullivans, the passing the baton moment — he said:
“Heather there is a lot of alcoholism in this industry” he just ripped the band-aid off and labelled it, he’s like: “There’s a lot in this industry and you are part of a new generation of professionals leading the way in this space, you guys are going to do great things. Take my advice, don’t screw up your palate and your chance.”
Huge words and brave words from Pat. We are in the alcoholic beverage manufacturing industry, you know, with putting the branding aside and all of the pieces like that, you know we are manufacturers of alcohol and there is an inherent risk there.
ML: Absolutely.
HT: And I have such respect for him for just labelling it and saying, “Hey, you have to look after yourself”. Another piece of self-wellbeing advice that Pat gave me was you know, you have to take a break. Like you have to have your holiday and turn your phone off. You actually have to care for yourself and be able to step into proper rest.
To care for your team and for long-term sustainable high performance, it critically relies on caring for yourself and making sure that you’ve got your own well-being at the centre of your routines and your strategy.
ML: It’s lovely. And he’s telling you to care for your most important tool as well. You’ve spoken to me about the Cognac masters in France, you know, they don’t drink, would never smoke, never eat chilli.
HT: Caring for your tool. None of that spicy food, Miranda, no no no. That’s right. It’s a tool, our palates, the tool of tools. Uh, and you’ve got to hone them. You’ve got to sharpen them. Care for them
ML: That was beautiful advice, and it feels like it comes straight from the heart and in an industry like ours, it is so relevant.
HT: It’s so relevant. It’s a bit uncomfortable to talk about, but it’s spot on.
ML: So, as this is an International Women’s Day interview, I’d just like to point out a little something. Sullivans Cove has kind of always flown the International Woman’s Day flag just by doing what it does and without making a fuss about it. I feel like it’s a distillery that unintentionally just beats that drum.
So, you’ve got yourself — Distillery Manager. We’ve got Kirsten leading production. We’ve got Tammy managing our bottling room. A huge portion of on-site distillery management staff are women and what does that say about the culture of Sullivans Cove? How do you think it might reflect the broader shifts in the industry and generally?
HT: Oh, look. Yes, I mean, as you’ve said, our ethos at Sullivans has always been and will continue to be the right person for the right role and you know for me and for Sullivans: gender, nor the identification thereof, it doesn’t come into that. Inadvertently, we have a female-led production team in Kirsten and myself. And I think it’s obvious the diversity amongst the broader industry is growing. It’s fantastic — whisky is for everyone. It’s as simple as that. Drinks are for everyone. And I think I know Brooke at Whisky & Alement, who we both know has spoken in this way before, and I couldn’t agree more.
If we’re focusing on a perceived divide, we continue to enable it. And so, yes, for many decades, whisky in production and the branding and the marketing there are in the Sales, the sale space as well has been predominantly male and to a male audience. But that is changing. That is completely changing. There are so many women in the Australian and global whisky space in all of those spheres; the making, the marketing, the branding, and the selling of it. So, I think that yes, it might not be 50/50, but it may not need to be. It’s just more balanced — that’s what we’re going for.
It’s not about quotas and all the rest, you know, it’s about just having a balanced table and space where we’ve got a diverse input, and we’re getting there. It’s really encouraging. And you know, as I said, by focusing on that inadvertently, we’ve ended up with quite a diverse workforce, gender-wise.
ML: Yes. I think it was actually someone from the media who had visited the distillery that pointed it out to me once. They were just kind of looking around and they saw the bottling room was being led by women — women leading the distillery and then leading the production staff and they go, “Whoa, this is really cool”.
HT: “What on Earth are a whole bunch of women in high Vis doing there?”
ML: Haha yes, exactly. I kind of had a similar experience back when I was working at Whisky and Alement. I used to work with two lovely women named Emma and Maddie, and when we were doing a shift together, it would be ladies’ night behind the bar. And it was just all ladies, you know, managing and operating one of the world’s best whisky bars. And you’d have people waiting for the man to come out of the back or something. And we’re like, just us, and we hadn’t even clocked it at the time that it was unusual.
HT: Totally. And I mean all three of you are, you know, global-level the best in the spaces of the bartending and spirits knowledge. So, hats off to you guys. Or girls, my bad.
ML: That’s a gender-neutral term now, I think — guys.
HT: It’s a neutral term yes.
ML: So, doing a little bit of research for this interview, I was really watching that SMWS video we keep touching on and I had a little bit of a fuzzy heart moment because I just noticed myself chiming into the comments section pretty constantly. And I remember watching that, tuning in during 2021 and just being so excited to listen to yourself and Matt and to learn, and your insights were just incredible. And I have always been a huge fan of your work and of Sullivans Cove whisky. And you know, I think when I came into this industry as a young woman, I gravitated to and started watching and following other women in the space without even realising that I was doing it.
And all of a sudden, you know, I’ve just got all these people that I’m looking up to, and I can see myself in and I’m following and now, to work at Sullivans Cove with you, to be sitting here interviewing you, it’s just an incredible full-circle moment that I wanted to acknowledge. So, I have to ask, as someone who is now super well-established in the industry — do you think about the impact that you have on women coming into the industry? And who are people that you might still watch and take inspiration from?
HT: Well, it’s funny because similar to your story to what you just mentioned then about when you were at Whisky (& Alement) I guess I kind of forget about it all. I think I probably don’t think about it as much as I should. You could argue that I find myself, you know, at a tasting event, and someone will come up to me and look at me intensely in the eyes and be like “Do you realise how important what you’re doing is for women?” And I’m like: “Ohh yeah Dang, I guess so.”
I’ve had people say: “Do you know how much women in the industry look up to you as someone who just tells us that ‘it doesn’t matter about gender, you can be in an industry that, at face level might seem really male/masculine and it’s OK?”
It’s cool, you can do things if you want to. I mean, I look up to the names like Rachel Barry, and Doctor Emma Walker in Scotland. I think that I see them as incredible professionals with huge technical skills, but they’re also team-focused, and I love that I take great inspiration from that.
They have this incredible skill and knowledge and learning and experience, but they ultimately are team leaders, and that’s exciting because it’s, you know, as a distillery manager you end up with this kind of cult status of a name and it’s like these people see your face when they see the distillery.
And I get that from a branding perspective. But it’s a team — it takes a team. It takes a village to consistently put out amazing product and as a team leader like Rachel Barry and Dr Emma Walker, I think they do it so well, you know? They have a team of professionals who they are coaching, mentoring and growing. It’s great.
But I think that you know, as far as encouraging other women to break into the industry. I would, I guess, build on that team mentality. It’s the community — you need to break into the Community.
ML: This is perfect because my next question was literally: do you have any advice for women looking to break into the industry? When we were speaking earlier, we mentioned those two prongs, right? Liquid and community. And there’s a big door open there for anyone that wants to walk through it regarding the community.
HT: Yes. If you’re like, “Oh, this whisky thing seems cool” or “Gee, how’s that made?” Or “That would be an amazing job”. There is a massive door, and I mean men and women in these rooms, the folks in our industry, are found to be so friendly.
Generally, I haven’t personally felt massive prejudice or blocks or anything from being a woman or younger or anything like that. It’s a really nice community. It’s a really cool community to be in, so if there’s any, you know, younger women in particular who are looking or are even just curious about the industry — branch out, reach out.
There are loads of women in the Distilling community and loads of LinkedIn and social media channels. There are a lot of local groups around Australia. You know, venues like Whisky & Alement, groups like SMWS — community-focused ultimately. And that’s how you break in.
ML: Absolutely. Couldn’t agree more. So, literally the blueprint of how I broke into it.
So, can you tell me about something that you have achieved in the past year that you’ve worked on and are really proud of? There’s something in mind that I think might be relevant to this.
HT: Yes, well the obvious one is certainly the upgraded site, working through commissioning and the team growth around that. Yes, so like I said earlier, I think that I’m so proud of our team and what we’ve done together, it is a complete honour to lead our people. They’re a wonderful group of humans.
They’re very technically skilled and just on point. I’m super excited and thrilled to be able to welcome everybody to come and visit as I know our visitor experience and production teams are as well. Come and visit, come and see!
ML: Yes, absolutely. A huge congratulations on the new distillery and visitor experience. It’s absolutely amazing.
HT: It’s incredible. It’s really awesome. A beautiful space to be and experience what we’re about then.
ML: Yes, that’s it. Well, thank you for joining me today, connecting back to International Women’s Day, I’d just like to conclude by reflecting again on something that you said with the SMWS four years ago — Matt asked you: “What are the key skills that a distiller in Australia needs?“
And you said three things:
- An analytical brain,
- A good palate; and
- No ego.
And I would just like to point out for International Women’s Day that none of those skills are gendered.
So, anybody could give it a go.
HT: Amen, sister.
ML: Thanks so much, Heather.
HT: Pleasure, thanks, Miranda.
This article is featured in the March 2025 issue of Outturn Magazine — bottles will be available to purchase from Friday the 7th of March at midday AEDT exclusively to members of The Scotch Malt Whisky Society. Not a member? Click here to learn more about the world’s most colourful whisky club.
