“Perfect alignment”: Tassie whisky distillery Waubs Harbour secures first Japan export deal

Less than two years after its public launch, Tasmanian whisky distillery Waubs Harbour has inked its first export deal, and to one of the world’s most sophisticated whisky markets to boot.

“It’s exciting times, our first export deal,” co-founder Tim Polmear told SmartCompany.

“Since our launch last year we’ve begun exploring different markets, so it’s really thrilling to have it happen so fast.”

“The pedigree of Japan is a perfect alignment with the Tasmanian whisky brand, they have such a deep and long-standing understanding of high-end, quality whisky, so we’re very happy to have them as our first export market.” 

A visitor from Japan

“Last year a Japanese guy came to visit us at our distillery, and he seemed to be impressed. 

“He said he’d love to take us back to Japan, and it turned out he had the ability to do so.”

The visitor worked for a Japanese importation business, and soon approached Waubs Harbour.

“And now there’s a bunch of original Waubs whisky bottles in Japan,” said Polmear.

The export deal is the beginning of a significant push into Japan for Waubs Harbour, with the Tasmanian distillery about to join an Austrade delegation to the upcoming “Niseko Premium Food and Beverages Showcase” trade show, held from November 12 in a ski resort in the mountains south of Sapporo, Hokkaido.

And Japan is a big potential market growing rapidly year-on-year. The north Asian nation imported over 71 million litres of whisky in 2023 – making it the fifth biggest global whisky market – a doubling of volume over the past decade. 

How much preparation is required for Waubs Harbour to export to Japan?

“Every country is different,” said Polmear. 

“In this instance, we didn’t even have to change the bottle labelling, as the importer will simply put an import label on the back and we were good to go. It’s pretty light touch.”

From little things big things grow

And, initially the order quantity is relatively small: “We’re only small in volume to start with”, said Polmear. “Small volume, high-end, premium, half a pallet, around 300 bottles.”

In February, Waubs Harbour Distillery won the Small Batch Single Malt category for its Waubs Original whisky at the World Whiskies Award, beating 22 other entrants from around the world.

Polmear co-founded the distillery at Bicheno on Tasmania’s east coast with his brother Rob and wife Bec, the award was confirmation that Waubs Harbour has arrived on the world stage, the Japan export deal proves it.

“We’re purposefully trying to get out there on the export front,” continued Polmear.

“We’ve got a solid lead in the UK, another in Switzerland, and we’ll shortly be showcasing our product at Whisky Live Thailand. These key markets are our key strategic priorities this financial year.”

The ongoing success of Waubs Harbour in challenging times for premium brands is a testament to the brand’s quality, marketing and value proposition. 

“Our business is going well,” shares Polmear.

“At the risk of sounding arrogant our brand and product is being accepted well, and we are tracking well. It’s certainly been a tricky time for the industry in general – for all businesses really – but we’re weathering the storm and going alright.”

“One of the advantages of launching when we did is that we don’t have a huge peak to refer to.

Certainly we know that the industry is feeling the pinch in general, we hear from our retailers: ‘whisky not moving, but you are’, which is encouraging.”