Whipper Snapper Distillery

Perth’s Whipper Snapper Distillery is one of Australia’s primary producers of American-style whiskies, including corn-based (bourbon style), rye and wheat whisky, as well as single malt. The focus here is on the wide variety of high-quality grain grown in WA and the different characters each is capable of producing when distilled and matured into whisky. Predominantly employing heavily charred virgin white oak casks in the American style, resulting in an oak-forward flavour profile, these whiskies are also predominantly fermented on grain, which is again the preferred option in the US, as opposed to the sweet, filtered wash traditional to producers of single malt whisky. As such, Whipper Snapper sits in the small group of Australian distilleries producing loving interpretations of American-style whiskies, alongside the likes of The Gospel and Great Southern Distilling. Founded in 2014 by Jimmy McKeown and his brother-in-law Alisdair Malloch, Whipper Snapper Distillery was inspired by Jimmy’s connection to local grain growers in the area where he grew up (the Wheatbelt town of Narrogin) and the desire to showcase that community’s produce and love of the land. Whipper Snapper’s logo is a tribute to Al’s childhood neighbor Vic, a local legend who was a home brewer and distiller, as well as a former WWII Lancaster bomber pilot. The distillery in East Perth is open daily as a full-service bar for whisky tastings and cocktails, and is also known to locals as a great place to grab a coffee in the morning, open from 6:30am on weekdays. -FRED SIGGINS