The passionate craft worker originally from New Zealand and now living in Sydney, has been running a small micro-distillery located behind the Royal Hotel in Capertee since February 2018.

His handmade whisky Blak Soul Beast was the single malt whisky that gave him second place in the international competition held in the UK, in the rest of the world non-scotch category.

Mr Field said his particular single malt whisky was an exceptionally good whisky doing some good things and decided to enter the competition purely to gain some experience.

I got people in the industry to try it [whisky] and they loved it, said it was a really good whisky, he said.

It got me thinking, I thought well Ill enter into competition and well see how we go.

First place was also gained by an Australian from Tasmanian Independent Bottlers, Tim Duckett.

It was Australia gold and silver, which is pretty impressive against the rest of the world, Mr Field said.

He also said receiving the award gave him a degree of confidence.

It shows me that Im doing the right thing, it's also presented me a challenge because this particular whisky, we call them unicorns, they could be the once in a lifetime.

So now Im trying to work out how to make another unicorn, he said.

Mr Field said he thought his whisky won because it was a very complex whisky and very rich in taste.

Its got a lot of red fruits, a lot of raisin notes, early porty notes and also spices, wood spices, he said.

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Blak Soul Beast is also a young whisky of only two years and two days old, as legally in Australia whisky must be at least two years of age.

Its punching well above its weight for complexity, it does not taste like a two year old whisky, it tastes like a six year old whisky, Mr Field said.

Mr Field also said he called it Blak Soul Beast because the colour of the whisky was dark.

I called it a beast because I nearly pulled it out of the cask over Summer because I thought it was over-cooking and I had friends telling me it was gone, its no good and I thought No, Ill stick with it and it got through, therefore its a beast, he said.

Mr Field also said he asked his 8 year-old daughter to design the label on the bottle.

Now knowing hes off to a successful start Mr Field said it was time to focus on getting things underway for his distillery.

I started enjoying whisky in early 2000 and about four years ago I wanted to get more and more into an understanding of the process of making whisky so I began independent bottling.

The more I did that, the more I got to meet people in the industry and just developed a passion to know more, until I got to the point where I thought Id love to have a go at trying to make whisky myself, he said.

Mr Field said he chose Capertee to start distilling after a weekend away visiting friends.

My wife organised accommodation here [Royal Hotel] and when I arrived I just fell in love with the place, he said.

He said he noticed the hotel had a small shed out the back and wondered if they would be interested in leasing it.

After the weekend I rang them up and we worked from there, Ive been working with other distilleries getting spirits, putting into barrels, its just been a natural progression, he said.

Mr Field also said he loved the idea of being at the back of the pub and one thing he loved about the area was the fantastic whisky making location.

The climate, the big storms that roll through, they have a real impact on the barrels, he said.

He also said once the weather begins to cool down again he would go straight into production and hoped to have his cellar door open by March.

I want to get my cellar door up and running so when people come down I can interact with them and let them know just how glorious Australian whisky is.

Because Im small I use different types of barrels and they give you a completely different flavour, he said.

Mr Field urged whisky drinkers who havent tried an Australian whisky to get out there and try one.

Youd be surprised, Australian whisky is winning awards left, front and centre, he said.

You can find all things whisky and follow Craftys journey on the Craft Works Distillery website.

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