Sawford Distillery
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Founded in 2017 by Jane Sawford (daughter of Casey Overeem, one of Tasmania's whisky pioneers) and her husband Mark. Located in Kingston on the same site where the Overeem whisky story began. In 2020, the Sawfords re-acquired the Overeem Whisky brand and maturing stock from Lark Distilling Co., reuniting the family legacy. Jane grew up alongside her father building the Overeem brand, making Sawford Distillery a true second-generation Tasmanian whisky operation.
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The Sawford Distillery Tale
In the rolling hills of Kingston, where the Derwent River bends toward Storm Bay, Jane Sawford stands where her father once dreamed. The year was 2017 when she and her husband Mark chose to build their distillery on the very ground where Casey Overeem had launched Tasmania's whisky revolution decades earlier. The choice was deliberate—a homecoming written in copper and grain.
Jane had grown up breathing the sweet vapors of her father's vision, watching him coax liquid gold from Tasmanian barley when Australian whisky was still a curiosity to the world. Now, as a second-generation distiller, she carries forward not just knowledge but intuition born from childhood spent among fermenting washbacks and gleaming stills.
The Kingston site speaks to the Sawfords daily. Here, where cool southern winds sweep across the channel from Bruny Island, the extreme swings of Tasmania's maritime climate work their magic on maturing spirit. Summer heat draws whisky deep into American oak, while winter's bite forces it back, concentrating flavors with an intensity that continental climates cannot match. What takes decades elsewhere happens in years here, the barrels breathing with Tasmania's wild rhythm.
In 2020, the family story came full circle. The Sawfords reached across the industry divide to reclaim the Overeem brand and its sleeping casks from Lark Distilling Co., reuniting Jane's inheritance with its birthplace. The maturing stock returned home like a prodigal son, the whisky completing a journey that began with one pioneer and continues with the next generation.
The stillhouse at Sawford embodies Tasmania's whisky philosophy—precision without pretension, innovation rooted in respect for tradition. Jane moves through the space with the confidence of someone who learned distillation not from textbooks but from watching her father's hands, understanding that every cut, every decision, carries forward a legacy that helped put Australian whisky on the world's stage.
Today, as global whisky enthusiasts increasingly turn their attention to Tasmania's clean air and pristine waters, Sawford Distillery represents something rare—a second act that honors the first while writing its own chapters. The family name continues, the legacy deepens, and the whisky flows on.