Whisky business: Distiller targets SA’s most robbed bank
One SA distiller tells of a shock visit from Major Crime police as InDaily takes a closer look at the state’s burgeoning whisky industry.
Shortly after Robbers Dog opened for business at an old Bank SA building in Mount Pleasant its owners were paid a visit by Major Crime detectives.
Little did Robbers Dog co-founder and distiller Rob Davies know that the site had been infamously robbed by the notorious Bicycle Bandit three times.
Davies said he had “no idea” about the building’s history when he bought it, but “about nine weeks after we bought the building someone rang Crimestoppers and told them that I was the Bicycle Bandit”.
“I had Major Crimes visiting, I got interviewed, interrogated, and had to send a DNA sample, all so that I could get cleared.
“Then I researched the death out of the building and it was rather amusing so when we made our first run (of a cane spirit rum) at the distillery, it just seemed fitting that I call it the Bicycle Bandit.”
Robbers Dog this month released its first single malt whisky, expanding on its pedigree for the stronger drinks in life, and a growing whisky industry across the state.
Called Split Wood Whisky, the single malt is a limited release with just 204 bottles made, all of which were distilled, matured and bottled inside the old bank building on Melrose Street at Mount Pleasant.
The layered affair features berries, dried fruit and tobacco on the nose, warm spice, pepper and red fruit on the palate, and a finish of sweet caramel, oak vanilla and soft tobacco, according to Davies.
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Photo: John Krüger
Robbers Dog Distillery is a small-batch distillery at the southern end of the Barossa Valley that is among a growing number of producers growing the state’s whiskey offerings. There, it is producing a range of gins, cellos, bitters, moonshine, vodka and rum made by Davies and his wife Cath.
“It’s not going to light a fire in your mouth; it’s nice and chest-warming, long on the palate,” Davies said about his latest release.
The Split Wood Whisky is unique, having been matured for 2.5 years in a French oak pinot noir barrel fitted with American oak heads.
And it was made with locally grown barley – Davies telling InDaily provenance of the base ingredients was key to the product being made in the first place.
“I never intended to make [whisky],” Davies said.
“One of our Mount Pleasant farmers grew some two-row barley, so we said let’s make a local single malt whisky.”
Davies said there was real momentum for SA whisky, shouting out fellow distillers like 78 Degrees and Tin Shed Distilling as leaders in the field.
“[The sector] will continue to grow,” he said.
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“It’ll continue to grow with each distiller; you put two distillers side-by-side with the same grain bill, and you’re going to wind up with two completely different whiskies, there’s no doubt about it.”
One of the state’s first movers in whisky production Tin Shed opened a distillery door in Nairne in 2025 serving up live music, smokehouse BBQ and plenty of whisky, rum and gin, demonstrating the company’s bullish perspective on the sector.
Its Iniquity whisky has garnered a strong reputation across the world after crashing onto the scene with its first bottles sold under the southern coast label in 2011.
International whisky doyen Jim Murray described that single malt batch 002 as “one of the most astonishing whiskies it has been my honour to taste” and the whisky releases have been winning accolades ever since.
Its Adelaide Hills venue was once the freezer of Chapman’s Bacon Factory at Old Princes Highway, a site dating back to 1899.
And the company’s expansion comes on the back of a growing national whisky market, valued at $2.28 billion in 2025 according to Expert Market Research research.
It’s a game even the bigger booze players are embracing in South Australia.
In 2024, Coopers – famous for its beers – announced its foray into whisky for the first time in its 164-year history.
Within the $70 million hospitality and visitor centre at Regency Park is the Coopers whisky distillery where it is making single malt whisky.
Head distiller Iain Cooper is in charge of the more than 400 barrels currently maturing in the underground stillage, where there was capacity for 5000 barrels in total (1 million litres).
Coopers managing director Michael Shearer said he expected the first batch to be ready for sale in about two years’ time.
“Expanding into whisky is a natural progression for us,” Shearer said.
“Australia has developed a good reputation for whisky, and with the quality of barley grown in South Australia combined with our malting and brewing credentials, we see Coopers has a place in the premium Australian whisky market.
“We already had a world-class maltings facility on site and decades of experience in the mashing and fermentation process. We wouldn’t go down the whisky path unless we were confident of bringing a high-quality product to the market.”
Shearer said he held a “positive outlook for our whisky, as we do for our beer”.
“We are regularly asked about the progress of our whisky and, while it’s still quite a way off being available for sale, we can assure people it will be worth the wait.”
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