THE godfather of Australian whiskey Bill Lark visited Mt Buller recently and brought with him several of his Tasmanian delights – and the tales that go with them.

Bill presented a night of fine food and whiskey at Mt Buller's Moosehead Whisky & Blues Bar where those in attendance learned about the history of the Lark Distillery, alongside a selection of world winning spirits, including a brand new unreleased one – all to chef Ross O'Meara's accompanying food.

"I was enjoying the Alpine atmosphere, which is very conducive to drinking whisky," Bill said of the night.

The word of Tasmania's single–malt whiskey had reached the High Country and Bill's old friend, Mt Buller chef Ross O'Meara, thought a whisky event featuring his old friend would be the toast of the town, and he was right.

"It was a fantastic event," said Bill.

"Ross catered and I presented the whiskey and it was a great night of fine food and drink."

Bill said people are always interested in how the whiskey industry got started in Australia, and Mt Buller proved no different.

Aussie whisky has suddenly spread like wildfire over the last decade, especially impressive considering there wasn't a single distillery not long ago.

Bill literally started the Tasmanian industry 30 years ago when he obtained the first whiskey distilling licence since 1839.

To get that licence he even had a law overturned that prevented small distilleries from operating legally – luckily for him, his local political members happened to be big whiskey fans.

No one in Australia made single–malt whiskey, so Bill took upon himself to found Lark Whiskey and before he knew it, things were booming.

"I thought that it would happen in Australia one day but it certainly caught on a lot sooner than I figured," he said.

But what about the High Country's own whiskey?

"There's no doubt that Mansfield and Mt Buller are top places to produce whiskey," said Bill.

"You have the good variation of daily and seasonal temperatures which really help the maturation of Australian whiskey.

"I ran into several people that have a strong interest in whiskey, so we may see some local distilleries springing up before long.

"It's only a matter of time."