THE DEVIL YOU SAY: It’s Not Scotch, but Tasmanian Whisky Is Flying off the Shelves.

Ten years ago there were only three distillers in Tasmania. Now there are 22, and with sales growing by more than 50 percent in the two years to June 2015, that number is expected to double over the next five years. Still, total revenue from the industry reached just A$20 million last year, a drop in the whisky world’s ocean. Scotch whisky, by comparison, generates 3.95 billion pounds ($4.9 billion) a year, accounting for about a quarter of U.K. food and drink exports.

“The only negative is volume — we can’t keep up with demand,” State Premier Will Hodgman said in an interview in Tasmania’s capital Hobart. “But we want to preserve the integrity of the brand. The bar has been set high and if they want to be competitive, the new entrants will need to prove to be equally high grade.”

Quality whisky/whiskey production is becoming democratized and recognized around the world, just like fine wine production did outside of Europe in the 1970s. There’s never been a better time to be a drinker.