It started with a dare—a brewer and a distiller on opposite ends of a continent swapping barrels like old pen pals, except instead of words, they traded smoke, malt, and madness. Eight years later, the Wolf has come full circle. Wolf Release VI, the final and most evolved chapter in the audacious collaboration between Tasmania’s LARK Distillery and Melbourne’s Wolf of the Willows, has been uncaged.
Limited to just 1,792 bottles, this sixth release doesn’t just mark the end of a series. It bookmarks a legacy of innovation that blurred the lines between craft beer and single malt Australian whisky, between Tasmania and the mainland, and between what was once considered sacrilege—letting whisky take a detour through porter-stained oak.
The secret has always been in the barrels. The series revolved around a pioneering barrel-exchange program: LARK whisky casks would first lend their character to Wolf’s cult-favorite Johnny Smoke Porter, before returning to Tasmania transformed, now ripe to finish maturing whisky that had already spent years developing its own identity. What came out wasn’t just different—it was genre-bending.
Wolf Release VI is the final howl, and it is, as promised, a sensory crescendo. There’s mango and cream on the nose, gentle smoke whispering behind it like the last note of a fading guitar solo. Sip it and you’re deep in dark chocolate and raspberry, sliding into toffee banana and creamy hazelnut, with a finish that edges into affogato, toasted coconut, and—yes—creaming soda. It’s the kind of whisky that tastes like memory, equal parts dessert and daydream.
Bottled at 48.5% ABV, this final installment is priced at $250 AUD, with a collector’s set (only 500 made) running at $280. Each bottle is a time capsule—a nod to the people who dared to cross categories and carve out a niche where few others have wandered.
For fans of smoky malt, experimental finishes, and beers that taste like campfire poetry, this is more than a whisky. It’s a moment.
The wolf howls one last time. Are you listening? For more information, head over to the brand’s official website.
