‘A defining moment’: Can Chris Hemsworth put Australian whisky on the world map?

Hemsworth, best known for playing Thor in the Marvel movies, is working alongside Archie Rose founder and co-owner Will Edwards to play a key role in launching the brand into the US – the world’s second-largest whisky market – at the end of the year. The news sent a ripple of excitement through the local spirits industry, raising hopes it could ignite global interest in Australian whisky and open a path for other brands to follow. “There are going to be some defining moments in the history of Australian spirits, and this is definitely one of them,” says Dave Vitale, founder of Starward Whisky in Melbourne.

According to Stuart Gregor, managing director and chief executive of Tasmania’s Lark Distillery, “It will be one of those things that benefits us all, even those who don’t have Thor in their corner.” Carolyn Miller, founder of strategy consultancy the Honeycomb Effect, and a former Gruen TV panellist, thinks the partnership between Hemsworth and Archie Rose will play well overseas.

“When you look at whisky marketing, it’s really dominantly marketed at men, and Chris Hemsworth as Thor especially embodies that hyper-masculinity,” says Miller. “Aussie blokes also have an international reputation for being real men”. Choosing someone so famously Australian to be the face of the brand also speaks to the provenance of the whisky, Miller says. “Australia as a brand is more premium than it once was.

There’s certainly still a sensibility of the outback and the wilderness, but it’s not necessarily “throw a shrimp on the barbie” or Crocodile Dundee … the ruggedness is more of a Hemsworth ruggedness, that is, down to earth but also super high quality.” Hemsworth is the biggest Australian there is, says Edwards, the Archie Rose founder. “In terms of being able to tell the story to consumers, there’s no better guy.”

Part of that story is what Australian whisky actually is. Archie Rose is one of many locally produced spirits that can be considered Australian in style, displaying unique flavours and qualities that reflect our local grains and unique maturation climate.

It’s these qualities that have led Australian whisky to rank among the best in the world. In 2014, Sullivans Cove in Tasmania became the first distillery outside of Scotland or Japan to take out the world’s best single malt whisky award at the World Whiskies Awards.

It has since won the title three more times, something no other distillery has done before. Meanwhile, Archie Rose has won world’s best rye whisky twice, and picked up more than 450 awards since opening in 2015.

But for all the trophy-filled cabinets, Australian whisky remains a marginal player in global trade terms, and no local spirit brand has managed to break the mass market. Australia’s global whisky exports are tiny by comparison.

According to World Integrated Trade Solution data, we exported roughly US$53.6 million worth of whisky in 2024 against the UK’s $US7 billion. Most of that stayed close by, with New Zealand our biggest market at $US16 million, followed by China at $US6 million and South Korea at $US5.5 million.

“Whisky is a $US100 billion global industry of which Australia currently has less than 0.1 per cent share,” says Andy Gaunt, chief executive of Sullivans Cove. Only a handful of Australian whiskies are sold overseas. Among them, Melbourne-based Starward and The Gospel can be found in the United States, Sullivans Cove and Morris Whisky are available in the US, Europe and Asia, and Lark in pockets of Asia.

Most is sold exclusively at home, in a domestic market also dominated by imported Scotch and bourbon. Ask distillers what’s holding the industry back and the list is long.

Domestically, Australia’s alcohol excise is among the highest in the world, currently $110.15 per litre of pure alcohol, making it difficult to build up the funds needed to expand. On a bottle of Starward Two-Fold whisky priced at $80, the excise works out to be around $30, says Vitale.

Supply is another problem, craft distillers need to plan their production schedules 10 or more years ahead due to maturation periods, and just don’t have enough stock to service new and growing markets. “We’ve been out of stock for many years,” says Gregor.

Then offshore, there are import tariffs and trade barriers, distribution and logistic constraints. “[Exporting whisky] is just a massive, massive logistical exercise,” Gregor says. “Which is why these big companies dominate the global spirits business.” One thing that comes up time and time again is awareness, and the fact that Australian whisky as a category isn’t known or understood.

Starward launched into the US in 2018 with backing from drinks giant Diageo, which helped smooth the path, though Vitale still spent five years on the ground getting to know the market. “The main challenge we faced was awareness,” he says. “So, having a celebrity as part of the team that can help you get that door open will be a game-changer for Archie Rose, most definitely, but also for every Australian distillery”.

Hemsworth also comes with a reach that money can’t buy: a social media audience of 100 million, including 58 million on Instagram, which is more than any other Australian celebrity. “Getting 20 million views on YouTube or 20 million shares on Instagram or Facebook can really help you break through in the US, and for that, you need to have Chris Hemsworth, or Margot Robbie or Hugh Jackman,” says Gregor.

So, how much can the God of Thunder actually do? Can he make Archie Rose a household name, and carry the Australian whisky industry on his back? That remains to be seen.

But what he can do is bring attention to the industry, not just from the whisky connoisseurs and collectors, but from everyday drinkers. “If Chris Hemsworth is having an Archie Rose on Jimmy Fallon next year, a lot of people are going to notice.”