Chris Thomson’s next chapter: From Lark to a whisky brand of his own
After nearly 20 years at Lark, master distiller Chris Thomson is preparing to leave and pursue his own whisky brand.
"“For almost as long, I’ve dreamed of creating a whisky brand of my own. But I always felt I couldn’t do that until LARK’s future was assured. I believe that point has now come.”"
Lark master distiller Chris Thomson will leave the Tasmanian whisky producer at the end of 2026 to pursue a long-held ambition to create his own whisky brand. His departure will bring to a close a career at Lark that began in early 2007, when he arrived in Tasmania as a young musician who, by his own account, knew nothing about whisky.
Thomson leaves following the launch of Lark’s new Signature range, which he has described as his “life’s work”. With its expanded Pontville distillery, stocks of maturing whisky and experienced production and blending team, he believes the company is ready for its next chapter.
“Almost 20 years ago, I set out with a pretty audacious ambition for what LARK could become. Today, I feel like I’m standing on top of the mountain I set out to climb all those years ago,” Thomson said. “For almost as long, I’ve dreamed of creating a whisky brand of my own. But I always felt I couldn’t do that until LARK’s future was assured. I believe that point has now come.”
Chris Thomson & Bill Lark
Earlier this year, Thomson was named Master Distiller/Master Blender of the Year – Rest of the World at the 2026 Icons of Whisky awards. The announcement follows his reflections on nearly two decades of whisky making in our inaugural issue of Whisky Magazine Australia. In “What Twenty Years in Whisky Has Taught Me to Unlearn”,
Thomson recalls joining Lark at 20, with dreams of becoming a rock star. Making whisky was supposed to be the job that paid for it. Instead, it became his career. “On my first day at Lark I knew absolutely nothing about whisky. Turns out that might just be the lucky break that has defined my career.”
His essay explores the assumptions he has questioned along the way: that repeating a process should produce identical spirit, that the size of a distillery determines its craft credentials, and that technical perfection makes a whisky worth drinking. He recalls making a whisky he thought was perfect: balanced, flawless and with beautifully integrated oak. Yet he found it “technically beautiful. And it was awful. Probably one of the worst whiskies I would ever make.”
For Thomson, the real test comes when the whisky reaches the glass. Drinkability, he writes, happens “in the little moment between the drinker and the drink.” He also remembers debating with founder Bill Lark about which portions of the distilled spirit to keep, sleeping on a mattress on the distillery floor between shifts, and watching Lark’s stocks grow from around 20 casks to roughly 20,000.
“When I started making whisky, I wanted answers. Twenty years later, I am much more interested in questions.” As he prepares to leave, Thomson says one of his proudest achievements is helping build a team that no longer needs him. “Jake (Evans) is a better distiller. Josh (Wilson), Jodie (Dawe) and Nick (Walden) have taken the reins of the blending. Rick (Hoedjes) knows more about casks than I do. The systems and processes that once lived in people’s heads are now mature, repeatable and scalable.”
Thomson plans to spend a few months over summer with his family before turning his attention to his own whisky project.
His message to those curious about what comes next is simple: “Stay tuned.”
Lark chief executive and managing director Stu Gregor described Thomson as “our beating heart and soul for more than half of our existence and one of the world’s great distillers”. He thanked Thomson, Meagan and their family on behalf of everyone involved at Lark over the past 20 years.
