Fourteen Tasmanian hostelries are included in the new book of 100 Australian hotels by freelance travel writer Lee Mylne.

Given that the state has less than 3 per cent of the country's population, 14 per cent of the book's hotels might indicate that Tasmania, er, drinks above its weight.

Others to make the grade were the Rosevears Tavern, Man O'Ross, Queenstown's Empire Hotel, the Bridge Hotel at Forth and the Bischoff at Waratah.

Hobart institutions Knopwood's Retreat and The Republic Bar & Cafe also earned a spot in the glossy publication.

The Tassie pubs join Victoria's Young & Jackson, Adelaide's Largs Pier Hotel and Brisbane's Breakfast Creek Hotel among the 100 Great Australian Pubs.

The author felt pigs Priscilla and Pinky offered an irresistible lure.

``The beer-drinking pigs at the Pub in the Paddock have become famous over the years, despite their relative isolation,'' Mylne wrote.

``This bucolic part of north-east Tasmania is a beguiling part of the world, and the hamlet of Pyengana (from an Aboriginal word meaning meeting of two rivers) is tucked in a beautiful valley of lush dairy farmland.''

The pigs, of course, have stubbies of water with just a drop of beer to feed their habit.

The ghost at the top of the staircase of Queenstown's Empire Hotel was a winning aspect that helped the ``grand old lady of the West Coast'' into the book.

TASSIE PUBS ON THE LIST

1: Customs House Hotel, Hobart.

2: Knopwood's Retreat, Hobart.

3: The Republic Bar & Cafe, North Hobart.

4: The Shipwright's Arms, Battery Point.

5: Bischoff Hotel, Waratah.

6: Bridge Hotel, Forth.

7: The Bush Inn, New Norfolk.

8: Castle Hotel, Bothwell.

9: Empire Hotel, Queenstown.

10: Hamer's Hotel, Strahan.

11: Man O'Ross, Ross.

12: Pub in the Paddock, Pyengana.

13: Richmond Arms, Richmond.

14: Rosevears Waterfront Tavern.