Hellyers Road Slightly Peated

The silly season is upon us. This month we thought it might be fun to try another Aussie single malt – the Hellyers Road Slightly Peated. Brad and I tried the Hellyers Road single malt whisky at the Whisky convention in Melbourne a few months ago. Some of you may be a little sceptical about an Australian single malt and rightly so. The first attempts by Sullivans Cove were down right atrocious. The industry has come a long way since then and Hellyers Road is an Aussie whisky holding its own against the worlds best.

Hellyers Road is the biggest single malt distillery in Australia. Laurie and Mark are so passionate about quality, if they don’t think it is good enough, they send it down the drain rather than compromise their new brand. You can feel the pain in Laurie’s voice as he tells the story of those first attempts, that didn’t live up to expectations. They have 3 expressions in the range, an original without peat, medium and heavy peated. We agreed the medium peat was the pick of the bunch. It is a clean beautifully oaked whisky, with elegant peating reminiscent of the Bowmore 12 year old. It is bottled at 46% alc/vol so it is stable without chill filtering. Like the Ardbeg we have just enjoyed, it will cloud slightly if water is added to it, but that is a small price to pay to ensure the full flavour of the whisky is maintained.

Hellyers Road have 3 expressions in the range, an original without peat, medium (Hellyers Road Slightly Peated) and heavy peated. We agreed the medium peat was the pick of the bunch. It is a clean beautifully oaked whisky, with elegant peating reminiscent of the Bowmore 12 year old. It is bottled at 46% alc/vol so it is stable without chill filtering. Like the Ardbeg we have just enjoyed, it will cloud slightly if water is added to it, but that is a small price to pay to ensure the full flavour of the whisky is maintained.