Single Malt Archives

Darkness Benrinnes 16 Year Old PX

$149.00
This 16 year old Pedro Ximinez finished whisky from BENRINNES is perfectly accompanied by the 12 year old Oloroso finished GLENROTHES. Normally, the Darkness releases are finished for around 6 months in their specialist casks but this amazing dram has been aged in ex-bourbon casks for the initial 15 years of life but ‘our’ Benrinnes 16 year old has had a full YEAR of finishing to take on the intense sherry characteristics from the Pedro Ximinez Casks. What makes Darkness so special in the whisky world? Well, their flagship bottling – Darkness 8 Year Old – has won HUGE accolades since launching in 2019, including Double Gold at the 2020 San Francisco World Spirits Competition, Gold Medals at the 2020 and 2021 World Whiskies Awards, and 96 points from the IWSC in 2021 and 2022…so imagine how good a 16 year old release (or a 12 for that matter) is?

OUR TASTING NOTES

Nose: Lots of jammy notes up front, but also crushed nuts and sticky date pudding round out the nose nicely. Palate: A big, meaty dram by all measures. Lovely rich mouthfeel, and a touch of white pepper spiciness. Salty plumbs, chocolate and cinnamon, blackberries by the bucketload, stewed plumbs and vanilla pods. There’s a real meatiness to this dram as well, with a body like a footballer – Big and Solid, Rich and Round! Finish: Delicious chocolate notes swirl around white pepper, coffee, dark chocolate and stewed fruit. The pepper offsets the abundant sweetness and sweet spices perfectly! So big, so fruity, so jammy and good! As chewy as juicy fruit- and almost as fruity! It’s got a massive depth of flavour and handles 51.3%ABV with grace and style. A Big, Sweetie, Meaty Dram that will hug you tight in the cold!

Bottle Size : 500ml
ABV : 51.3%
Region : SCOTLAND (SPEYSIDE)
Peated : NO
Chill Filtered: NO
Add to cart Details
Craft Works Distillery – Some May Welcome Change

$165.00
We asked one of Australia’s most popular ‘cult distillers’, renowned for limited edition releases and his dedication to craft distilling, for a ‘big’ whisky and something that showcased his style for our members and boy did he deliver – His very first Sherry Bomb – a 1^st Fill Oloroso cask, bottled at a whopping Cask Strength 64.5% and its exclusively made for our members. Hold onto your hats and please welcome Craft Works Distillery’s ‘Some May Welcome Change’. A whisky dedicated to our little club (hint – look at the initials in the name!) and a new direction from Crafty – 1st fill Oloroso Sherry Matured whisky! His first bone-fide sherry bomb!
OUR TASTING NOTES
Nose: For me it’s straight-up chocolate at first. But then some really difficult to pinpoint notes – some aniseed, some paprika and then just a smidge of nail polish remover is hiding there as well. Palate: At first it’s a rather dry mouthfeel. But it creeps around the inside of your cheeks with very little alcohol burn (surprisingly at this abv)… and then the fruit explodes! Plums, sultanas and mixed peel individually, then all stewed together with a real marzipan thing going on at the same time. Finish: Long and complex – so many flavours rolling around in there! The stewed fruit persists, but is overthrown by coffee and the aniseed makes a comeback just as the curtain start to draw closed.
Bottle Size : 500ml
ABV : 64.5%
Region : AUSTRALIA (NSW)
Peated : No
Chill Filtered: No
Add to cart Details
Chief’s Son ‘The Aiden 2016’

$149.00
After rave reviews from its initial release in 2021 and members wanting more, we have an Australian stunner of a whisky special release – the Chief’s Son ‘The Aiden 2016’ all the way from the multi-award winning distillery on the beautiful Mornington Peninsula in Victoria. With these credentials it will take pride of place in your collection.

From one of the oldest casks at Chief‘s Son

The first of the special ‘Family’ casks ever to be released

Casks originally coopered in France and used for Red Wine then Sherry

Re-coopered for whisky casks by none other than legendary cooper, Andrew Young from Seppeltsfield Estate

Each individually numbered bottle is individually laser etched

We are super excited to offer an exclusive whisky made with family foremost in mind by Chief’s Son Distillery. In fact, this whisky is all about family - make way for the Chief’s Son ‘The Aiden 2016’. This whisky is out of one of the oldest casks in the Chief’s Son bond-store. Hand filled in 2016 by Stuart’s son, Aiden – and made available exclusively to the Single Malt Whisky Club.
OUR TASTING NOTES
Nose: Some mustiness at first but the sweetness soon materialises in the form of maple syrup, with a touch of bubble gum thrown in, some apricots and delicate leathery notes. Palate: Lovely rich oily mouthfeel here. A sweet yet nutty palate – with scorched almond brittle, caramel and slightly burnt toffee to boot. There’s also a suggestion of liquorice with just a little pepper at he back of the mouth. Finish: More nut brittle, pepper and oak swirl over and around each other in a flurry of rich caramel syrup. A lovely balance between the roast nuts and sweet caramel here – not too sweet but definitely not dry. Interestingly, on sharing my tasting notes with the Chief’s Son crew, it was revealed to me that their stills are electrically heated and they do get a lot of caramelisation of sugars onto the internal heating elements – hence the caramel notes. This whisky is just so very more-ish. I bet you’ll have poured another before the finish has run it’s course from the first dram!
Bottle Size : 700ml
ABV : 49.65%
Region : Australia (Victoria)
Peated : No
Chill Filtered: No
Add to cart Details
Cape Byron Peated Chardonnay Cask

$185.00
The first PEATED release from the legendary Aussie Distillery, Cape Byron, founded by a whisky legend. Yes, that’s right Jim McEwan MBE – 52 years in the whisky industry, three times international ‘Master Distiller of the Year’, Master Distiller Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement Award Winner 2014, 15 years head distiller at Bruchladdich, and now… co-founder of Cape Byron. So here are with their first peated release - Cape Byron Peated Chardonnay Cask. This whisky was crafted using unpeated malt that was matured in an ex-Bourbon cask and finished in ex-Chardonnay cask, and then married with peated ex-Bourbon cask for that extra dash of flavour layered in. Bottled at a satisfying – but not over-the-top 51%abv. A lick of smoke, nothing overbearing, just enough to go hmmm…. WOW!
OUR TASTING NOTES
Nose: The chardonnay lineage jumps right out on the nose. It’s dry with very little sweetness at all except for a slight flower petal note and a little vanilla – and just a hint of the peated percentage of this whisky with a mustiness sitting in the background waiting to be noticed. Palate: Much oilier and much less astringent on the palate than I was expecting form the nose. Positively creamy, in fact! The peat comes out to play a lot more in the palate – but it’s still by no means imposing. It sits very comfortably around the citrusy vanilla flavours – by no means just a spectator, but certainly no bully. Finish: A lovely chewy finish – with more of all the above… and then a curtain of fresh nut-butter descends and changes it al up as it slowly fades. Wow…. I was NOT expecting that nuttiness here.
Bottle Size : 700ml
ABV : 51%
Region : AUSTRALIA (NSW)
Peated : Yes
Chill Filtered: No
Add to cart Details
Sale!
Barrelhouse 28 Hungarian Red Wine Cask

Original price was: $155.00.Current price is: $139.00.
So, you LOVE a PEATED whisky? So, roll out the red carpet for the Barrelhouse 28 Hungarian Red Wine Cask, exclusive to The Single Malt Whisky Club. A cask strength, peated whisky from the legendary Corowa Distillery, aged by indy bottler ‘Barrelhouse 28’ in a Hungarian Oak Red Wine Cask and bottled at an earth shattering 63.5%. This is a big, peaty single cask whisky! If you like to knock around the ‘peated side of the tracks’ – this will delight even the most ardent Islay-o-phile. Those with a penchant for burnt rubber and iodine will feel right at home with this one. This is an absolutely mammoth peated whisky, chosen by us to satisfy our most ardent peat fans (and we know we have quite a few in our ranks). PEAT PEOPLE – this one’s for YOU!
OUR TASTING NOTES
Nose: A big hospital bandaid at first – very iodiney and medicinal. There’s also a musty-ness that sits on top of a very sweet and luxuriously rich stewed fruit vibe. But the peat is the star of the nose on this one. Palate: Such a thick and syrupy mouthfeel – it really coats the palate well. Some pepper in the initial taste (but at 63.5%ABV a little heat is to be expected) - this cuts right down with a mere drop of water though. There’s all the stewed fruit, chocolate and even honey you could wish for swirling around there, but the oak is not lost in all of that either. Finish: Finishes as strong as it starts. Lovely warm mouthfeel and those peaty num-nums keep rolling around and around, lubricated till the end with more syrupy stewed fruit, espresso coffee and chocolate notes.
Bottle Size : 500ml
ABV : 63.5%
Region : AUSTRALIA (NSW)
Peated : YES
Chill Filtered: NO
Add to cart Details
Barr an Uisce 1803 16 Year Old

$199.00
All the way from the Emerald Isle, a limited edition, 16 year old Irish whiskey and we have the entire Australian allocation of it. For all of our Irish whisky lovers out there – The Barr an Uisce 16yo Single Malt Whiskey. This whiskey is a limited edition (only 1803 numbered bottles), un-chill filtered, 16 year old cracker of a whiskey. Unusually for an Irish, the Barr an Uisce 1803 16 year old is double-distilled rather than triple distilled. It has been aged in first fill Kentucky Bourbon barrels and is presented at 46% abv. Not only that – as an added bonus, it’s in a 750ml bottle! Ahh… 750ml bottles… It’s been awhile since we featured a whiskey with an ‘e’ in it. As lovers of Irish single malt whiskey well know – they are not exactly in abundant supply in this day and age all the way down here!
OUR TASTING NOTES
Nose: Very fresh and fruity on the nose. Lot’s of pears and citrus-y notes first up, but then a distinct salted caramel swirl soon becomes apparent. Palate: The citrus and white fruits go through to the palate – as does that interesting salted quality. More vanilla and also some honey there. Nice and crisp, fruity with a sweet roundness. Finish: Honey notes roll around the vanilla and fruit as it slowly fades.
Bottle Size : 750ml
ABV : 46%
Region : IRELAND
Peated : No
Chill Filtered: No
Add to cart Details
Amber Lane Distillery SMWC Edition

$159.00
This release very special indeed – An EXCLUSIVE offering of exceptional whisky from Amber Lane for our whisky loving members The Amber Lane Distillery SMWC Edition. This incredible whisky was blended from 4 large casks (Amber Lane only use large format casks) – one a 30+ year old 250L Oloroso cask from Fernando de Castilla (a legendary Spanish bodega), a Spanish Pedro Ximenez, an Aussie Apera and a Heaven Hill Bourbon cask. They have all been marrying for around a month in the Spanish Oloroso cask before bought down to 50% for bottling.

OUR TASTING NOTES

Nose: Such an enticing and complex nose – it’s a distinct malty core wrapped with a tempting fruity sweetness, but there’s also green olives and faint leather notes there too. Palate: Luscious, mouth coating oilyness – very syrupy indeed. A brief flash of white pepper burst precedes juicy fruit chewing gum notes, vanilla, honey and chocolate with sweet vanilla-malty biscuits (Malt-O-Milk?) to round it out. Finish: long, chewy and thoroughly delicious with big ginger notes, chocolate, espresso coffee and freshly cut vanilla pods and (is that?) some all-spice… all in a big Milk Arrowroot embrace. Big, fruity vanilla goodness, with a heart of pure malt. This is a big, complex and rewarding whisky that really wants you to sift through it’s many flavours and tones and notes. I’m just so enamoured with the way the malt pushes through the lovely fruit notes.

Bottle Size : 700ml
ABV : 50%
Region : AUSTRALIA (NSW)
Peated : NO
Chill Filtered: NO
Add to cart Details