OUR TASTING NOTES
Nose: Lots of sweet spices up front for me – cloves, allspice and cinnamon over dried fruit and tinned apricot nectar.
Palate: Lovely viscous mouthfeel (almost liqueur –like), and initial burst of pepper but all the big stewed fruit comes right through like a wave.
Finish: Warm, chewy, lush and lingering. Coffee and dark chocolate, sweet spiced fruit mince and just a perfect cheek pinching citrus-like astringency.
This is a small, and let’s face it, high priced package, but it won’t disappoint once you taste it. The ‘Tassie distillation - Snowy Mountain maturation’ makes it hard to put a flag on, but I do know it’s a fantastic example of a Tawny matured whisky. Nicely warming, big and round and sweet – but with a lovely dry back edge that makes you pour just one more dram. Ok, and maybe one more after that…
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Snowy Mountains Whisky? Make way for a super small-batch, cask strength, independent bottling of one of Tasmania’s finest distilleries aged and bottled in the highest altitude of any whisky in Australia – The Snowy Mountain Spirits Tawny! Now Mark Newton is a man who enjoys doing things a little… differently. Not only does he independently age and bottle whisky in Australia’s highest location, he brings the new-make all the way from Tassie to do it. The Snowy Mountains Spirits Tawny was born in Tassie, at the Old Kempton Distillery in fact! For those members who don’t know, Old Kempton is a well-awarded small batch distillery located just north of Hobart. So how highly regarded is Old Kempton – well they took out ‘Best Australian Small Batch Single Malt’ at the World Whisky Awards in 2022, and have just won a silver this year! -
This is the very last expression ever of Spirit Thief’s independent bottlings…but what a whisky it is…a cask strength, double distilled, single cask finished in a French wine cask. The Spirit Thief Benrinnes Bordeaux Red-Wine Cask was double distilled at the Speyside Benrinnes Distillery in 2008. Bottled in 2019 it has spent 11 years in a first fill red-wine cask from Château Gruaud-Larose in the Bordaux region of France. Then bottled at a cask strength of 55.2% ABV with absolutely nothing added, and of course non-chill filtered. This is a superb example of wine cask maturation, hand selected from the Benrinnes bond-store by Tasmania’s own ‘wine-cask’ experts – Spirit Thief.OUR TASTING NOTESNose: Sweet nutty nougat with a citrus twist but there’s also a slightly salty-savoury note behind the sweetness. Palate: A big spice burst first up but a solid creaminess of mouthfeel becomes apparent as the pepper fades. Big sweet red fruits cut through and there’s also crystallised ginger and custardy notes in there too. Finish: Finish is long and constantly evolving – pepper morphs to sweet fruit morphs to dry tannins. -
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 NOTESNose: 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. -
Up for your drinking enjoyment is legendary independent bottlers, Signatory Vintage and their fantastic take on an Island malt – the Pulteney 2008 Aged 12 Years. A Cask Strength, marriage of Bourbon and Sherry casks with a slight salty maritime influence that will dance on your taste buds. The Pulteney 2008 Aged 12 Years was distilled (as the name suggests) at the Pulteney Distillery and aged in refill Bourbon Barrels. After around 9 years the three casks were married into a single fresh Sherry Butt for 33 months to finish. The resultant whisky is bottled at cask strength, un-chill filtered and without any additives of any kind.OUR TASTING NOTESNose: Poached pears, sultanas, unburnt tobacco, with a touch of salt on the nose as well. Palate: Fruit comes through much richer and darker than on the nose. Those big, red ‘sherry fruit tones’ in abundance, but also some vanilla and buttery notes from those bourbon barrels, some pepper there too – big on the first sip, but settles thereafter. Finish: Nice hearty and long finish, the pepper presents at the front of my tongue in waves, whilst the stewed fruit seems to sit on my cheeks. That sea-side salty nuance re-appears as well. I wouldn’t go as far as to say this is a ‘sherry bomb’ – this is much more balanced than that. The buttery, vanilla from the bourbon casks is nicely complimented by the fruity, first-fill sherry cask treatment it had for just shy of 3 years. And I do get the salty maritime influence I’ve always loved from Pulteney whisky. I can only assume that Signatory Vintage have bought the Bourbon barrels aged at Pulteney prior to marrying them in their own sherry butt. The salty notes definitely lead me to believe this is likely! -
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 NOTESNose: 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. -
This is a cask strength 'ode to the Sherry-cask'…From the masters of the single cask, Signatory Vintage, we’re proud to present this 11-year-old sherry-bomb, The Signatory Vintage Mortlach 2010 Aged 11 Years. This is a limited edition whisky with only 705 individually numbered bottles worldwide. This single malt whisky was distilled in 2010 at the Mortlach Distillery before being placed in a refill Hogshead. It was then finished in a fresh Sherry Butt for 15 months and in 2021 it was bottled at 57.8% ABV as part of the Signatory Vintage Cask Strength Collection. Mortlach’s bold flavour profile has seen it dubbed “The Beast of Dufftown” and is said to exist somewhere in between mellow and smoky. In a region renowned for its mellower, gentler ‘whisky-vibe’, Mortlach stands out for it’s robust, muscular and rich character.OUR TASTING NOTESNose: Rich, fruity and lush from the get-go. Dried fruits abound, but a deeper savoury quality lurks in the background. Palate: Big fruity sherry flavours galore here. If you’re missing Christmas cake already, then you’ll love this! All the fruitcake spices, rich red fruits, chocolate and coffee notes you’re craving! Finish: Lovely and lush, chewy and long. Those fruity notes keep going on the back of the peppery waves and the lovely oiliness keeps that finish all over the mouth. Most definitely the sherry ‘yan’ to our Malt of the Month’s bourbon ‘Ying’. All the red-fruits, fruit cake, coffee and chocolate you could ask for in a big sherry-d whisky. The rich base spirit really carries those sherry influences well! -
Get ready for a very serious, peat forward, extremely limited edition, powerhouse of a whisky from legendary cult distiller, Dan Wooley and his highly sought after Highwayman Whisky. Our November Members Extra is the sensational Highwayman Batch 3.5 Torn and Velvety - It’s peated and it’s proud and it certainly pulls no punches. The Highwayman Whisky Batch 3.4 ‘Torn and Velvety’ was hand selected by Brad and Dan specifically for the Club and it’s so limited we are limiting it to members who also purchase the Malt of the Month. A double Tawny cask matured blend of peated and unpeated whisky from the Highwayman still located in beautiful Byron Bay. We are indeed fortunate to have been able to secure this exceptional whisky as Dan Woolley’s Highwayman Whiskies are in high demand all over the country and fast becoming a cult favourite. ‘Torn and Velvety’ is made from a blend of two casks. A first-fill, 100L French Oak Tawny cask filled with unpeated spirit – just shy of 3 years old, and a 50L Tawny cask filled with peated spirit and matured for around 2 and a half years. The result is a spectacularly fruity whisky with a peat hit to match! This is going to make our peat-freaks extremely happy. No ‘subtle wafts’ here.OUR TASTING NOTESNose: Unmistakable peat influence on the nose sets the tone up front. There’s Charcuterie savouriness with some sea-salt and a few dried sweet dates around the edges Palate: Sweet, Tawny fruit notes really cut through the savoury smokiness beautifully creating a very well balanced palate. Loads of sweet fruit mince, caramel, coffee notes whilst the smoky peat provides real shoulders for them all to climb on. Finish: BIG, Long , Chewy and Robust! A real ‘peat-freak’ type of finish - the smoke swirling all around, but cut through by brilliant streaks of sweet, savoury, salty and umami in perfect harmony.