OUR TASTING NOTES
Nose: A solid base of granny smith apples underlies fresh and vibrant floral and grassy notes with a citrus tang.
Palate: Wonderful, buttery, creamy mouthfeel luxuriously coats the palate before a wave of poached pear, vanilla custard, honey and buttered milk arrowroot biscuits and a lovely walnut flavour chase each other around the palate.
Finish: Lovely medium peppery-ness leads the charge to the finish, but it’s the sweet, floral notes that linger longest!
This is a wonderfully easy drinking dram (especially after a splash of water to open it’s cask strength goodness) and an almost textbook demonstration of fantastic highland spirit matched with first class oak. All the biscuits, nuts, vanilla and buttery mouthfeel you could ask for in a bourbon cask matured whisky.
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Is there anything better than bringing a new whisky to Australia for the first time? Well yes… bringing TWO in the same month! Our second Aussie exclusive this month is the Glen Garioch 8yo from up-and-comers in the Scottish indy bottling industry, Dram Mor. Limited to only 241 individually numbered bottles, this CASK STRENGTH, SINGLE CASK Single Malt is matured in ex-bourbon barrels from the small batch specialist, Glen Garioch Distillery that has been making whisky since 1797 in North East Scotland. -
Get ready for one of the FIRKIN greatest whiskies we have ever released! With spirit from the Tullibardine Distillery, aged in Firkins own custom casks that are made of alternating staves of American and French oak seasoned with both Amontidillado and Oloroso sherries and individually numbered and bottled exclusively for The Single Malt Whisky Club – the Firkin 49 Tullibardine 2012 is a Firkin awesome whisky from the whisky legend that is Mike Collings. This month we are so firkin happy to FINALLY be able to offer a Firkin Whisky Co. release as our ‘Malt of the Month’. I say finally as we’ve featured Firkin releases in the past as our ‘Members Extra’ (and they’ve sold out every time!) – but there’s never been enough brought into Australia to be able to offer it as a ‘Malt of the Month’.OUR TASTING NOTESColour: Light amber Nose: Sweet frangipani at first, but a mild salty savoury note follows closely – salami? Palate: Sweet nut brittle, stewed fruit and yet more floral notes alongside a malty milk arrowroot biscuit swirl with a delightful creaminess in the mouth Finish: A mild spice tempers the sweetness but the nutty-maltiness persists and fades out enticing you to take another sip. This is a delightfully different whisky – nutty, sweet, floral and even savoury to boot! Easy and delightful to drink strait up, but adding a dash of water separates the flavours somewhat – and certainly doesn’t lessen the impact very much at all. You won’t be ready to rinse out your glass after just one, that’s for sure -
IT’S A FIRKIN UNICORN! A 12 year old, Double Oaked Tawny Port matured, extremely rare Single Malt from the Scottish Highlands, finished with a bit of FIRKIN magic! Exclusive in Australia to the Single Malt Whisky Club and bottled at a perfect 48.9% for your drinking pleasure. This is FIRKIN great whisky! When whisky legend, Mike Collings (the guy that created Johnny Walker Blue and Green among many others), releases something new to the world – it’s wise to check it out. When he told me last year about an upcoming couple of his ‘double wood’ casks full of 2009 Teaninich I was all ears. Not only is any single malt bottling of Teaninich extremely rare (spirits giant Diageo uses most of it in their various blended whiskies), to get a bottling that’s been ‘touched’ by the Firkin magic is a bit of a unicorn. After a bit of too-ing and fro-ing – we managed to secure the entire Australian allotment of the aptly titled ‘Firkin Rare Teaninich 2009.OUR TASTING NOTESNose: Fresh, tart apple juice jumps out at first, but then a rounder, sweeter note comes through –ripe plums and vanilla. Palate: Crisp and clean mouthfeel –a little pepper but no real heat. Lots of red fruit up front – sweet plums and ripe red grapes morph into malty milk arrowroot bikkies. Finish: Very pleasing – vanilla becomes more pronounced and swirls around seeing the fruit out. A nice malty- sweetness remains at the end to chew on whilst you pour the next one (yes, you will pour a next one!). A light, yet complex dram. A bit of a Firkin enigma, really. Dry and crisp, yet sweet and juicy. Fruity, yet malty. The 48.9% gives it sufficient kick, and avoids the heat. Nicely balanced all round! Nice one, Mr. Collings! -
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! -
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!