Snowy Mountains Spirits Tawny

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 Mountains 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!

Mark and Old Kempton Distiller Rob Tyler had long conversations about what Mark was about, and what he wanted to achieve before Rob agreed to supply some of his new make to Mark’s Snowy Mountains venture.

Once Rob had done his magic, the new make was then transported to the mainland and up to it’s penultimate resting place at Marks bond-store. Situated 1200m above sea level, Snowy Mountains Spirit’s whiskies are matured at the highest altitude of any whisky in Australia! In this case the maturation took place in a 228l French oak barrel that had around 10years of maturing South Australian Tawny before being re-coopered and heavily charred.

So why does Mark go to all this trouble? Well one of the benefits of being in the Snowy Mountains is the large variations in temperature and conditions throughout the year. The hot dry summers and the cold snowy winters and storms have all added to complexity of the whisky’s profile. After all that hard work over the summer months the whisky has a well-deserved slumber over the winter months, except when it is woken by the winter storms or when it’s time for decanting!!

This is a super small-batch, independent bottling of one of Tasmania’s finest distilleries, by a bloody nice fella who’s gonna do it his way… or be damned! The Snowy Mountains Spirits Tawny.

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.

The Snowy Mountains Spirits Tawny 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…

We love what we do at Snowy Mountains Spirits.

We get our new make spirit from two award winning Tasmanian distilleries after having conversations with the distillers about what we are wanting to produce. We source our barrels from around the world and bring the spirit and the barrels together at 1200 meters in the pristine Snowy Mountains of NSW.

We mature each individual barrel until it’s ready. This involves time and patience as well as a good nose and palate, particularly towards the end of the maturation. Of course, the size of the barrel will have a big influence on how long it takes the whisky to mature as well as how many summers they have gone through. The hot and dry Australian Alpine summers make the whisky work hard and cold snowy winters allow it to rest until the next snow storm!

The angels are thirsty in the Snowy Mountains and what we lose in “angels’ share” we gain in flavour and ABV.

As you know about 70-80% of the flavour and 100% of the colour of matured whisky comes from the barrel so it’s important to know more about the barrel. This Tawny barrel is French oak and came from a renowned winery in South Australia that previously had Tawny fortified spirit (made up of Grenache, Mataro and Shiraz) for about ten years. It has been re-coopered from a 228lt barrel and heavily charred and before filling it with delicious new make and allowing it to mature in the pristine Snowy Mountains of NSW for three years.

The tasting profile of our whiskies is also enhanced because we don’t cold chill filter or flock* our whiskies, ensuring the natural flavours and textures remain in each bottle. 100% natural whisky from barrel to bottle!

Our whisky is all small batch, single malt, single barrels with high ABVs.

Our Snowy Mountains Spirits Tawny expression Whisky is released at 55.2%. We found this the sweet spot and like to release our whiskies at high ABVs. This allows you to enjoy neat or add a little ice or water and experience the array of flavours the whisky delivers as it opens up.

From the first nosing you will be able to quickly pick up the ex-tawny cask influences. It has floral sweet opening notes and is soft, rounded and sweet on the tongue. Think peaches and stone fruit with a nod to its tawny cask provenance. This whisky has a long finish with hints of wood and great legs. It has been described as “Very moreish. A cracker!” We agree!

Let’s see what you think.