Tag: australian whisky

Whisky 2015 – 154-156

154 – Mackey Triple Distilled Port Cask
Yeasty, toffee, banana bread, some cloves and other spice, cola, some slight plastic smell and rose petals, some maple. The palate is pretty disappointing and weak with that sort of nose it tastes like it has been cut with water some spices and cream.

155 – Heartwood Convict Resurrection 14
Really nutty on the nose, burnt butter, roses, crisps. Nutty, beef stock and chicken crisps, stewed apples and cream. It works!

156 – Heartwood The Good Convict Port Cask
Huge maple syrup, butter on pancakes, gentle dried fruits. Red apple, cola, cloves and cream, tannic dry finish with loads of dry ginger.

  

Whisky 2015 – 142-144

142 – SMWS 29.161 (Laphroaig) A bodega is burning
Wow – chocolate, plasticine, peat, leather. Slight iodine, medicinal notes that mix up with cocoa, smoke and chalk, some passionfruit(?!?), wet autumn leaves.

143 – Whiskybase Ben Nevis
So much honey, aspirin, maple syrup, butter on crumpets. Melted salted butter, cloves and vanilla cream – it’s such a beautifully structured whisky nothing is offensive or is aggressive, pipe tobacco, tiny bit of pineapple and mango.

144 – Heartwood Any port in storm
Sarsaparilla, dark chocolate, musk, musty, dark leather, coffee liqueur. Perfume, gasoline, butter, maple syrup, wood, caramels, cloves, leather, salty, dried stone fruits. So good.

Whisky 2015 – 108-111

108 – New World Double Cask Release #1 (port refill port first fill)
Brown bread, butter, malt, vanilla. Vanilla, pepper, malt. Best New World in ages. The huge banana bread thing is gone. More elegant and interesting. Great length due to the subdued sweetness.

109 – SMWS 119.14 (Yamazaki) Raspberry Imperial Stout
Freeze dried raspberries, vino cotto, chocolate, fake cherry flavoring, something green I can’t quite place, some woody notes, egg whites. Raspberries, maraschino cherries, cloves, slight cream, umami, cinnamon.

110 – Silver Seal Glendronach 22 years (Distilled 1990)
Musk sticks, flowers, golden syrup, molasses, honey, vanilla, yoghurt, stewed apricots, chocolate chips, rocky road. Woody, sarsaparilla, creaming soda, butter.

111 – Cadenhead Glendronach 23 year (Distilled 1990)
Coconut lemon cake, almond meal, eggy cake mix, bran. Grain, eggplant, almonds, weak honey and lemon. A bit disappointing next to the Silver Seal.

  

Whisky 2015 – 94-95

94 – Heartwood Devil is in the Detail
Marzipan, toasted macadamias, cocoa, milk chocolate. Peppery, salty and intense vanilla cream. Had to add water it’s beautiful but really needed to chill out. With water it’s more floral on the nose with the vanilla poking through. Ok this is a weird one paper bark trees, fruit cake dripping in brandy, roasted capsicum.

95 – Berry’s 1984 Benrinnies bottles 2011
Caramel, glue and honey, cloves, cucumber in gin, hazelnuts. Warm quince cake, dry spices. Pretty bloody good.

Whisky 2015 – 92-93

92 – SMWS 120.7 (Hakushu) Sweet, fragrant and satisfying
Soy sauce, pepper, cloves. Rubber, vanilla cream, coffee trifle – almost like I’ve taken a spoonful of brown sugar. Quite dry.

93 – Limeburners Sherry Barrel Cask Strength
(You’ll think I’m crazy but the guys and I at Whisky and Alement problem solved this one) Pine wood shavings and (wait for it) frozen McCains pizza, specifically the frozen red capsicum on the pizza. Really vegetal like old cucumbers and wood. Not very nice.

Whisky 2015 – 78-85

Sorry folks… forgot to update.

Benriach and Heartwood are quickly becoming personal favourites.

78 – Benriach 15 Sauternes
Vanilla, cocoa, stewed apricots, crushed ants, rock candy. Vanilla, passion fruit, apricots, salt, cream and a lick of peat.

79 – Benriach 17 Solstice
Heavily peated, medicinal, pine resin, toffee, cherry and woody. Coffee, toffee, slight medicinal note and smoke.

80 – Benriach Peated PX Cask 18
Rubber, toffee apple, butter, cocoa, cream, tobacco, smoke. Medicinal, complex, cream and smoke.

81 – Royal Lochnagar Selected Reserve 2008
Tropical fruit, rock melon, iced coffee, banana bread, biro ink. Banana bread, vanilla, yeast, grain, some flintiness.

82 – White Oak 14
Tar, woody, chocolate and shitloads of leather and tobacco, cola, bit of smoke(?!). Lovely musk sweetness, pepper, brown sugar, green bitterness, cloves, smoked meats.

83 – Hibiki Harmony
Chocolate, honey, vanilla, crushed ants. Light on the palate and then a hit of mango, cream, nutty.

84 – Heartwood Devil May Care
Nutty, rock melon, maple syrup, rose water. Toasted almonds, glue, rubber, fruit, dried figs… Huge vanilla finish. Very good.

85 – Adelphi Glen Keith 21
Bananas, yeasty brown bread, strawberry lip gloss, milk chocolate. Banana sandwich on rye with salted butter.

   
 

Whisky 2015 – 70-72

70 – Heartwood Beagle 3
Pine resin, the sweet end of turps, marijuana, chocolate, crushed ants, tomato vine. Tobacco, leather, pepper, beef jerky, super powerful vanilla – it’s really chewy and salty. With time pina colada on the nose and beautiful rich thick caramel. Wow! Really impressed. One of the best for 2015.

71 – Duthies Linkwood 23
Yeast, brown bread, butter, slight banana. Light on the palate with some nice grain.

72 – King Car Whisky
Simple, elegant, lovely tropical fruit. Vanilla, coconut and mango maybe. The type of whisky you’d drink all night.

Whisky 2015 – 67-69 – Australian Moonshine

67 – Crazy Uncle Moonshine
Neutral alcoholic nose, slight tequila like nose. Warmth of grain comes through, little complexity as expected but quite satisfying all the same.

68 – Crazy Uncle Moonshine Barrel Aged
Slight caramel hit on the nose with some warm rye bread and touch of butter. Like a really weak coffee that is alcoholic. It’s quite interesting.

69 – Ironbark Corn Rye
Truffles and twisties cheese powder, I’m not kidding. Grape like sweetness and rye bread.