Tastes

North Star Tasting with Iain Croucher at The Oak Barrel, 11 May 2023, Whisky #1 Nose: Floral and musky (vanilla?), darkly fruity (dried fig, date), stewed pears. A full-bodied aroma when neat but with water it changes aspect, becoming more grassy and cereal in profile and losing some of the floral note. Palate: Grippy and tight arrival when neat, and entirely focused on cereal/malt flavours. I did not notice any of the dark fruits or floral qualities from the nose duplicated in its flavours, apart from a little vanilla. It seemed a rather hot palate as well, not spicy – just hot. Water reduced this but it remained grippy and a bit too tannic for my liking. Treacle and hard toffee (walnut brittle?). Finish: Medium/long. Malty, with a bitter/sour note in the aftertaste. It does turn a little sweeter when diluted. This comprises 80% grain whisky from North British and 20% malt whiskies (from Macallan, Glenrothes, Highland Park and Glenturret) and was matured for 6 years in ex-oloroso sherry butts. Apart from the Highland Park component I can easily believe that recipe because this has all the harder aspects of those malts, particularly Glenrothes and Glenturret. I was not inclined to buy a bottle. As a first whisky of the night it was a fine palate-opener, but returning to it repeatedly as the tasting progressed only highlighted how ordinary this was. Maybe I’m being a little hard on it but it just didn’t do anything positive for me. It is the first of an anticipated series and I’ll be interested to see in what direction Iain goes with this. By the way, the face of the Fool on the label is a caricature of Iain. Nice one. “Average” : 79/100 (2.75 stars)

Nose: Malt, apple skins, citrus and stone-fruits. The port cask finish is very subtle merely adding a gloss of fortified wine to the basic Dewar’s distillate. That is, however, a pleasant thing and it rounds off the corners of what can otherwise be a fairly ordinary (but competently "average") blended scotch nose. If you compare this to Dewar’s White Label then this is definitely the more interesting scotch. Palate: A larger arrival than either of the other two “Dewar’s Smooth” expressions I’ve tasted recently, but also not as sweet or engaging. It’s surprisingly more like an oloroso sherry finish than port, and there is a good dose of tannin present which gives it a spiky, dry quality (I wonder if they were European oak casks? Surely not!). The texture is OK but overshadowed by the tannic dryness, which makes it seem thin. The palate is not as good as the nose. Finish: Medium: Peppery, sharp spices, overbrewed tea and old walnut skins. The finish is a step down again from the early palate. This is the last of the Dewar’s Smooth finish expressions I bought recently, and it’s not my favourite. It starts reasonably well but the taste and finish do not do justice to the nose. If it was softer and had better balance and a little more fruit on the palate I’d rate it more highly. Adding a dash of water knocks the tannins down a good deal and generally improves the palate and mouth-feel, but the nose loses presence. It takes water surprisingly well for a 40%abv blended scotch – I guess all that oak spice has to be good for something. I thought this seemed like it will be best as a mixer, and in the presence of something sweet like Coke or dry ginger ale it’s probably going to be more than acceptable. I’m rating it one point higher than Dewar’s White Label, which makes my ranking order for these three expressions and the Dewar’s scotches I’ve previously rated here as follows: 82/100 (3.25) - 15 Year Old “The Monarch” 81/100 (3) – 12 Year Old “The Ancestor” 81/100 (3) - Ilegal Smooth mescal cask 80/100 (3) - Japanese Smooth mizunara cask 79/100 (2.75) - Portuguese Smooth port cask 78/100 (2.75) – Dewar’s White Label “Average” : 79/100 (2.75 stars)

Nose: Shy malt with a light orchard and stone-fruit presence. You do notice aromas associated with agave spirit but they are light and if nosed blind I would not be able to say if this was a mescal or tequila cask, and I certainly couldn’t pick the brand. It’s just not bold enough to allow that sort of discrimination. There’s a tiny hint of ash in the foundation which is very pleasant. Palate: Typical sweet and mildly fruit/cereal Dewar’s house style in the arrival, but it gives way to a growing mescal note as it develops. A little spice is the first thing noticed but instead of the expected gingery quality it takes a left turn into mild vegetal and peppery flavours, with a touch of ash in the background. As with the nose you definitely notice something different to standard Dewars White Label (or 12 year old for that matter), but it’s really not until you know it is mezcal cask finished that the nature of what you are tasting becomes clear. Once you do, however, the presence of mescal as a finish is obvious, and it works very well. The texture is good for a blend, with the foundation Aberfeldy distillate contributing its usual creamy and honeyed qualities. Finish: Very Short. Cereal and a trace of peppered honey with a green vegetative background at the end, but it is a very fast finish. A minute after swallowing there is hardly any trace you ever had it on the palate. This is the second of the Dewar’s cask finished “smooth” range I’m currently tasting. As with the mizunara cask expression I had yesterday it’s satisfying that it has an identifiably individual finish (I wonder if the port cask Portuguese Smooth I’m tasting next will continue the trend?). There’s not much more to add. This blended scotch is just fine as an easy, relaxing sipper neat or over ice, it works as a mixer and it’s reasonably priced. It does offer something more than the standard White Label blend and I'd happily buy this again. I like it a fraction better than the mizunara cask expression so I'm giving it one percentage point more, which gives it the same rating I've previously given to Dewar's 12 year old. “Above Average” : 81/100 (3 stars)

Nose: A rather shy and undemonstrative nose at first but it gains some momentum after a while and becomes quite sweet. Light honey, light vanilla, light malt, a little peach and apricot with a slowly emerging buttery note. There is not much mizunara wood aroma but the whisky is a little softer and more rounded than other entry level Dewars and it has a fragrant touch. In a blind tasting line-up of Dewars blends you would notice that this has a soft quality to it but you would probably not identify it as due to mizunara casks (well, I wouldn’t anyway). Palate: Light, mainly cereal and thin honey with some soft stone-fruits in the arrival. Mild ginger spice in mid-development but it flashes into view briefly and then disappears. Very easy to drink and the texture is pretty good for an affordable blend, with a full almost creamy quality. Finish: Short. Semi-sweet cereal with a faint spice aftertaste. This is an average blended scotch but to be fair there is nothing objectionable about it and it’s very approachable. You can enjoy it neat as a sipping whisky so it’s definitely on the high side of average. It works well as a mixer but in that context the slight mizunara influence is obscured. If I was going to a barbecue with friends who like the occasional dram but are not particularly fans of whisky it would be a great session bottle to share. It would also be fine as a last dram of the night if you wanted something really soft and easy to relax with. I sort of agree with some of the official Distiller tasting notes but I think Jake is a little hard on this and the score is a bit low. I was initially going to give this 79/100 but I found myself enjoying my tasting dram more and more as I was typing this so I’m boosting it up by a percentage point. For the money this is fair value. I missed out on picking up a bottle of the Dewar’s Caribbean cask when it was around but I do have the Ilegal mescal and Portuguese port cask finished blends. Reviews incoming soon. “Above Average” : 80/100 (3 stars)

Nose (neat): At first all I noticed were gentle, demure cereal aromas – grist, oatmeal porridge, and barley sugar. Then later there was a hint of vanilla, subtle oak and a suggestion of peat smoke. This is a spirit-driven nose and it’s extremely tight when neat. However, allowing the dram to sit in the glass for a while works magic and the longer you leave it the larger it becomes. Over time it gains considerable presence as the initial aromas blossom and are joined by emerging mint, sweeter barley sugar, anise and an aromatic texture of rich, pillowy fullness. Nose (watered): Adding water mellows and softens the nose while also unleashing peat smoke. The smoke never gains anything like the force or intensity of, say, Ardbeg but then it’s not trying to be a peat monster. This is more like the sort of peating you expect from Longrow, Glengyle or Benromach. The dry-glass aroma is distant bushfire smoke. Palate (neat): Sweet, muscular, with an intense malty and cereal arrival and slowly building peat smoke. Burnt grass, digestive biscuits, coffee and dried dates in the development. It’s firm and nearly astringent on the palate as tannins, grapefruit zest, green apple skins and dark almost-burnt Anzac biscuits smeared with golden syrup appear in the late development. This whisky has progression and the texture is creamy and satisfying. Palate (watered): The palate gains more body and sweetness, with peat smoke and menthol expanding and playing off against dark cherry preserve, rhubarb tart, sour ginger pickle and lemon zest. The smoke presence is more evident now. Finish (neat): Long. Spicy malt and well contained tannins dance into the sunset to the accompaniment of moderate peat smoke. When watered the finish becomes more spritzy with lingering ginger, bright tannins and peppermint. It loses no length in the process (I thought it actually gained length with dilution) and the aftertaste has a hint of ashy chimney smoke. Many minutes after finishing the dram the last echo of flavour is sweet, mild peat smoke. Black Gate is one of the world’s smallest whisky distilleries. It was founded by husband and wife team Brian and Genise Hollingworth in 2009 in a region of country NSW that experiences extreme temperature variations, from below freezing to 40 degrees Celsius in the summer. They produce about 4,000 litres of spirit annually from their two small direct-fired pot stills. This particular bottling was distilled in April 2018, matured in an ex-bourbon cask (distillery cask BG095) and bottled in June 2021. Only 355 bottles were produced of which mine is number 239. The peated malt for the expression was sourced from either Bairds or Smiths in Scotland. This is a big peated single-cask, cask-strength single malt but it also has a lighter and more delicate side to its personality. Occasionally the nose seems almost candy-like and on initial nosing it reminded me of the Ardnamurchan AD/09:22 cask strength I recently reviewed, with which it shares a quality of subtle, uncomplicated purity. There is heat from the relatively high alcohol strength but it is contained and pleasant – in fact heat is more obvious with dilution as spices show through. Adding a second dilution reduces the whisky to a purring but slightly cantankerous kitten – I eventually took it down to around 25% abv and it was still forceful. How Brian manages to create a whisky of such power but retain a graceful profile while maturing it in small casks in extreme temperatures for just on 2-4 years is beyond my comprehension. Initially Black Gate produced rum and unpeated single malt whisky but since 2016 their focus has been on heavily peated single malt, although unpeated runs are occasionally still done. Originally Brian always used sherry, port and rum casks for maturation but of late he has been using bourbon barrels which allow the distillate character to show through more clearly. I’m in two minds as to which I prefer – the enormous cask-driven flavor of his apera (sherry) expressions or the more focused and clear profile of this one. Regardless of the casking, every issue from Black Gate shares the trait of being a true one-off batch release, unchillfiltered, uncoloured and usually at cask strength from a single-cask. There is a consistent distillery signature of cereal texture, depth and richness, however there is also great variation between batches and every expression should be listed separately. Black Gate is without question one of my top 5 Australian whisky distilleries. “Very Good” : 87/100 (4.25 stars)

This review was originally posted here in a general listing for Black Gate whisky on 19 January 2020. I’ve moved it to this listing for the specific expression for reasons that will be obvious. Australian Single Malt Whisky Tasting (Part 1), The Oak Barrel, Sydney 16 January 2020, Whisky #6 Nose: Highly phenolic peat smoke, lemon oil, bacon fat and a faint hint of fruity caramel in the background. Palate: Sweet smoke, red berries and stone fruit (golden peach and apricot) on the arrival. The development veers more towards sweet citrus (tangerine and lemon) and the smoke evolves into a meaty barbecue quality. The texture is oily and full. Finish: Medium/long. The fruit flavours subside and the aftertaste is lingering sweet smoke. This is a robust, heavily peated, single-cask, cask-strength single malt of great character. There is no heat at all from the high alcohol content and it is delicious neat. It can, however, take as much water as you wish to throw into it and suffers no ill effects, simply expanding and softening as it dilutes. Black Gate is one of the world’s smallest whisky distilleries. Founded by husband and wife team Brian and Genise Hollingworth in 2009 in a region of country NSW that experiences extreme temperature variations, from below freezing to 40 degrees Celsius in the summer. They produce about 4,000 litres of spirit annually from their two small direct-fired pot stills. Initially the distillery produced rum and unpeated single malt whisky but since 2016 the focus has been on heavily peated single malt. This particular bottling was distilled in April 2017, matured in a re-coopered ex-port cask (distillery cask BG068) bottled in December 2019. The peated malt for the expression was sourced from Smiths in Scotland. Every bottling from Black Gate is a batch expression, usually from a single-cask, and there is a constant distillery signature of heavily textured depth and richness. However there is also great variation between batches depending on the type of cask used, and every expression really should be listed separately. Highly recommended, and probably the best heavily peated Australian single malt I’ve tasted. It has a profile that lies somewhere between Laphroaig Lore and Glendronach 18 year old, but it is really its own thing. “Very Good” : 86/100 (4 stars)

Nose: Sweet peat smoke with malt, red wine and sherry notes showing through. Some orchard fruit and coal smoke as it opens together with crisp, light herbal aromas. There is a subtle and elegant presence of oak cask. Nicely balanced. Palate: Soft, sweet entry with foundation peat smoke. Juicy red berries and grapes on the mid palate set against a mild base of soft tannins, just a pinch of white pepper, a few drops of sea water and a twist of sweet lemon zest. The texture is fairly neutral. Finish: Medium. Soft and relaxed smoke and red fruit notes. A very pleasant and easily approachable whisky, if not an earth-shatteringly impressive one. It shows the signature profile characteristics of the distillery’s contemporary style and is clean, well composed and well casked. This whisky is part of Gordon & MacPhail’s “Wood Finished Connoisseurs Choice” range and it is the least expensive expression in that range. In fact it is only a little more expensive than the whiskies in the G&M entry-level Discovery range, which makes it good value for money. It was distilled in 2008 and bottled on the 8th of October 2020 in a release of 4440 bottles. Maturation was initially in refill sherry hogsheads for 9 years, followed by 3 years of finishing in northern Rhone hermitage casks (which most likely contained red shiraz varietal wine). The strength of 45% abv was well chosen and gives just enough presence to the whisky. The wine cask finish does tend to obscure the distillate character just a bit, and you lose some of the porridge, bread and grassy notes of the Tobermory new-make, but the casks also provide a very agreeable complimentary component of juicy red-berries and grapes, so no complaints from me. The profile is relatively straightforward but that is not a problem when all the elements are pleasant and in balance, as here. The only criticism I would make is that the palate lacks a little in density. My initial nosing of this whisky gave me a very good impression and I started thinking “hmm, 4.25 stars?”. However when I tasted it I automatically knocked off a half point. It’s not the proof that is at issue here or any problem with balance or character – that’s all fine – it is a slight lack of weight and structure. If this was just a little more oily or creamy on the palate it would be a very good whisky rather than just a good one. However as I said that’s not a fault as such, it just positions it in a different niche where it is less a whisky to pour for discerning whisky mates and more a cosy dram to relax with as a nightcap or companion to an old late-night movie. The less you analyse this one and the more you just relax and enjoy it the better it gets, and it’s one of the few whiskies that I much prefer without any dilution. “Good” : 84/100 (3.75 stars)