Tastes

Battery Point Distillery tasting, Hobart, Monday August 10th 2024, Whisky #4 Nose: Orange zest, vanilla, whisky. Palate: Orange zest, vanilla, bitters, sherry, nuts, honey. Finish: Medium. Lingering burnt honey and orange. This was created as an exclusive for the 2024 Tasmanian Whisky Week. The distillery took some of their whisky that had been matured in a PX sherry cask for 2 years and transferred it to a tiny ex-bourbon wood cask for 6 months of finishing. This 20 litre cask had previously been used to age (!) 20 litres of Old Fashioned cocktail as an exclusive for the 2023 Dark Mofo Festival. Just 43 bottles were produced. Was this whisky with a finish or flavoured whisky? Was this interesting? Was it even a good idea? Don’t ask me. It was pleasant enough to drink but completely forgettable. Apart from the publicity and novelty value I didn’t see the point and I’d rather have tasted a freshly made Old Fashioned. However to be fair, Battery Point is a very young artisan distillery (their annual output is about 20% that of Daftmill) and they are still in their experimentation stage. We also tasted a whisky they had matured in a whey stout barrel and they have done another that was finished in an IPA barrel. I believe Battery Point is looking to relocate to a larger site (the current distillery is tiny). If they can achieve the required transition of scale and settle on a successful house profile they have a bright future. “Average” : 75/100 (2.5 stars)

Battery Point Distillery tasting, Hobart, Monday August 10th 2024, Whisky #3 Nose: Light ale and cereal, thinned malt extract. When nosed neat there was hardly any smoke at all but after a dash of water the smoke greatly amplified. Palate: Dry arrival of nut toffee turning sweeter with maple sugar and honey highlights and a hint of vanilla. The smoke presence is stronger on the palate than the nose, both when taken neat and once reduced, and it also has both smoked ham and resinous qualities. The texture is oily, and becomes creamy with water. Finish: Medium/Short. Nougat and smoke. This peated whisky was not made from peated barley. Instead the distillery matured their unpeated spirit in a range of casks, including one from Laphroaig and one from Lagavulin (second fill ex-bourbon casks in both cases, I believe). The spirit also spent some time in second-fill port and sherry casks which the distillery said was done for “balance”, but I would have liked to taste it without these wine influences. We tasted from bottle #77 of the second batch that has been made (371 bottles in all). I’m not sure whether this batch was the second time the same peated casks were used or if a second set of peated casks was employed. I was not impressed at first nosing as there seemed to be little presence, but a dash of water really lifted the profile and brought the spirit to life. That’s not unusual with cask-strength whisky but in this case it was very pronounced. I'm also not sure why the distillery did not use a peated wash for this as they have made peated runs, but I'm guessing that they are conducting parallel experiments in peated whisky creation. The whisky made from their own peated spirit is not ready yet but I'd be very interested to try it and see how it differed from this peated cask expression. “Good” : 83/100 (3.5 stars)

Battery Point Distillery tasting, Hobart, Monday August 10th 2024, Whisky #2 Nose: Orange zest, sherry, malt extract. Palate: Semi-sweet arrival and development, malt, sherry caramel and vanilla. The texture is oily. Finish: Medium. Sherry dominating the aftertaste. This was a blend of whiskies matured in a 100 litre PX sherry cask and a 100 litre cream sherry cask, producing a batch of 418 bottles. It is the first batch of fully sherry-wood matured whisky from Battery Point and we tasted from bottle #261. Overall I thought it was similar to the Tripe Cask expression we tasted first but simpler and sweeter in profile. The PX cask influence is very strong here. “Above Average” : 82/100 (3.25 stars)

Battery Point Distillery tasting, Hobart, Monday August 10th 2024, Whisky #1 Nose: Dominating sweet aromas of golden syrup, caramel, fortified wine and vanilla. Some nutty aromas are noticed after a while, and particularly after reduction. Palate: Soft, sweet, winey arrival showing bushels of fruity flavours (cranberry, raspberry, grape juice, raisins). As it developed I got walnut skins, pistachios (!) and morello cherries. There is a strong fortified wine presence throughout and although it’s certainly not objectionable it does flood the malt and cereal notes. The texture is creamy. Finish: Medium/Short. Wine and stewed fruits but turning a little metallic in the aftertaste. This is a dessert style of whisky. Sweet, Christmas cake fruity and rich. It was matured in a combination of ex-bourbon (70%), ex-sherry (20%) and ex-port (10%) casks but I forgot to ask whether the wine casks were real sherry and port casks, or apera and tawny which are the Australian versions of these fortified wines. However given the small size of the casks we saw at the distillery I think it’s safe to assume they were local and probably 1st fill, given the intensity of the wine presence. We tasted Bottle #38 from Batch #3 of this whisky. At the moment the batches vary from 45-50% abv (the one we tasted was 46.62%) but Battery Point intends Triple Cask to be a core range expression and they are very much aiming for consistency. I don’t expect the profile will drift much over time, and the abv may eventually be set at a standard strength. The wash, made using Punnet barley from Tasmania, was created for Battery Point by Last Rites brewery. It’s a palatable whisky with nice complexity and reasonable balance, but I did feel that the casks dominate the profile and it could benefit from longer maturation in larger, more subtle casks. This is a whisky, and a distillery, to watch. If they can take this expression to the next level it has the potential to be something quite special. “Good” : 83/100 (3.5 stars)

Battery Point Distillery tasting, Hobart, Monday August 10th 2024, Whisky #6 Nose: When neat all I could sense was rubbery peat smoke that obscured everything more subtle. Once it was reduced it was less pungent but smoke was still the outstanding aroma. Palate: Very alcoholic when neat but with surprisingly little burn, just an intense “prickle”. Like the nose, the palate was overflowing with rubber and bitumenous phenols when neat but once reduced almost 1:1 with water (so around 40%) it had a pleasingly ashen smoke flavor, the rubber taste almost disappeared and you could just taste some malt. The texture was unbelievably oily. Finish: Medium. It seemed as if it would be long but then just stopped dead. The length is entirely due to intense smoke. I always enjoy the opportunity to taste a distillery’s new make and the tour guide was very happy to oblige when I asked about this, but the only sample he had to hand was from a peated run (this distillery seldom makes peated spirit). It was somewhat quirky and an experiment, but still nice to try. What made the experience more interesting was that he also provided a sample of the low-wines run for this new-make. It was at 40.3% abv and nosed pretty well, somewhere halfway between very high alcohol ale and whisky, which is what you would expect. It was a great experience but hard to rate as the low-wines was a half-formed product and the new-make was screaming out for reduction to filling strength and several years in an active cask. 10/10 and 5 stars for experimentation and quality of production but I’m just guessing that once matured it will be at least … “Above Average” : 80/100 (3 stars)

Mortlach Distillery tour, 4th May 2024 Mortlach is the most idiosyncratic Scottish distillery. You could write a whole book about the distillation process but in summary there are three wash stills and three spirit stills, each of a different design, which are used in an unconventional manner to create three separate new-make spirits that are then blended to make the final new-make. So it’s no wonder it produces one of the most characterful whiskies. I like to sample a distillery’s new-make spirit whenever possible and I had hoped I would be able to do so at Mortlach. Consequently I was delighted to find, when we entered the stillroom during the tour, that not just one but three samples of new-make had been drawn for us, one from each of the three spirit stills. I’ll call these New Make A, B and C. New Make A was malty and meaty with a full-bodied ale-like cereal character and a little background sulphur. It is produced from Wash Still #3 and Spirit Still #3 which are used as a classic double distillation pair (i.e. the low-wines from the wash still are combined with the foreshots and feints from the previous spirit run to charge the spirit still). New Make B was completely different to New Make A. It is lighter, quite delicate and clean with floral and fruity characteristics. It is produced from Wash Still #1, Wash Still #2 and Spirit Still #2. The first 80% of the low-wines produced by the two wash stills is combined with the foreshots and feints from the previous spirit run to charge the spirit still. It is thus also a double distillation process but the heavier, oily feints from the wash stills do not go into the spirit still. New Make C was different again being spicy and bold, with ginger and citrus notes. It is also produced from Wash Still #1 and Wash Still #2 but this time they are teamed with Spirit Still #1 (the famous "Wee Witchie"). First, the feinty last 20% of the low wines runs that were not directed to Spirit Still #2 in the above process are used to charge Spirit Still #1, in combination with the foreshots and feints from its last spirit run. What happens next is quite odd. This charge is distilled not once but twice, and no cut is taken either time. The charge is then distilled for a final third time and this time a heart cut is taken. Consequently, this new make is exclusively quadruple-distilled feints and foreshots. It was fascinating to approach the familiar facets of Mortlach whisky in isolation but I really don’t know how to rate these new-makes appropriately, so I’ll just say that subjectively it was all very good. “Very Good” : 86/100 (4 stars)

Mortlach Distillery post-tour tasting, 4th May 2024, whisky#3 Nose: Lots of pastries and breads. Custard Danish, apple pie, cinnamon swirl, raspberry coulis and butterscotch muffin. Plums, blackcurrants, a touch of milk chocolate, honey and sandalwood. A very fragrant, sweet and plush nose but the malt is fully obscured. Palate: The arrival is unctuous and full of chocolate, roasted nuts and toffee. Again the malt is submerged and the development sees mildly spicy flavours (pepper, cinnamon) over red berries, candied citrus peel and preserved glace fruit. Clove and wood become apparent near the finish. Finish: Medium/Long. Dark chocolate and spiced biscuits (speculaas?) Exactly what prompted Diageo to choose a mix of ex-Japanese whisky and ex-pinot noir casks for maturation is unknown, but it both works and … overworks. The nose is remarkably sweet and bready but surprisingly there is not a lot of cereal or malt aroma. This is because the casking has completely dominated the distillate, but not in the way you might expect. There is no intrusive tannin or obvious oak, it’s more that the fruity and floral-fragrant aromas and flavours carried by the woods (rather than the wood itself) have swamped the spirit. I enjoyed this but once again it’s hard to justify the very high asking price for what is essentially a weird-ass NAS. Diageo has been overcome with an obsession for oddball casking recently and I’d be relieved to see them calm down and just issue well made sherry cask matured Mortlach for a change. Then again, I guess that’s what the core-range is all about and they need to make the Special Releases “special” somehow. It all seems a bit desperate to me, but the quality of the whisky is undeniable. “Very Good” : 85/100 (4 stars)

Mortlach Distillery post-tour tasting, 4th May 2024, whisky#2 Nose: Bright cereal (corn flakes?), grappa or plum eau-de-vie, sour cherries, green apples. With water it gains softness mainly due to the sharp alcohol notes being suppressed. This allows herbal bready aromas to come forward – like warm fresh white rolls with a smear of herb butter. Palate: Sweet, spicy and fruity arrival with cherries, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger and cloves all rushing onto the palate. The onslaught subsides in the development with red wine, cranberries, raspberries and caramel gaining ascendency, and this segue into sweetness continues when a dash of water is added. Reducing this to around 50% abv or less emphasizes sweet malt notes and creates a cherry jam quality. The texture is rounded and creamy when diluted. Finish: Medium/Long. Red fruits, the sweet character turns slightly drying and herbal in the aftertaste. A fine if somewhat unusual Mortlach. I don’t think I’ve ever tasted it quite like this or with such a variety of casking, but I did like it. It has the signature meatiness typical of the distillate but it’s not like Mortlach with straightforward sherry-cask maturation. Well worth a taste if you are a disciple of the distillery, but maybe a little bit of a challenge for neophytes. Also, I think this is very steep pricing for a NAS whisky. The previous year’s Mortlach Special Release (which I thought was better than this one) was a declared 13 year old but it cost only half as much, and if you look around you can still find it for that price, so it’s hard to give this one a recommendation. “Very Good” : 85/100 (4 stars)

Gordon and MacPhail, Elgin, Shop Tasting, 4th May 2024, whisky #6 Nose: Orange juice, tropical fruit juice, baked banana, vanilla custard, honey, dried cranberries, gooseberries, poached pears, surprisingly light and lively oak, a suggestion of tobacco. Dilution had little impact on the nose other than lifting the citrus aromas (but see below). Palate: Creamy and slightly sweet arrival centered on orange, honey and strawberries. As it develops it gains balancing dry notes of hay, tobacco and cinnamon. A further progression sees spice, herbal and mild tannic flavours appear. There is a light prickle from the 56% abv but it’s less than you would expect. Adding water makes more difference to the palate than it did to the nose, with orange notes again being highlighted. It's a very well balanced and seductive palate. Finish: Medium/Long: Orange and delicately spiced honey, with just a touch of wood spice in the aftertaste. A delicious whisky, this is one of three old Benromachs I’ve now tasted, all of which were distilled and casked prior to the distillery's purchase by Gordon & MacPhail in 1993. Although modern Benromach is different to the whisky that was made there prior to the 1990s there is still a similarity, which is surprising given that the distillery was mostly rebuilt from 1997-1998. Like the 35 and 40 year old expressions that I had tasted previously at the distillery this was crisp, soft and devoid of peat. All three demonstrated maturity and elegance, but none was bombastic or challenging. This was a very welcome surprise final dram at the Gordon & MacPhail tasting and it was unanimously voted the best whisky of the day. I did try it both neat and diluted, but given that we had just one pour to play with I was hesitant to add too much water as it was already delightful au naturel. I can’t remember ever having had a bad Benromach. My tasting journal tells me I’ve now had 12 different expressions from them with an average rating of 87, including two 89s and two 90s. That makes Benromach one of my most highly rated distilleries. Yep, sounds about right. Recommended. “Outstanding” : 90/100 (5 stars)