Tastes

Are expectations dashed? Is all hope lost? An average at best effort from the supposed 2023 best in the world M&H Sherry Cask. Hopefully not down hill from here. This is the second of three of the Milk & Honey Elements Series, whisky aged in a variety of casks, imparting a medley of flavour profiles. This one was aged in bourbon casks and red wine casks (which also came from Israel). I am quite tired of red wine casks this year (damn Starward). But, I offer an open mind and palate… N: An equally waxy and dry nose with ample malty brown sugar, juicy fresh strawberry and a spritz of orange. The malt is delicate, clean, and warming. The red wine cask is obvious in the strawberries but doesn’t feel wet and heavy as I have found with other red wine casks of late. Late in the development (15 minutes in) there is a touch of coconut and a minerallic something-or-other. P: Tannic and medium-dry. There is a warmth to this that perhaps betrays the nose, but it remains light in profile with some florals and preserved orange-lemon. Red fruit, mocha, a little pepper, and plenty of slightly tabacco-esque wood. Again, as for the nose, late in the development is some coconut and cinnamon. F: Medium. Mineralic-metallic, a tender kiss of salinity, and ample tannic wood to leave a crisp dry end. This surprised me. It’s definitely not the kind of profile I like in whisky as its too heavily oaked, but i do like the florals that I find. Is it too dry? Perhaps. Are the metallic-mineral notes off kilter? Maybe. What I do think though is that despite not speaking to me or capturing my interest that greatly this is better balanced and integrated than the Sherry Cask and deserves a smidge higher score. Distiller whisky taste #244 [Pictured here with another desert themed mineral. More gypsum, but this time a giant. This huge crystal is from Lake Ballard in Western Australia and from a depth of ~6 m. Lake Ballard is ephemeral, filling rarely and then evaporating. Continuous cycles have led to various thicknesses of salts and muds forming over time. This rather giant growth form show wonderful ‘swallow tail’ twinning from divergently grown crystals sharing faces]. M&H Running scores Classic: 3.5/5 Sherry: 3/5 Red Wine: 3.25

A strong start from the Classic, number two is the headline news maker. The winner of the 2023 World Whisky Awards ‘Worlds Best Single Malt”. Awards are to be taken with a pinch of salt (dead sea salt I suspect; they would have beaten some absolute behemoths). But, awards also have a habit of making things unobtainable and expensive (cough Sulivans Cove cough). So, it’s nice to get to try this in anycase. The Elements Series from M&H is a range of single malts exploring the variety of flavours that different types of casks can impart (nothing new here). This particular expression was drawn from a combination of bourbon, Oloroso sherry and Pedro Ximénez sherry casks. N: Shy. This is a lot less forthcoming than the classic. So, shy. The oak is a dampener, sadly, and mutes what seems to be a musty-gristy malt undercarriage. Time in the glass does a little to help things be more forthcoming, revealing: metallic notes, leather and leaf litter, oily-stale walnuts. Do I get the vaguest suggestion of orange (or a memory of the last dram perhaps?). P: Full bodied and creamy, that is an excellent texture. The sherry influence is obvious as milk chocolate, light honey, raisins, and subtle bakery spice. The oak is understated and makes for a pleasantly balanced profile. The very back end of the palate adds a leafy herbal presence like peppermint or menthol that draws out a dark red cherry. F: Medium-short. Quite bitter, with oak tannins being a little too heavy and bakery spices leaning towards cracked pepper. Brown sugar lends a needed sweetness but its too little too late to maintain balance. First things first; this is not a world beating whisky. No way, no how. I don’t want to call shenanigans, but I can’t help but think some money changed hands on this one! The palate is undeniably enjoyable with some cute quirks, but the nose is shy and obfuscated by too much oak (a product of rapid maturation in a hot climate?) and the finish lost its way. At AUD$130 I would lean towards just about any other sherry cask finished scotch for a lower price and more unique, memorable, character…. …obviously I’m much cleverer than the judges at the WWA so I’ll expect my job offer in the post. Distiller whisky taste #243 [Pictured here with a empty glass (sorry) and sticking with a desert theme; a cluster of evaporitic gypsum needles. Gypsum like this grows from evaporating fluids supersaturated in calcium and sulphate. Such formations are common from salt lakes and dune systems in arid environments. These ones are from dune systems near Dallalinu in Western Australia. Here recharging groundwater dissolve ions and pass through sand dunes growing crystals as they go.] M&H Running scores Classic: 3.5/5 Sherry: 3/5

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house.... were samples of M&H whisky. This year, newcomers M&H made quite the ruckus taking out the worlds best whisky award (WWA) for the elements Sherry Cask. An odd origin, Israel and an interesting mission blueprint. For anyone looking for some insight into this new maker I highly recommend checking out the entry for this dram on malt-review.com, there is an excellent break down of the background to this new distillery and its story. Far more detail there than I care to get into here. The important cliff notes for M&H though: (1) the name references Israel, biblically described as “a land flowing with milk and honey” to indicate the fertility of the land, (2) Israels climate causes locally grown barley to have undesirable fibers and low starch content not suitable for making whisky, (3) so despite point 1, point 2 means that M&H import barely from the UK. To kick off tonights six dram run is M&Hs first release. The ‘Classic’ a three year old, single malt, blended from single malts matured in ex-Bourbon (75%), STR casks (20%), and virgin oak casks (5%). Unchill-filtered, with natural colour, and bottled at 46% ABV. N: Rich and quite sweet with a little alcohol burn. There is an abundance of woody honey, waxy stone fruits, and a floral malt. A little coconut is there if you search for it and a saltiness that brings with it a hint of rubberiness. Interesting enough, but perhaps a little confused by some competing ends of the olfactory spectrum? P: Warm, and surprisingly heavy on the palate with a slight waxiness. Banana, coconut, and candied ginger are most apparent to me. Before heading into a vanilla and honey malt with oats and dark chocolate. Cinnamon and a little pepper add spice to follow the gingery zing. A most wonderfully floral oaky orange is a standout. F: Medium. Peppery and lightly floral. Oakyness again, maybe with some barrel char and honey-toffee tones? This is off to a good start. Whilst the nose remains a little confused to me, the palate is the stand out driving a floral element that I find compelling and want more of. I don’t know about milk and honey, but certainly honey and blossoms is a tag line I can get behind. Is this uniquely Israeli? I don’t know. Would I, on blind tasting, believe this to be a lowland Scotch? Probably; its lightly sweet, malty, and with florals. Time will tell as we move through these offerings from the house of milk and honey, if this is unique spirit or a unique location with a Scotch imitation. Distiller whisky taste #242 [Pictured here with a vaguely geographically relevant rock. This is a piece of limestone from the Great Pyramid of Giza. The main structural stones of the pyramids are carved from quarries along the Nile valley and represent the Mokkatam Formation. In the Eocene (~50 million years old) a retreating seaway left an embankment that became the north-northwest part of the Giza Plateau. As the sea receded, a shallow lagoon formed above a shoal and coral reef. Carbonate muds, silts, and sands lithified into the layers from which the pyramid builders quarried limestone blocks and from which they carved the Sphinx]. M&H Running scores Classic: 3.5/5

Only a few more drams from the last gift box sent by @cascode. Thank you good Sir! According to the marketing department “Tomintoul Cigar Malt is a rich, complex and robust Malt whisky specially created by our Master Distiller, Robert Fleming. Robert Fleming personally selected an intricate combination of Tomintoul single malts from specially selected vintages, which he has carefully balanced with some rare peated Tomintoul single malt. Each of these individual single malts has been either matured fully or finished in hand-selected Olorosso sherry butts, sourced from the partner bodegas in Andalucia, Spain.” So, as always; is this just a way to get rid of less than ideal stock, or do we actually have a dram worthy of such an opulent title? N: Yep, thats a sherry cask! A toasty and buttery malt presence with a lovely bitter citrus undertone. The nose presents as a slightly odd combination of musty and waxy; like an old antique store. Lighter red fruit is well balanced with a hint of smoke and maple. I am very happy with my nose in this nothing is too overwhelming, nothing out of place. It just works. I do criticise it though for having just enough ethanol presence to prickle the nose here and there. P: Light and fruity with a little syrupy quality to it. Blackberries, chocolate, plenty of cracked pepper and more toasty cereal. Perhaps some bitter citrus and cinnamon spice as well. This falls short of the promise made by the nose. Nothing particularly bad here, just a bit dull. F: Medium-long. Chocolates, orange, and espresso. There is also a copper-metallic taste that reminds me of the old water fountain in my high school from 20+ years ago. The final exit twang is a bit off-putting. I don’t smoke and the notion of cigars is somewhat stomach turning for me. That said, I recognise the opulence and richness they represent. I also get the notion behind branding a ‘cigar malt’. That said, the promise of something rich, long, and decadent were only suggested by the nose on this malt and then things dwindle into mediocrity and a little bit of disappointment at the end of it all. for AUD$129 this is more expensive than an Arran port or sherry cask at 50% ABV. I know what I want on my shelf when the time to indulge comes around. Thanks once again, in @cascode we trust. Distiller whisky taste #241 [Pictured here with a somewhat cigar shaped fossil. This is an ~400 million year old orthocone nautiloid from Morocco, cut out of and polished in its limestone matrix. Closely related to modern squid these straight cones would have housed a tentacled soft body at the front most chamber. A siphuncle (tube) running down the back of the animal would connect the gas filled chambers and allow for buoyancy control in the seas they lived in. The siphuncle could be filled with water by the animal and forced out propelling itself backward by jet propulsion as it pursued its likely predatory life style.⁠]

Manly Spirits in Sydney are yet another young Australian spirit maker with a somewhat dizzying range of offerings. Perhaps more restrained than the likes of Archie Rose, and certainly less bonkers than Starward. I have tried one of their early releases before and been underwhelmed but saw promise; I think that is the general consensus. Now a slightly less fussy offering is hitting the shelves in the mid tier categories. Here comes the marketing waffle “Nor’easter is a label inspired by the prevailing Summer breeze along Sydney's coast which creates an optimal climate for the maturation of Coastal Stone's whiskies. Nor'easter is considered one of the distillery's more robust expressions, finished in charred Australian red wine barrels (both French and American oak)” It’s sounding a little like a Starward recipe, but going in with an open mind and palate. Also, thanks to @cascode for yet another shared dram. N: Powerful, a little acetone but lots of ripe juicy nectarines and apricots, crisp apple and a strange semblance of middle eastern earthy spices. On reflection, and with time the acetone I thought was there turned out to be a herbal, earthy, oak. There is a mustiness to some undertones of the red wine casks.

P: Creamy despite a medium-thin body. Subdued fruitiness of pears and apple pie with custard. Spiced vanilla and milk chocolate. I really don’t find much else here. F: This was over quickly… milk chocolate and a sweet fruit juice. Too its credit though, there are some lovely perfumed and floral oak tannins on the exit that are the highlight of the whole dram for me. On solid advice a dash of water makes the nose less chaotic, softening everything, subduing it somewhat; but importantly, pulling it together into a single cohesive profile. The red wine cask is much more apparent and adds a slightly sour red fruit presence. The finish is but a flash after water and adds a sweet mulch-leafiness, a bit odd. Normally priced at AUD $99 for a 500 ml bottle, this is still quite expensive. At AUD $87 on offer for 500 ml things get a little more competitive. However, I just found a 700 ml release for AUD$94.99, not a bad price at all for a home grown Australia whisky. I wouldn’t put it on my shelf though, the high point is the death throes of the finish, and they are over too quickly to make it a purchase for me. Distiller whisky taste #240 [Pictured here with a lump of Hawkesbury Sandstone. The same stuff that forms the stopper on all of Manly Spirits Coastal Stone bottles. This rock underlies much of Sydney and is used extensively int he cities architecture. The sandstone is 247 million years old and formed from riverine erosion of much older rocks to the south.]

I feel like my role on Distiller is to provide an inferior quality review to the ones already given by the great @cascode. Yet again I am indebted to @cascode for the generously shared dram. This dram, as with many Cascode and I taste is probably unlikely to be tasted by the masses on Distiller. This here is a special release from Australia’s ‘The Whisky Club’ the worst subscription whisky platform out there. @Cascodes review has all the details so I wont bother with repeating them here. N: Light and bright. Lots of very crisp orchard fruit; apples, nectarines, and dried apricots. The orchard is backed by a light citrus zest and a slightly spiced cereal malt. I like this, very enjoyable and doesn’t step into an overly sweet territory. P: Sweet and warm up front. Plenty of building bakery spice this palate is driven by a fairly hefty barely sugar and slightly hot candied ginger. The official tasting notes have lots of fluffy descriptors that I don’t find but there is a slightly pancake feel to the malt and a slight floral note that I can’t put my finger on. Annoyingly I find the spice profile a little muting of everything else that might be here. F: Medium. There is an unexpected development of dark malt loaf (Soreen specifically if you have ever had it), a touch of dark chocolate and some silky texture. This is interesting, I think the nose on here is lovely, and the finish is an unexpected turn that is juxtaposed as winter against spring. The palate I’m meh about, sadly I found the spice to dominant. Individual elements, separated, and considered; make this above average. But on aggregate I think it lacks balance and cohesion. Thanks again @cascode, appreciate the shared whisky love. Distiller whisky taste #239 [Pictured here with a corundum (sapphire)-garnet-biotite schist from Zazafotsy Quarry, Ihosy District, Madagascar. This rock formed as a product of metamorphism of muddy silts 494 million years ago when the PanAfrican Orogeny started to assemble the supercontinent Gondwana. This rock is the product of a pretty intense and violent geological history including shear zones, hot fluids, temperatures of up to 700 degrees Celsius and pressures of around 5 kb. Turns out, if you smash the heck out of muds you can make some pretty remarkable rocks.]

N: Very sweet. This speaks of a floral honey with a sugary ‘texture’ that reminds me of old fudge that has started to recrystallise brown sugar. The underlying malt is of a wet cereal nature that almost gets to an off-putting vegetal feel. P: Slightly thin, but also slightly creamy. The palate is dominated by a sweet watered down apple juice. A little coconut trending towards very sweet vanilla, a generic tea biscuit represents the malt. A generic touch of spice notes. F: Short. A thin apple-biscuit with candied ginger fading to a slightly grainy texture. The nose is uncomplicated, but not necessarily in a bad way. The direct simplicity of sweetness does allow a pleasant floral touch to come out, but perhaps not excusing the nearly off-putting vegetal element to the malt. The palate and finish offer no depth but thats not the worst thing for a AUD$44.95 every day shelf position. I’m not a huge fan of excessively sweet malts when there is a lack of other elements but this is just fine. No tough edges and only the slightest complaint from the nose. At this price point, I’d take it over JW Red label, but would pass it over for Monkeys Shoulder which offers a little more savoury heft. Kindest of thanks to the Oracle @cascode for another generously shared dram. Distiller whisky taste #238 [Pictured here with a chalk from the Yorkshire coast of England. The white cliffs that this rock comes from are Cretaceous in age and represent a former shallow marine tropical epicontinental sea and the gradual accumulation of minute calcite plates (coccoliths) shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores.]

N: Huge, and with a definite alcohol burn creeping in at the end. Bold, and very forward with a blend of dark chocolate bitterness, tobacco leaf, musty wooden boxes, and a sweet malt. Dark cherry, and leathery heavily tannic spice. P: Not as alcohol burn laden as the nose would suggest. An astringent and slightly bitter approach filled with more dark chocolate, dark cherry, raisin, cinnamon and a whack of peppery heat. The oak here is a little overwhelming, astringent, tannic, and spiced to what should be an illegal level. I am hoping water calms and opens this. Something good wants to escape. F: Medium-long. Tannic and drying, espresso crema and a little sticky dark caramel. More pepper. A hefty dash of water and a cloudy and turbid transformation starts to unravel. A dry, warm, more tobacco laden malt unfolds and gently subdues the raw spirit burn. Tannins calm and a deep dark fruit body moves into their place. This is the depths of a Hans Christen Anderson fairy tale forrest now. The palate follows suit, softer mouthfeel accompanies a dark fruit cake with deeply browned edges. Dark toffee, sweeter cherry, mocha, no pepper but plenty of bakery spice and warmth. The finish moves towards an oily bitter chocolate and slightly nutty cherry. This has been a very protracted run. Disappointingly my memory of the progression through my Spring Bay samples is limited at best. This means I am unable to really say that there has been a common flavour theme running through them. Rather the palates have been somewhat forgettable. I think in large part, the generic quality of these drams has been heavily impacted by very powerful oak influence to the detriment of the underlying spirit which I believe might be quite good. In tonights pour, the abs is high enough to allow an exploration with dilution that finds something of a diamond in the rough. Perhaps one to watch for later years but for now, they just need to calm down, stick to the bourbon casks perhaps and focus on getting the ageing and wood contact correct. Oh, for those that care, this pour was from 100 bottles only, a 3.5 year raging in ex-Sullivans Cove refill casks that I believe had a sherry influence at some point in time. Distiller whisky taste #237 [Pictured here with an intraformational conglomerate. 20 km outside of Marrakesh, Morocco is the Lower Carboniferous (346-323 million years old) Jebilet Inlier. An inlier is an old rock formation isolated amongst younger formations. Inliers typically form through erosion of overlying young rocks to reveal a limited exposure of the older rocks below. Within the inlier are packages of sedimentary rocks including these conglomerates. They consist of rounded pebbles of sandstone and limestones identical to the rocks the conglomerate is found interbedded with which indicates this rock as an intra-formational conglomerate.⁣] Spring Bay running scores: Bourbon Cask: 3.5/5 The Rheban: 3.25/5 Apera Cask: 3/5⠀ PX Cask: 3.25/5⁣ French Oak WLA: 3.5/5

Tonight, lets see if the Spanish can perform better than the Aussies at adding a sherry cask influence to the Tasmanian spirit out of Spring Bay. This one is a limited edition of 60, 500 ml bottles, produced for Australia ’The Whisky List’. This one comes from a 35 litre PX cask after two years in the barrel. On pouring this is thick and with legs for days. I’m a little excited, hopefully expectations don’t get dashed now… N: Thick, heavy, sticky, and oozing with raisins and bakery spices. To be honest, the raisin is so dominant as to not let much else through. There is a caramel trying to sneak through, and some oak tannins are there. Hopefully a drop of water shortly will do the trick. P: Sticky and viscous with some prickly heat. Bitter dark chocolate, a slight leather and tobacco and dark sticky caramel are the main players here. The sweetness, which is again driven by raisin comes in towards the back end of the palate. Chewing this over and some malty biscuit is coming out. Tannic spice develops towards more astringent over oak’edness with more sips. The caramel does move up and tone down the raisin with the oak though. F: Medium-long. Sticky dates, stewed raisin, oaky spice. A splash of water, a swirl, a sit, and another swirl. Not as thick on the nose, but much more woody spice, caramel turns towards toffee, and an undertone of malt is there also. The palate rounds out, losing the overbearing thickness, some fresher brighter character comes out with some banana (as was the case for the Apera) the spices more nuanced with cinnamon and maybe even a little anise?. The high proof heat is more apparent now also - interesting. Finish is crisper, with a definite rich-tea biscuit appeal. There is a lot going on in here, not least of all is a heavy oak presence. I don’t know if it is incautious barrelling or that the Spring Bay spirit doesn’t do well in European Oak, but; as for the Apera Cask, the heavy oak gets in the way of some genuinely lovely flavours. I would though say this is objectively better than the Apera on the addition of a splash of water. So far, I have to say; they’ve been just fine as something to kick back with. But they are not worth the price tag at almost AUD$200 for a 500 ml bottle, even at 56% this just isn’t worth it. Distiller whisky taste #236 [Pictured here with a sandy-conglomerate from the end Jurassic of Oxford, England. In present day Oxford the end Jurassic saw a rapid relative fall in sea level (a regression) causing sandy and silty materials to deposit over the deeper marine Oxford Clays and eventually, a break in deposition (an unconformity). This sample represents the transitional period between the break in deposition at the end Jurassic and renewed Cretaceous sedimentation. When sedimentation decreases in a location erosion usually increases. These particular oxford conglomerates are formed from clasts derived from the sandy and silty lithologies from the time that Sauropods reigned supreme, but buried beneath the overlying sediments that the giant theropod hunters stalked.] Spring Bay running scores: Bourbon Cask: 3.5/5 The Rheban: 3.25/5 Apera Cask: 3/5⠀ PX Cask: 3.25/5⁣

Pressing on with Spring Bay number three, this time from an Apera Casking (Australian Sherry). N: No hiding it, this is an Apera Assault. Lots of big malty fruitcake, salty, caramel, slight tannic spice, pencil shavings, cloves and cinnamon. Beautiful control of sweet and savoury. Slight saltiness was unexpected but well received. P: Comes in creamy and tannic. A slightly warm astringent oak becomes bigger as the palate progresses. More malt but heading in the direction of mashed banana as a backdrop to the raisin, toffee, mocha and clove spice. The Apera is great, but the oak is muscles to the front and stops this from really shining. F: Medium. Plump raisin and caramel are the mouth filling presence that wants to stick around, but, it is the oak that again lingers. The spicy heat is slightly gingery at this point and there is a deft hint of barrel char. This one surprised me, i hadn’t expected such a powerful wood presence on this, but that was a heavy handed oaking, too much wood barged forward and really drowned out the nuance and delicacy of what is seemingly a cute little spirit and some lovely Apera flavours. Spring Bay dropped the ball a bit here. Shame, I really want to like this distillery. A splash of water tamed this too much and made it into a non-distinct and entirely uncharacterful dram that was more like weak raisin water than top shelf whisky. Distiller whisky taste #235 [Pictured here with a muddy-conglomerate from the Cretaceous Corallian Group of southern England. These conglomerates are filled with flint/chert pebbles and lots of microfiche teeth. The rock likely formed in a pre-existing submarine channel produced by submarine currents that were related to large scale movements as rotating fault blocks scooped downwards into basement rocks.] Spring Bay running scores: Bourbon Cask: 3.5/5 The Rheban: 3.25/5 Apera Cask: 3/5⠀ (I’m a numpty, I added this bottle into Distiller at 49% ABV it is infact, 46% ABV. Would be great if we could edit our bottle entries Distiller, or submit corrections! @mikael )