Amber Lane No. 1 Sherry Lane

This liquid is from a single cask release produced from an ex-McWilliams Apera (Aussie Sherry) puncheon. 369 bottles were made available from the distillery door or direct from Amber Lane… and by way of subsampling by the overly generous @cascode N: Rich and thick with chocolate, dark honey, raisin, cinnamon, and a very waxy orange peel. No notion of the monster proof that hides within. P: Chocolate covered toffee, candied ginger, brown sugar, and crisp orchard fruit lead the charge. The palate evolves into something quite textural and reminiscent of grainy cracked, dry leather. A fruiter and brighter presence is buried in here also but I’m struggling to tease it out. F: Long. A big spice builds up with cinnamon and maybe nutmeg. An oppressive heat from that spice is held off buy more juicy raisins and, a late entry from a fresh mango (what the heck, am I imagining that?!) A few drops o water, a swirl, and several minutes later… the nose is slightly lifted and lightened but I lose the orange presence and a slight vomity sourness comes in. The palate, softer and less textural and whilst a lovely creamy chocolate texture takes over I also lose the bright fruits. Finish goes away almost completely. A curious whisky that I don’t quite no what to make of. There are some lovely heavyweight power punches in here and a few lighter deftly applied jabs. But a few of the flavours that do pop in and out, whilst pleasant enough, are a little juxtaposed and jarring to me. Also, water spoiled the experience for me. I don’t know if I am off tonight or not, but this just didn’t mesh well with me it seems. My only other Amber Lane was a Sherry Cask. And I am going to copy and paste my closing notes from that here, they apply exactly: “Amber Lane claim to be simple, down to earth and focused on flavour. I can agree with them, that they have achieved that here. [Liquid Amber] [Sherry Lane] is a simple, bold and punchy young spirit that delivers few flavours very well. They have a pot still designed to maximise copper contact in order to produce a more complex flavour chain. I must disagree there. The local barely is all but lost to the powerful choice of casking and relatively long contact time with the wood. Whilst enjoyable, I would have liked more from the underlying spirit rather than hiding behind a wall of sherry cask.” Distiller whisky taste #230 [Pictured here with a rock from Port Macquarrie about three hours north of the Yarramalong Valley on the east coast of Australia where Amber Lane is distilling. This rock is a blue schist, a high pressure metamorphic rock, that records an ancient subduction zone on the Eastern margin of Gondwana] Amber lane running scores: Liquid Amber Australian Malt: 3.25/5 No. 1 Sherry Lane Special Release Single Cask: 3.25/5

Amber Lane tasting at The Oak Barrel, Sydney, 8 June 2022. Whisky #4 Nose: Sherry, chocolate covered raisins, honey, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, orange concentrate. This is a big, commanding nose. Palate: Raisins, chocolate and honey. The development brings stone fruits, pears stewed in sherry, crème caramel, baking spices and a little hot ginger. The later palate has meaty leather and tobacco notes. With water the palate is subdued but not damaged. Finish: Medium. The core sherried chocolate-raisin character persists, with a touch of spice lingering into the aftertaste. Amber Lane is a young distillery located in the Yarramalong Valley of New South Wales, mid way between Sydney and Newcastle. The distillery was founded by Rod Berry and Phil Townsend in 2017 and has had its first festival and event tastings this year. No. 1 Sherry Lane was a single cask release (cask no. 023), from an ex-McWilliams apera cask of 300 litre capacity (about 80 US gallons, so technically it would have been a puncheon). The cask produced 369 bottles at 61.6% abv and the whisky is uncoloured and non-chillfiltered. This limited expression is only available from the distillery door, by online order from their website, or at event tastings. It’s a very good, hefty whisky with an individual style. The distillery character is evident throughout and the soft, fruity nature of the Scottish-inspired distillate is complimented very well by rich sherry maturation. There is a ginger note on the palate that appears in all their whisky. I bought a bottle on the night and at $229 ($190 at the event) it is not a cheap whisky, but in comparison to independent cask-strength bottlings and special CS releases (like the annual one from Diageo) it is comparable in quality, fairly priced and competitive. “Very Good” : 85/100 (4 stars)