Belgrove Oat Whiskey

Nose: Sweet, soft and complex. Warm oatmeal cookies with red currents and dried cherry pieces. Delicate hints of floral and fruity fragrances reminiscent of rosé, elderflower liqueur and tropical fruit wine. The floral qualities expand as it opens in the glass and with a dash of water. It gains complexity over time. Palate: A rich, rounded cereal arrival with roasted almonds, hazelnuts, vanilla and red berries. Brown sugar, golden syrup, black coffee and a passing thought of red-wine. The texture is warm, creamy and comforting. Finish: Medium/long. Mocha coffee and toasted banana bread with a smear of raspberry preserve. This review is specific to Batch 5 of this oat whisky, which was created from a combination of two casks, a refill malt whisky cask and an ex-pinot noir cask. It was bottled on 15 April 2021 at 52.3% abv when it was somewhere around 2 years old (the minimum time for whisky maturation in Australia). As with all Belgrove whiskies the proof varies with the batch and the profile can be quite different as the casking changes. There really should be a separate entry on Distiller for each batch from Belgrove but due to the limited availability and the small number of reviews I won’t complicate things with a new listing. The mashbill is generally around 60-65% oats, the remainder being more-or-less equal amounts of rye, barley and wheat. The first batch (released 2014 I think?) was 42% but the proof has crept up over time. The previous batch was 59% but I thought this Batch 5 to be the best yet and the strength is just right. The nuttiness and creamy quality of the whisky has been constant but where that was originally enlivened by tropical fruit notes Batch 5 has taken a turn towards berries and red fruits. The expressions have also been getting creamier with time as Peter has mastered the ingredient. This is a seriously good whisky and not one to consider in haste. Taste it casually and you might dismiss it as just another whisky but if you give it time to open (and a dash of water is particularly recommended) you will be surprised by how much it evolves and delivers. I like this just as much as Belgrove’s rye whiskies, maybe because Batch 3 of the oat whisky was the first Belgrove product I ever tasted and I fell in love with it immediately. Who knows. Tasted at the Sydney Whisky Show, 15 May 2021, my tasting #23 of the day. “Very Good” : 86/100 (4 stars)