Cape Byron "The Original"

Another mooching malt, thanks again to the great @cascode for something I am very excited to try. This liquid is the brain child of Cape Byron Distillery Co-founder and distiller Eddie Brook and Jim McEwan (Bowmore, Bruichladdich, Ardnahoe). N: Soft, gentle, and creamy. Plenty of cereal presence as shortbread and barely, with strawberries and peaches. Vanilla, a zing of citrus and an almost sweet saltiness. At 47% this isn’t shy, but there are no rough edges for what is a young spirit. P: Medium body with a ginger vibrancy and creamy texture. Fleshy fruits, mango, pineapple, honeydew melon. The creaminess comes from coconut, vanilla, and brown sugar, maybe even macadamia. At the back end, a little warmth with a silky saltiness. A touch of water adds an exquisite sour touch to the tropicals that is very enjoyable. F: Medium. Ginger, creamy vanilla, and something not too unlike malibu rum with pineapple. Australian whisky has blown up in recent years, and in a saturated young market there are a lot of experimenters and rogue hipsters that have forgotten or are ignorant to the basics. Not here it seems. A balanced and blissfully simple approach to working with the Byron Bay climate. Brook and McEwan have forgone the use of smaller barrels to ‘accelerate’ the ageing process in an almost polar swing to the approach of so many Australian distillers. 200-300 litre ex-Buffalo Trace barrels, specially designed warehouses to account for climatic extremes, and patience with exposure to coastal moisture. The result is a wonderfully delivered profile of tropical fruits, gentle textures and presence of the coast. Nothing complex, nothing overbearing, just a clean and confident presence. I am reminded of the Arran 10 and Arran Bothy releases as well as the Classic Laddie in this, and I am pleased to say I am impressed and will be looking for a bottle, as well as its counterpart Chardonnay release. Undoubtedly an Aussie future classic. Distiller whisky taste #165 [Pictured with a biotite-kyanite schist from the Harts Range of central Australia. This excellent metamorphic rock started out as a muddy sediment around 1.78 billion years ago. Later heating and deformation of these sediments resulting from compression of the crust ending at around 1730 million years ago. Much later intrusions of pegmatites represent the conclusion of a tectonothermal phenomenon 520 million years ago that provided the right conditions for the formation of large, high-quality mineral specimens such as these lovely blue beauties - a little known Aussie classic]

Nose: Bubblegum, lemon, orange, green apple skins, cranberries, vanilla, strawberries, pears. It’s a distillate-driven cereal and fruit centered nose with little obvious (or intrusive) cask influence. As it sits and opens in the glass, and with a few drops of water, more tropical fruit and vanilla appear together with a refreshing zephyr of maritime brine. Palate: Sweet arrival with some accompanying hot spices (ginger and a touch of hot cinnamon rather than chili). The development sees a wave of tropical fruity flavours emerge, particularly kiwifruit, mango, starfruit, dragonfruit and white grapes. The later palate has creamy caramel notes, vanilla and coconut. The texture is medium bodied, but not oily. A dash of water does wonders for this palate and is highly recommended. Finish: Medium. Fruity notes that fade to a mild, creamy aftertaste with a touch of sour pineapple. This tasting was from Batch 2 of what was the initial whisky release from Cape Byron distillery, which is better known locally for gin and liqueurs. It was co-created by Eddie Brook, the distillery founder and master distiller, and Scotch whisky icon Jim McEwan (of Bowmore, Bruichladdich and Ardnahoe fame). On the nose this whisky is much closer to Scottish malts than most Australian whiskies, being unashamedly cereal, fruity and spirit-led with a subtle American oak cask influence. I believe that standard-size ex-Buffalo Trace bourbon barrels were used for maturation rather than the typical small Australian red-wine octaves that are commonly used by our distilleries. It is reminiscent of several Scottish un-peated malts. However the palate shows a more marked Australian temperament with a lot of tropical fruit and spice notes. On first neat tasting the palate can seem a little brash and young, but adding a dash of water improves it enormously, emphasizing the softer sweet cereal side of the distillate. The slightly sharp tang of unripe citrus or pineapple remains on the finish, however. Without water I was going to rate this at 82 (3.25 stars) but with dilution it soars to just short of 4 stars. Overall a great introductory effort, and a pleasant departure from the rather heavy-handed red-wine cask dominated whiskies we have seen locally for a long time. I was left with the feeling that this is a very positive first effort that is eminently enjoyable right now, but that with careful maturation could one day be one of the best domestic whiskies. Well done, Cape Byron. “Good” : 84/100 (3.75 stars)