Flinders Island Peated American Oak Ex-Bourbon Australian Single Malt Whisky

Been a little quiet lately with a house simultaneously filled by the sounds of a new baby and the silence of losing our dog. This evening though I have found a rarified hour to sit and contemplate the first two drams of a six dram series from Furneaux Distillery. “On an island off an island, where you can fly across the sounds or sail past treacherous craggy rocks, you find Furneaux Distillery. Our passion is to create a unique Peated Single Malt Whisky that speaks of its maritime environment. Through deep care and respect for our provenance, we want to bring the spirit, beauty, and ruggedness of Flinders Island to every bottle we distill. Flinders Island sits north east of Tasmania; a remote island in the Furneaux Group, a mere 62 km from top to bottom. Exposed on all sides to the wild and unpredictable elements of Bass Strait, it means living by the natural order of harsh contrasts. A sense of isolation that brings with it a can-do, rugged attitude that permeates the local psyche. Rugged, raw, real beauty.” For those interested there is a nice story telling element to the origin of these Furneaux liquids here: https://www.furneauxdistillery.com.au/about. I managed to bag a tasting pack when I saw one offered through a specialist group here in Australia; my interest stemming from Furneaux and their origin at my favourite Tasmanian whisky maker Launceston Distillery. Anyway… before the offspring wakes… This pour is from the third batch (FPB3) of Flinders Peated Single Malt distilled from 100% Flinders Peated Tasmanian Pilsner Malt. The distillate spent 3.5 Years in one single 100 l American Oak Ex Bourbon cask from the Tasmanian Cask Company. 180 Bottles were released in October 2023 at 47.9% ABV. N: This is lightness defined. Fresh, bright, and excruciatingly crisp. Soft and slightly sweet oak and wood shavings blend beautifully with juicy pears, allspice, fragrant citrus and lightest caramel. The peat is but a whisper, a grassy vegetal presence that hides a slight tar note if you are willing to search for it. P: A medium body with slightly astringent grip. The peat smoke is more apparent and adds vibrancy. Still vegetal but evolving to minerality and a wonderful hint of salinity. Caramel is thicker and slightly darker with a brown sugar crunch. An oily nuttiness shows through with a little gristiness to the underlying malt that carries more wood shavings with it. F: Medium-short. Juicy pear, grassy herbaceous smoke, warm tannic spice and mineral-earthy smoke. A strong first showing for this new distillery. Nothing too ambitious here, nothing stupid from the casking choices or pretentious, just a pretty well made whisky with an honest profile. The youth is evident here as not much depth has been pulled from the malt or cask, but what is here is clean and quite precise. I am actually reminded of a young and simple Talisker: salt, minerality, cooling smoke. Lacking of course though to be a Talisker would be the chilli catch and the promise of a brooding tempests embrace. Still, this is Australian maritime whisky and I think there is great promise if they take their time and don’t get to caught up in marketing… Distiller whisky taste #275 [Pictured here with a Tasmanian classic, crocoite. This orange beauty is a rare lead-chromate mineral formed as a secondary replacement of ultramafic rocks. From the famous Adelaide Mine in Dundas, Tasmania and with a genesis dating back around 485-444 million years.] Furneaux Distillery Running Scores Flinders Island Peated American Oak Ex-Bourbon: 3.5/5