Lark Classic Cask

Lark Pontville Distillery, 10 August 2024, whisky #1 Nose: Fruity (orange, apricot, peach, plum, fresh figs), honey, butterscotch, caramel, vanilla. Palate: Preserved fruits, but with a light touch – more like glace fruits than fruitcake. Honeyish malt, vanilla and butterscotch (like the nose). It’s a rich, sweet palate from start to finish and very easy to drink. There are some soft cereal notes like porridge with maple syrup. The texture is well rounded but more syrupy than creamy or oily. Finish: Medium/Short. Sweet. Preserved figs in caramel. There is a hint of barrel char and tannin. This whisky has been the core entry level expression of Lark’s output since Bill Lark sold the business to Australian Whisky Holdings Limited and production was moved to the Pontville Distillery (formerly Shene Estate) near Richmond in Tasmania. It’s a young, cask-driven whisky that is designed to be as approachable as possible. It retains a lot of the character of the old Lark whiskies, but there has been a drift towards sweetness and more intense wood character over time. It is highly reminiscent of Speyburn 10 and Glen Grant 10, which is good because they are both very capable single malts. However, whereas they currently cost AUD$75-80 for a 700 ml bottle, Lark Classic Cask is a whopping AUD$200 for a 500ml bottle. That’s over 3.5 times as much. Although I can see the point of 500ml bottles for micro-distilleries that have tiny output and very tight margins there is no reason for any established distillery with reasonable output to be using them, and Lark's prices are inflated anyway. None of that affects my rating, which is solely based on quality, but I will not be buying any Lark in the forseeable future. “Good” : 83/100 (3.5 stars)

N: thick and syrupy the nose exudes richness. Heavy with figs, stewed plums and tannic toffee. Lightly herbal with an aniseed-peppermint presence. Toffee turns more vanilla with time. P: thinner than the nose would suggest but still good weight. Stewed fruit continues is presence adds an oily ness to the tannins and a little oak spice. Malt is present as an almost Irish whisky biscuitiness. The tannic astringency builds over time. F: medium. Tannic spice entering and plays out against a fig jam backdrop and just a slightly toasty malt. A perfectly adequate whisky, that has the slightly deeper port cask notes just about balanced against brighter sherry. But, there is little of the underlying spirit in my mind and an example of being over reliant on aggressive wood profiles. I’d actually suggest the Dark Lark is a better expression of heavy port casting and out performs this classic cask. Neither though, I feel are worth the price. Still, a Tasmanian whisky set against a backdrop of the Tasmanian wilds with platypus going about their evening, hard to complain to much. Distiller whisky taste #251