Limeburners Single Malt American Oak

Re-taste. Nose: Sweet fresh-cut grass, hay, citrus rind, honeydew melon, stone-fruit (nectarine, peach, apricot), barley grist and a little vanilla. There is a subtle oak aroma but the casks do not dominate. Crisp, reviving and with time in the glass the nose gains body and integration. Palate: Sweet, bright, clean cereal arrival with melon and honeysuckle notes balanced by citric grassiness and a touch of spicy ginger. The texture is light but creamy and has a near effervescent quality with a slightly sour hint and a little drying tannin, but that just adds balance. Finish: Medium/short. White grape, melon and hazelnut. The aftertaste gains a little sweetness. I enjoyed this whisky a little more than the last time I tasted it two years ago. The nose on this batch is more melodious and integrated and it has a delicately sweet and crisp character. The palate is less earthy and grainy than last time but it still has a note that is reminiscent of a grassy, dry white wine. The palate shows good progression, transitioning to more sweet notes in the finish. It’s also a whisky that improves with rest in the glass, which allows it to develop a more honeyed, fruity character. As it develops it becomes more like a light Scottish highland malt (maybe Teaninich?) but there are also aspects that remind me of both Bladnoch and Auchentoshan. It does not need dilution but water will bring out some floral tones on the nose and highlight the ginger on the palate. On the whole I preferred it neat. Tasted from a sample provided by @DrRHCMadden. “Above Average” : 82/100 (3.25 stars) --------------------------------------------------------- Originally reviewed October 25, 2020 Nose: Bright, intense cereal aromas. Green, freshly cut grass and hay. Bitter yellow grapefruit and a prominent yeasty aroma. Malted and unmalted barley, quince jelly, ginger and wooden planks. The nose gains a more rich and sweet character over time as honey and sweet citrus notes emerge. Adding water tends to dilute the character too far, leaving little more than the cereal and wood aromas. Palate: Semi-sweet, oaky and cereal on the arrival. Earthy and grainy, almost like a sour-mash whiskey wash. Oatmeal porridge, tannin, mild grapefruit and quite a bit of bright, hot ginger. There is a crisp white-wine quality that borders on sourness. The texture is good. Adding water does virtually nothing to change the palate. Finish: Medium/Long: Soft oak tannin, vanilla, grapefruit juice, hazelnuts. This is an unusual whisky profile. It has something in common with Deanston Virgin Oak and also with Auchentoshan, but it is brighter and more citric than either. The initial waft from the neckpour was a bit off-putting, having weird notes of flyspray. It settled down as the whisky oxidised in the glass but never entirely went away. It was actually not that aroma specifically, but my memory was struggling to find anything it matched more closely. I've only tasted Limeburners once before and it was a much more expensive version, a cask-strength "Director's Cut" expression, which was exquisite. It was not at all like this whisky. Tasted from a distillery-produced 100ml sample. "Average" : 78/100 (2.75 stars) ---------------------------------------------------------

Currently attempting to add some more commentary to old notes where I have liquid left in the bottle. Next on the list I’m going back to one of my staple favourites, Limeburners American Oak. I don’t think Limeburners are particularly well known outside of Western Australia, let alone Australia. The Great Southern Distillery is located on the harbours edge in Albany, southern Western Australia where their spirits are distilled in traditional small batch copper pot stills from local barley and water drawn from the Nanarup aquifer that lies beneath Albany. For all those rock fans out there, the aquifer is formed from the ~40 million year old Nanarup Limestone, which I am sure must contribute a wonderful mineral quality to the water. All the standard releases are bottled at 43%, brought down from the cask strength by filtered rain water. The American Oak bottling is matured in refill American Oak and is probably the best representative of the core Limeburners range and spirit. Great Southern Distillery uses a Solera System in their bottling process, whereby several casks are emptied to a large holding tank and left to marry. Half of the blended batch is then sent for filtering and bottling, and the remaining half is retained and the blending tank is topped up with new barrels. I believe Limeburners have been criticised for inconsistency in the past, but for the last three years or so that I have been enjoying the American Oak offering, I haven’t recognised any notable variability, so I’d suggest the early inconsistencies have been ironed out and the Solera System is doing what it’s supposed to; providing consistency from batch to batch.  N: Refreshing and juicy melon, rich barley, orchard fruit crispness, caramel cream. P: Juicy stone fruit, vanilla and some ever so slightly sour citrus. Light honey and a really bright ginger spice. Lots of rich malted barely and woody tannin notes. All around full and somewhat creamy mouth-feel. F: A little short. Vanilla and a nutty creaminess gives way to honey sweetness and then a ginger zing. This is a punchy whisky, summery and bright. Whilst I think quite unique, this is still very approachable and readily appreciable. I can mull it over but not much work is needed to find what it has to offer. I like that. The nose perhaps is a little better than the palate. The nose reminds me of the overly glamourised tv commercials of fresh apples being misted and beads of water rolling down the side and cutting to summer flows with busy bees collecting pollen. If you could eat a smell then this smell would likely follow through with a brilliant fresh green apple crunch. I don’t know if a bright sunny orchard garden can be bottled, but I think this whisky may be close to it. I think this expression may have been my gateway into bourbons for the caramel and vanilla flavours and whilst those are undeniably here, the presence of the spirit is available and thats a great outcome to not have been completely overprinted. My only criticism I think would be that the ginger note is a bit overpowering at times but it’s not a major detriment really. Distiller whisky taste #54