Limeburners Single Malt Sherry Cask Strength

Nose (neat): Oranges, apricots, fresh timber, light malt (lager?). It’s a good but simple array of aromas. Nose(reduced): The nose is not improved with water, unless you add a lot. A small dash kills the fruity aromas leaving only alcohol and pencil shavings. Adding more balances it out but the nose becomes flat. Palate (neat): Big and alcoholic but somewhat thin on the arrival with oranges and light wood being the main characteristics. There is a sharp bitterness in the development as of spoiled fruit or over-dried raisins but there is some balance from brioche-like cereal notes. The texture is full but somehow it lacks weight. Palate (reduced): A little water tames the hefty arrival and develops a lot of sweetness but does not develop any more complexity – in fact if anything it simplifies the palate further into an orange and sweet chilli combination. Finish: Medium/Short. Sour fruit fading to resinous wood. Reduction lengthens the finish (which is expected) but adds little else. Spirity and woody at first, with time to relax in the glass the nose gains more character but it never rises to great heights. Adding water mellows everything out a lot but by the time the intense alcohol nip has gone you have reduced it to less than 40%abv and there is little left. The same is true of the palate – by the time it has gained balance it is almost devoid of character. I keep persevering with Limeburners and recently bought a set of three cask-strength (well, actually “high-strength”) samples of expressions I have not previously tried. This is the first and I’m not much impressed as it is a rather simple whisky. It’s perfectly quaffable and has no off-notes, but there are considerably better and more interesting whiskies being made in Australia for much less cost. At the asking price of AUD$259 I just can’t recommend this. Tasted from a 30ml sample “Average” : 79/100 (2.75 stars)