Pōkeno Origin (The Whisky Club Edition)

Last night I tried a new whisky from New Zealand, it was exceedingly average to less than. Sitting on my shelf for a couple of months now has been a bottle of a new New Zealand distilleries liquid, and an exclusive bottling at that. The mighty @cascode recently reviewed the same stuff. My turn. What is this stuff then? Apparently, ‘local barley, purest crystal-clear spring water from the volcanic hills that surround the distillery… this American oak double cask creation from heavily toasted ex-bourbon white oak barrels’. This particular release is from ~half of the first release stock at Pokeno and bottled at 46% for Australia’s Whisky Club exclusive versus the rest of the worlds 43% version. Having had an intro through @cascode notes I left this for 20 minutes before approaching. N: Bright, refreshing and summery. White fruits, vanilla and white chocolate, a little fresh wood and gentlest honey. No hint of young alcohol burn and there is, given time a good maltiness. Simple, clean, crisp. P: Oh snap. @cascode was on the money, this is like a seltzer. First impression is just carbonated fizz. White chocolate is very apparent to me, as are melon and pear. The fizz is hard to get past. Malt comes in the form of buttered brioche or milk biscuits. A decent bit of aggressive heat builds up, but it’s manageable. F: Medium-short. Tannic with plenty of malt and honey. Barrel spice has built up appreciably by this point. This is odd stuff. The nose is the strong point here, its light, summery, and easy but delicately enjoyable. Happy there. Then it just gets weird, whisky is not fizzy sherbet, its not a carbonated seltzer. What the heck is going on here, I’m sure the palate would be perfectly acceptable if it wasn’t for that. Over time the building wood presence and tannic spice reveals a likely young spirit with some slightly harsh alcohol in the back. Overall, its fine. It probably sits amongst the crowded Glenfiddich 12 profile. So, Monkey Shoulder kicks its ass for character and price point. Am I annoyed I bought two, a bit. Maybe a collector will want to buy the second at auction one day; I’m sure as heck not going to open it. Distiller whisky taste #179 Pictured here with a beautiful greenschist from just outside Queens Town on New Zealand’s South Island. This rock comes from the Haast Schist Group a Jurassic-Cretaceous stretch of metamorphic rocks that extend from Central Otago all the way along to the Cook Strait, a distance of ~600 km. These rocks were once marine sediments that were metamorphosed at low to medium temperatures and pressures during New Zealand’s Alpine Orogeny. These rocks are also the source of New Zealand’s famous Pounamu Jades.

Nose: Pear, green apple, coconut flakes, barley wort, a green herbal note and a trace of mango. Palate: The arrival is semi-sweet malt with a pleasantly dry spice quality and then the mid-palate turns curiously spritzy, almost effervescent, which is very unusual. As this tingling sensation fades some fruit notes, treacle and cereal mash emerge and the late development is like a fruit beer. The texture is agreeable with a very light creamy/oily mouth-feel. Finish: Medium/short. All on cereal and mild fruit notes, fading to a bitter ale-like taste. The curious tingling sensation on the palate persists into the aftertaste. Pokeno Origin is one of the inaugural releases from Pokeno Distillery, and is a core-range expression normally bottled at 43%. This bottling was a limited release for The Whisky Club at 46%, however based on Stephanie Moreno’s official notes for the standard version this juice sounds practically identical. The nose is very pleasant and much more typical of a Scottish malt than anything I’ve previously tried from New Zealand. It promises fruit, cereal and a little honey and is not unlike entry level Glen Grant whisky. The aromatic profile is solidly all about malt without any wine or smoke overtones. In contrast the palate is more, umm, “individual” and I can’t say I’m enormously impressed. It is exceedingly spritzy, to a point I’ve never tasted previously in a malted barley whisky. It’s not just the taste of young whisky, nor of a cut that was too wide, but likewise it is not just the presence of barrel spice. It's almost like it contains a pinch of sodium bicarbonate (yes, seriously!). Dilution broadens the nose and relaxes the palate a little, but the profile remains very much the same. I think Stephanie’s notes are right on target that this is one to try out of curiosity, but I would not spend either time or money in tracking it down. I'll be taking this with Coke or dry ginger ale, thanks very much. “Average” : 78/100 (2.75 stars) ---------------------------------- Update - 27 April 2023 The bottle has been open for a couple of weeks now and it has improved over that time. The contents (which I ceased to cover with argon gas a week ago) and the sample I initially separated are now close in profile. I've been using both of them neat, over ice, with soda, and with Coke. Whether it is the whisky opening up and oxidising or just my palate becoming used to it I don't know - probably a bit of both. Based on the whisky as it is now I'm raising the original rating a quarter point but I won't be buying a replacement bottle. "Above Average" : 80/100 (3 stars)