Smoky Wedding Peated Bourbon Cask Australian Single Malt Whisky

Smoky Wedding is a bit of an experiment it would seem. Furneaux have married together their unique, Tasmanian coastal peat from native vegetation with classic Scottish spagnum moss peat. 50% Joe White pilsner malt peated on Flinders Island with local, coastal peat. 50% Bairds heavily peated Scottish malt. The Flinders Island peat, from lagoons on the east coast of the island is formed from melaleuca, tussocks, and succulent swamp marsh herbs, significantly different to classic Scottish peat. The Furneaux team also peat after malting, in an attempt to impart more subtlety and a softer smoke profile. The Scottish peat is smoked in giant kilns during malting to give the spirit more intensity and developing the iodine and creosote tones. The new male spirit was still made on Flinders Island at Furneaux Distillery and to best capture the phenolic profile the second cut was taken deeper than they do for the Sawyers Bay unpeated runs. The new make was put into 50 l casks. American Oak ex Bourbon (Heaven Hill) sourced from the Tasmanian Cask Company. Just over three years were given to mature. The barrels were decanted and left to breathe before incremental dilutions, aiding the spirit to achieve its best possible balance and texture (apparently). This batch FSPB2 was diluted to 46.2% and 578 bottles released in February 2024. N: A deep and somewhat comforting nose vaguely reminiscent of the darker depths of Islay. The malt is biscuity, lightly floral, and a slightly briny damp vegetal peat presence that trends towards earthy. P: Astringent, warm, nutty and with a medium body. Slightly bitter barley packs a punch but it’s quickly tempered by perfumed juiciness of white fruit (melon? Grape?), damp ashy smoke, and as advertised a growing presence of rubbery medicinal peat. The perfumed note has stayed present throughout and grown bigger over time. A late found toffee and brown sugar on my final sip. F: Long. A little tannic spice and wood shavings, but mostly mineralic briny smoke turns to ash and then perfumed savoury sweetness. I’ll be honest, I thought this would be a bit of a marketing boondoggle. But I am pleasantly surprised. The flavours here are limited, and restrained; dare I say it, even simple. But I think this is delicately wonderful. The growing perfumes and savoury sweetness from the Tasmanian peat and careful distilling have indeed made a smoky wedding that shouldn’t end in divorce. This is a carefully balanced and excellently made liquid that is all about the spirit, the barrel is somewhere in the background but this is a spirit driven whisky if ever I’ve had one. Distiller whisky taste #279 [Pictured here with as good a representation of Tasmania as is possible in rock form. This is a lump of dolerite from Mt Wellington just outside the Tassie capital Hobart. This dolerite is a volcanic igneous rock that formed 175 million years ago when Gondwana broke apart. As the continent rifted massive volumes of dolerite magma intruded through the crust to form what is now the largest exposure of dolerite in the world; 30,000 km2 and a volume of 15,000 km3]. Furneaux Distillery Running Scores Flinders Island Peated American Oak Ex-Bourbon: 3.5/5 Flinders Island Peated Double Cask: 3.25/5 Sawyers Bay Unpeated Double Oak: 2.75/5 Sawyers Bay Unpeated Refill (Peated) Cask: 4/5 Smoky Wedding Peated Bourbon Cask: 4/5