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DrRHCMadden
Reviewed April 8, 2023 (edited April 15, 2023)@cascode has pulled something extra weird out of his stocks and sent me this most curious offereing. Distilled in 2011 at the Mt Uncle Distillery (Arnold Holstein pot still) from Queensland barley and matured for seven years in purpose-built hybrid casks with staves of French oak ex-red wine casks and heads taken from ex-Bourbon casks and bottled 2018. The oddness here is found in: (1) this is aged in Queensland, tropical north Australia and (2) this is, as I understand it, the first and only run of whisky they have produced. @cascode has the only other tasting for this stuff, and if you want to know more about it, go read his notes they’ll be far better than mine. N: thick and powerful, reminiscent of the lush opulence of a well made port cask whisky. Thick with darkest toffee and caramel, dusty leather bound books, mashed banana and honey. A delicate floral note comes through if you are patient lavender or maybe just generic potpourris? Remarkably, no hint of overtaking that one might expect from seven years of tropical ageing, instead perhaps just the slightest spice note. P: Rich and dense. Spicy oak and perfume (literally like a perfume spritz on the tongue). More oak spice as heavy all spice. Toffee and juicy banana milkshake. Red fruits of plume and red grape. This is interesting and packed with flavour, but i find it unbalanced or at least not well integrated. An early thickness and richness of flavour gives way rapidly to a thin and watery very perfume heavy late palate; is it possible for a whisky to split? F: Medium. Refreshing with some lingering jasmine perfume and bakery spice backed by supple leather. I honestly don’t know what to make of this. A challenging and curious whisky with some supremely delicate notes and rich depths. The balance and integration is off to me though, and that interrupts my enjoyment. The nose is great, the finish is lack lustre and the palate is like Mr Hyde dragging you deep down into the darkness where you then meet Dr Jeckyll for some light merriment. Thanks again @cascode, you’ve challenged me more than I expected. Distiller whisky taste #166 [Pictured here with a rock with tropical origins to match this tropical origin whisky. This rock is a picrite, a magnesium-rich olivine basalt coming from Piton de la Fournaise volcano on Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean. These rocks are formed as the result of rising melts passing through existing magma chambers that are filled with a slurry of olivine crystal mush. This particular picrite is up to half a million years old.] -
cascode
Reviewed January 21, 2023 (edited April 14, 2023)Nose: Dusty resinous wood (oak and pine), orange oil, over-ripe tropical fruit, fresh cut straw. If you draw back from the glass and nose gently you get sweeter aromas with definite toasted marshmallow and baked banana. As it rests in the glass (and particularly after adding a dash of water) caramel, toffee, jasmine and lavender emerge to balance the opening resinous quality. Palate: Sweet, juicy arrival (with just a hint of bitterness) that resolves into tropical fruit. Wine gums, bright tingly oak spice notes (ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg) and dried fruits in the development (dates, plums). Toffee, banana and more brandy or armagnac-like dark fruit notes in the later palate. The texture is full but not oily, and it develops a creamy nature when slightly diluted. Finish: Medium/short. Fresh and preserved tropical fruits that fade into soft oak and leather. Mt. Uncle Distillery was built in 2001 by Mark Watkins at Walkamin in the Atherton Tablelands, about 50km southwest of Cairns. It is the only far-north distillery in Australia. The tablelands region has a noticeably milder and cooler climate than the adjacent Whitsunday coast which makes it just possible to produce aged whisky in what is technically a tropical region (the angels’ share averages 5%). The distillery also produces a range of award winning rum, gin and liqueurs. This whisky was from a spirit run made by Mark in 2011. The spirit was matured in hybrid casks constructed from ex-French oak red wine barrique staves and ex-bourbon barrel heads, and was bottled in 2018. I believe it may have been the only malted barley spirit run the distillery has done, but I’m not certain of that. This whisky is almost unobtainable now except from the distillery door, and I understand their stocks are running out, however I don’t know whether there is further aged stock in the process of maturing for future release. It’s a characterful but slightly off-balance whisky and although it is has a prominent resinous note it does not seem over-oaked or driven by an intense cask presence. The hybrid casks have given it an elegantly light, bright and youthful wood character and the combination of American and French oak make it unlike any other Australian whisky I have tasted. I picked up this bottle at a local bottleshop. It was the last one left and they had marked it down by 40% which made it a bargain. I enjoyed the whisky and I’d recommend it to those who wish to delve into the darker corners of Australian whisky, but at the usual retail price I’d probably not buy a second bottle myself. It’s a good whisky that falls just short of “very good”. “Good” : 83/100 (3.5 stars)155.0 USD per Bottle
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