Waubs Harbour Port Storm (Batch 02)

Sydney Whisky Show May 20th 2023. Whisky #20 Nose: Malt extract, peanut brittle, vanilla, raisins, dark cherries, red grape jelly, baking spices. Palate: There is a sweet Port wine influence right from the first drops with raisins, red berries, stewed stone fruits, brandy butter, golden syrup and malt extract. Spicy notes and tannins emerge in the development which is still sweet but gaining a grippy astringency. The texture is good, somewhat oily, but also a little hard and tannic. Finish: Medium/long. Dark fruits (dried figs, prunes), malt and tannins. Waubs Harbour distillery was founded at Bicheno on the east coast of Tasmania in 2018. Constructed on the site of a former oyster hatchery, some of the old hatchery buildings were renovated to become part of the distillery. It is built literally on the water line, like Bowmore on Islay, and like Bowmore it also matures its casks by the sea. The distillery is consciously striving for a maritime influence on their whisky and they are following Scottish production techniques that are suited to stable lower temperatures and high humidity. The distillery is also cultivating their own liquid yeast strains, which is a fantastic development for our locally industry. Like their “Original” expression which I tasted before this one, this whisky was matured in a combination of ex-bourbon barrels and ex-French oak tawny (i.e. port) casks, but in this case the proportion of port-cask matured spirit is higher, as is the abv. This is a core part of their range, but it is being released in batches of a few hundred bottles at a time so some batch variation should be expected. I liked this whisky but not quite as much as it’s younger and less intense brother. The tannins are balanced by sweetness from the wine and bourbon barrel components, but they were right on the edge of too prominent for my taste. Also, like everything else from the distillery, I thought that their prices are just a little too high, particularly for 500ml bottles. This is priced at the equivalent of AUD$266 for a 700ml bottle and I can buy Highland Park 18 for less than that. “Good” : 83/100 (3.5 stars)