PBMichiganWolverine
Dunedin Double Cask 18 Year
Single Grain — South Island, New Zealand
Reviewed
October 17, 2021 (edited October 7, 2022)
Who in here remembers Action Park? This was that “death ride park” in New Jersey that claimed so many teen injuries due to quality issues in their rides. You took a ride there and considered yourself lucky if you came out without any injuries. I was barely in elementary school, but I remember even us little 2nd and 3rd graders thinking it a right of passage to have an Action Park tattoo ( which is a bruise or injury). Unfortunately, I never got to go, because I was simply too young, but more so because my immigrant parents couldn’t afford the tickets. And had no medical insurance. But, what Action Park taught future theme park entrepreneurs was that make sure you take care of your basic foundational stuff, like quality control, else you’ll be out of business.
I think that same mantra can be applied to whiskey distilleries. In times like these, where prices are sky high and demand for barely legal 3 yr olds competes with well established 20yr olds, you might find some slack initially, but long term you may not be able to sustain your market share. And that takes us to this pour—-a rather rare one from the ghosted Willowbank distillery in New Zealand. Willowbank closed its doors ages ago, and sold off its equipment to a rum maker in Fiji. Now what stock remains is only what’s left from old stock. During times like these, a ghosted 18yr old will sell. But I can see why it went out of business. This 18yr old doesn’t punch at its weight class. It’s somewhat disjointed, and can’t make out whether it wants to be a grain or malt, whether it wants the fruity NZ red wine characteristic or the malty one. It’s not light enough to be a fruity cocktail mix, yet not weighty enough as a neat sipper. I think it’s schizophrenia in a bottle. It needs to take care of the foundational issue: what will this be used for? Mixed drinks or neat? Do we the grain or malt to shine? Do we want to highlight the red wine fruits or the bread-y malt?
But anyway…enjoy it for what it really is : a ghosted distillery that will no longer come back to life, well aged at 18yr , from a region that simply doesn’t have any whiskey production left. With those parameters, a 375ml for $50 did it’s job in spades.
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@BeppeCovfefe "Yeah, hey, yea...I want to travel south this year... Aaah, Woah, Woah Won't prevent safe passage here"
@Scott_E I think so —they had these rides that would strive to defy the laws of physics. Physics won, as evidenced by the participants’ injuries
@PBMichiganWolverine was Action Park with the downhill sled on the concrete track? Many stories I have heard where the sled would fly off the track around bends because of the speed around the turns. Tattoos applied for sure.
@Soba45 i remember having Omaruvian as well. Only reason I got a bottle was because I loved the Omaru region, especially those round rocks at Waitaki valley beach. The whiskey…meh…not so good, about overaged in red wine casks
@Soba45 yeah, but what you guys lack in whiskey production, you more than make up immensely in wine , natural scenery , and some of the world’s friendliest people.
"down, oh down, down, oh down, the pain is self chosen, down, oh down" - Mad Season
Looking at my notes its cask strength Omaruvian brother made more of an impact and i enjoyed (caveat tasted in a whiskey festival settling from memory).
Oh and from memory the disjointedness will be cos after the distillery closed people bought up the bourbon casked stock and tried to finish it.
I should defend my nations honour but yeah unfortunately it's indefensible. A lot of old average whiskey from a ghost distillery tarted up. Not that impressed by anything prior to 2020 from NZ to be honest - I sold my 21 bottling. I did however try a couple of new micro ones that had potential at 2020 dramfest. I was so surprised (after 30 tastings to be fair) i made the mistake telling the distiller i had low expectations but it was great stuff...he was very offended. I tried to clarify by saying a lot of new distilleries were pumping out crap (that was my low expectation setting)... don't think it made things better 🤣
Great analogy!
I had this at the Whisky Show a few months back and had a similar response. An under-achieving, over-aged specimen of what was at its best a very average spirit. Yep, to be tasted only for the experience of tasting a ghost.
@pkingmartin i think that flavor is the NZ hallmark. I had the NZ Oamaruvian , which had the same characteristic
I had a whiskey from New Zealand that was 20+ years old and can only remember describing it as tutti-frutti bubble gum flavor poured on rubber mulch. It sounds like this wasn’t any better.