Nose: Eucalyptus, straw, stone fruits, daisies, briny cereal, tumeric, cumin and resinous cask. It’s an unusual nose with a slightly maritime quality. A dash of water mutes the brighter herbal and oak notes and lets the dusky, almost sandalwood-scented red wine casks speak more clearly. Palate: Pears, cereal (corn flakes? wheat flakes?), a hint of red wine, sour cherries, raisins, bitter orange peel. The texture is creamy initially but it loses density and eventually seems thin when taken neat, but once again a dash of water improves the dram by re-establishing the creamy texture and providing integration. Finish: Short. Leafy, walnut skins, pine resin fading to a bitter oak note when neat, sweeter and more balanced with water. This is a somewhat odd whisky that the local whisky press are praising, but just a bit too much I think. When tasting it for the first time I noticed occasional similarities to both Limeburners and Auchentoshan and I’m not the biggest fan of either distillery, however over time it has grown on me, particularly as a whisky for mixing. In my opinion it is also significantly better with a dash of water and a short time in the glass to rest. I’ve been following Manly Spirits since they first opened their doors and there is a lot of passion and talent at the distillery. Their gins, flavoured vodkas and liqueurs are very good indeed, but David’s dream is single malt. They produced several initial expressions at the end of 2021, all of which were interesting but none really grabbed me, and then more recently this Nor’easter appeared. For me it is a step in the right direction, and although there is still a way to go I would not be at all surprised if they suddenly brought out something very good in 3-5 years time. Worth a taste, but beware the dreaded Australian 500ml bottle size. Grrr. “Above Average” : 82/100 (3.25 stars)