My final mooched malt from the great @cascode. Thanks again good Sir, a varied and interesting batch this time around. Amber Lane is based in the Yarramalong Valley on NSW's Central Coast. Founded in 2017 by two amateur astronomers and friends, Rod Berry and Phil Townsend. Liquid Amber is one of Amber Lane's sherried expressions that features whisky matured in ex-Fernando de Castilla sherry casks; one of only two distilleries on Earth who are granted access to do so. I wonder if that is actually important though? They took their time with maturation, waiting four years for bottling rather than the minimum two years which is common for the Australian market. N: rich and dark, there is an earthy and leathery quality thats age beyond the four years. Thick with dark jam and vanilla extract. A big bold and rich nose. But thats it, thats all I get, time in glass has let me find a little oatmeal gristiness. P: Full bodied and with a velvety thickness. There is an immediately apparent chocolate and candied ginger tingle. Packed with dark rich sugar flavours of golden syrup and caramel there is maybe a zesty apple carrier but its not pronounced. As for the nose this is a bold arrival that seems to just stop. F: Medium-short. The juicy apple fruit note that was hidden in the palate seems to come forward in the finish, the ginger subsides to a more bakery spice sensation. Amber Lane claim to be simple, down to earth and focused on flavour. I can agree with them, that they have achieved that here. Liquid Amber is a simple, bold and punchy young spirit that delivers few flavours very well. They have a pot still designed to maximise copper contact in order to produce a more complex flavour chain. I must disagree there. The local barely is all but lost to the powerful choice of casking and relatively long contact time with the wood. Whilst enjoyable, I would have liked more from the underlying spirit rather than hiding behind a wall of sherry cask. Distiller whisky taste #167 [Pictured here with, unfortunately, not a lump of amber. I don’t have any and I am mad. Instead, this is bismuth, also referred to as unicorn poo. This is man made but shows a very cool crystal growth habit called ‘hoppers’. Molten bismuth cools down and crystal start nucleating, growing so fast only the edges build and the faces get abandoned. Oxidation provides the wonderful colours You can buy bismuth cheap online and make these in a saucepan. Fun stuff.]