Originally reviewed on January 20, 2021 on a different listing. Review moved to this listing August 21, 2023. Whisky Tasting : The Oak Barrel, Sydney, 19 January 2021. Whisky #4 Nose: A full, richly sweet initial nose. Over-ripe tropical fruit, stewed stone-fruits, sherry, golden syrup. There is an aroma of oak cask which is neither the pencil-shavings of a young cask nor the smell of an old one. It’s a pleasantly fresh oak quality but there is just a trace of wet cardboard. Palate: Oily and sweet arrival with big stewed fruit flavours. A similar theme to the nose with an added spice component – ginger, hot cinnamon, dried orange rind, a pinch of chilli – but it’s not objectionably hot. There are some drying tannins and the same odd cardboard note apparent on the nose is present. Finish: Medium/long. Warming, tannic, spicy. A big, expressive whisky that is just a fraction too hot and tight to be enjoyable at cask strength. I thought it was greatly improved by a dash of water and really woke up when reduced to around 50% abv. This seemed to revive a lot of slumbering youthful aromas and flavours. The only fault I found was the curious wet cardboard or chipboard presence. It’s not intense enough to be intrusive, but you definitely sense it lurking about. I’m uncertain of its origin but it’s probably from one of the casks as it was not quite the same as the feinty note you get from a cut that was too wide. This expression was the result of a collaboration between The Oak Barrel in Sydney and New World Distillers in Melbourne and was unofficially dubbed the “Smoke & Mirrors” bottling (this is apparently a slang term at the distillery for a weird-and-wonderful experimental vatting). It was a combination of five small sherry casks. Two were first-fill ex-apera (Australian sherry) quarter casks that were just on 5 years old. Two more were second-fill ex-apera quarter casks that had matured for 9 years, and the last was an ex-PX sherry quarter cask that was just over 10 years old. In the Melbourne climate the influence of these small 50 litre casks would have been quite intense – probably the equivalent of twice the maturation time in Scotland. The quarter casks were vatted into barrel #109, a 200 litre ex-sherry barrel, and married for 8 months. An interesting whisky. “Good” : 83/100 (3.5 stars)