Tonight, lets see if the Spanish can perform better than the Aussies at adding a sherry cask influence to the Tasmanian spirit out of Spring Bay. This one is a limited edition of 60, 500 ml bottles, produced for Australia ’The Whisky List’. This one comes from a 35 litre PX cask after two years in the barrel. On pouring this is thick and with legs for days. I’m a little excited, hopefully expectations don’t get dashed now… N: Thick, heavy, sticky, and oozing with raisins and bakery spices. To be honest, the raisin is so dominant as to not let much else through. There is a caramel trying to sneak through, and some oak tannins are there. Hopefully a drop of water shortly will do the trick. P: Sticky and viscous with some prickly heat. Bitter dark chocolate, a slight leather and tobacco and dark sticky caramel are the main players here. The sweetness, which is again driven by raisin comes in towards the back end of the palate. Chewing this over and some malty biscuit is coming out. Tannic spice develops towards more astringent over oak’edness with more sips. The caramel does move up and tone down the raisin with the oak though. F: Medium-long. Sticky dates, stewed raisin, oaky spice. A splash of water, a swirl, a sit, and another swirl. Not as thick on the nose, but much more woody spice, caramel turns towards toffee, and an undertone of malt is there also. The palate rounds out, losing the overbearing thickness, some fresher brighter character comes out with some banana (as was the case for the Apera) the spices more nuanced with cinnamon and maybe even a little anise?. The high proof heat is more apparent now also - interesting. Finish is crisper, with a definite rich-tea biscuit appeal. There is a lot going on in here, not least of all is a heavy oak presence. I don’t know if it is incautious barrelling or that the Spring Bay spirit doesn’t do well in European Oak, but; as for the Apera Cask, the heavy oak gets in the way of some genuinely lovely flavours. I would though say this is objectively better than the Apera on the addition of a splash of water. So far, I have to say; they’ve been just fine as something to kick back with. But they are not worth the price tag at almost AUD$200 for a 500 ml bottle, even at 56% this just isn’t worth it. Distiller whisky taste #236 [Pictured here with a sandy-conglomerate from the end Jurassic of Oxford, England. In present day Oxford the end Jurassic saw a rapid relative fall in sea level (a regression) causing sandy and silty materials to deposit over the deeper marine Oxford Clays and eventually, a break in deposition (an unconformity). This sample represents the transitional period between the break in deposition at the end Jurassic and renewed Cretaceous sedimentation. When sedimentation decreases in a location erosion usually increases. These particular oxford conglomerates are formed from clasts derived from the sandy and silty lithologies from the time that Sauropods reigned supreme, but buried beneath the overlying sediments that the giant theropod hunters stalked.] Spring Bay running scores: Bourbon Cask: 3.5/5 The Rheban: 3.25/5 Apera Cask: 3/5⠀ PX Cask: 3.25/5⁣