Not that long ago, it was unusual to easily find single malt whisky made outside of Scotland or Ireland. Now, we are spoilt for choice with single malt from all corners of the world being stacked on bottle shop shelves and available to buy online. Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States, Israel, Taiwan, England, Wales, Italy, Germany, and France are just some countries which now have very successful single malt distilleries. India now joins the growing list of countries with single malt distilleries which have an international fan base. Joining the likes of Amrut and Paul John is the Piccadily distillery in India, which makes Indri single malt.
Callington Mill Distillery is a new distillery located about 80 kilometers north of Hobart in the Tasmanian village of Oatlands which lies on the shores of Lake Dulverton. The distillery was founded by John Ibrahim who had existing ties with Tasmania’s whisky industry. Recently, the distillery released a “Leap of Faith” series which comprises of a selection of eight Tasmanian single malt whiskies – Emulsion, Symmetry, Apera Fusion, Quintessence, Sherry Fusion, Entropy, Tango, and, Audacity.
Interestingly, the distillery boasts that some whiskies in the series are the result of a collaboration with Bill Lark (the “Godfather” of Tasmanian whisky) and Damian Mackey. You can therefore imagine my excitement when I received an email from the distillery inviting me select two whiskies from the series to taste. I chose to try the Quintessence and Entropy because they made use of a variety of Australian wine and fortified wine casks in their respective maturation processes. I then promptly received samples of each whisky in the post.
So, are these whiskies as delicious as they sound?
Since Starward came onto the Australian whisky scene it has released numerous creative expressions which have been met with increasing fanfare, and nowadays fans of the brand need to join a ballot for the chance to secure some of Starward’s most sought-after expressions. One such expression is Starward’s new release, “Tawny #2”. I had the chance to explore and unpack Starward’s Tawny #2 at an intimate lunch at the distillery in Port Melbourne.
Starward’s Tawny #2 is the iteration of the very popular Tawny #1, which was released in 2019. The common thread of Starward’s Tawny #1 and #2 is, as the name suggests, maturation in ex-Tawny barrels from the Barossa Valley in South Australia. But, as my day at Starward made clear and as I’ll explain here, Starward’s vision and blueprint for Tawny #2 differs to that used for its predecessor, Tawny #1.
Whilst I have bad memories about Johnnie Walker Red Label which continue to haunt me when when I smell a scotch and coke, Johnnie Walker Green and Blue Labels sit on the polar opposite of the spectrum and they are amongst the tastiest drams I’ve tried. This made me curious about a lesser known member of the Johnnie Walker family, the XR 21.
As the 2020 Tokyo Olympic games draw to a close, it seems fitting to sip on a Japanese themed whisky this evening whilst watching the Olympics closing ceremony. In keeping with this Japanese theme, tonight I cracked open a bottle of Chivas Regal Mizunara, a special edition in the well known Chivas Regal family of whiskies.
After a (very) long break it is great to be blogging again. You’ve probably noticed that the site has been down for a while. Well, now it is back online!
Before going offline earlier this year my blog had about 388,000 visits from all around the world. Thanks for clicking through to read about my spirited adventures through Scotland, Italy and Australia.
Just look at that beautiful, and very Scottish, bottle design! Owner: Maltmileage.com
A few years ago my wife and I went on a road trip through Scotland, passing through the picturesque highlands, glens, and, most memorably, the extinct supervolcano at Glen Coe. It was green, lush, mountainous and pristine, which was basically everything I imagined Scotland would be. One thing that reminds me of that Scottish road trip is the imagery and design on a bottle of Pure Scot scotch whisky. With its shades of green in the shape of mountains and mirroring a blue loch, the bottle design makes me thirsty for Scotch. Lucky for me I happen to have a few samples of Pure Scot on hand!
Pure Scot is a blended Scotch whisky which combines Bladnoch single malt with grain whiskies and a selection of island, highland and speyside malts. At its price, it is (surprisingly) very good and punches well above it weight. The whisky smells of toffee, tropical fruit, grain and cut grass. It tastes great, too – bitey, with a nice mix of sweet orchard fruit, syrupy caramel, vanilla, soft smoke and spice. The finish is chocolaty, mildly spicy, and warming. This sure is a sweet and syrupy Scotch.
Pure Scot + Smoked Cola, perfect with a BBQ! Owner: Maltmileage.com
Served neat the whisky is easy-drinking and enjoyable, but it is at its best on ice or mixed with cola. Pure Scot kindly sent me a pre-mixed drink of Pure Scot Virgin Oak and Smoked Cola, and this combination worked extremely well together. The mixer itself had a nice strong kick of Scotch, the smokiness was subtle and the cola was syrupy sweet, which complimented Pure Scot’s profile and the virgin oak influence (which tends to be sweet and “bourbony”). It is a fun mixer that is easy to drink and perfect with a barbecue.
Overall I think Pure Scot is a great value blended Scotch whisky which, befitting of its lovely bottle design, offers a nice tour of Scottish whisky with its mix of grain whisky and malts from the islands, highlands and speyside regions of Scotland. I would however love to see an age statement on the bottle, just so I know a little more about what I am drinking.
The story of the Hellyer’s Road distillery starts near an Australian town called Bernie, which is near the northwest coast of Tasmania. In 1827 Henry Hellyer cleared bushland near Bernie to create a trail which later became a road. In 1999 a group of dairy farmers established a whisky distillery on that road, and they fittingly called this distillery “Hellyer’s Road”.
Now, in 2020, Hellyer’s Road whisky is among the largest selling Australian whisky brands on the globe with markets in not only in Australia, but also in Europe and Japan. But despite this large-scale success, my observation of Hellyer’s Road is that it maintains a down-to-earth Australian attitude which lets the product speak for itself – there is no spin about climate or wood or over-the-top marketing, they just make consistently tasty whisky at reasonable prices. Come to think of it, that just might be a reflection of the dairy farming culture!
Sitting on my tasting table, ready for a swig, is a bottle of Hellyer’s Road Original 12 year old single malt whisky. This line was originally released in 2014 and it was a bit of a milestone in Australian whisky making, because until this release it was rare for Australian distilleries to disclose the age of their whiskies. The Hellyer’s Road Original 12 year old single malt whisky is made from spirit which is distilled from a wash of Tasmanian barley and then aged for 12 years in American Oak ex-bourbon casks.
ABV: 46.2%
Colour: Golden honey
Smell: Toffee, vanilla, citrus peel (especially lemon), tobacco, tea bags and spices, such as cinnamon. There is always deep and unique citrus character in Hellyer’s Road whiskies which I really love.
Taste: Heavy citrus peel and oils (a mix of orange, lemon and grapefruit) come first, then the wood influence provides toffee, vanilla and nicely integrated tannins which taste like tea leaves and dark chocolate.
Finish: Toasty, with lingering wood-smoke and cocoa, tobacco and fading sweet orange peel.
Overall: This is a full-bodied and lip-smacking dram with a weighty core of rich citrus and beautifully integrated wood notes from the American oak ex-bourbon casks. The only thing missing is a Tasmanian brie to pair it with!
It was June 2018, and we had zigzagged our way around the cobble stone streets of Rome, the hilly Tuscan towns of Pienza and Montepulciano, the picturesque seaside village of Lacco Ameno in Ischia, the ruins of Pompeii, and, finally, the chaotic city of Naples.
Compass Box are whiskymakers who craft whisky by blending whiskies from different distilleries and batches, thereby creating unique flavour profiles from what is essentially a concoction of “ingredient” whiskies. This is the art of whisky blending. Blending to create a whisky that matches the blue print in one’s mind is much harder than it sounds or looks (as I learned aboard the Glenfiddich Whisky Wanderer!). Trying to unpack a whisky blender’s creation is even harder. To help unravel their complex whiskies, though, Compass Box provide a break down of the “ingredients” that go into each of their whiskies. Trying to piece together the puzzle of a Compass Box whisky by smell and taste is, in my experience, a lot of fun.
The newly released trio of limited edition Compass Box whiskies that sit before me ready to be tasted are Compass Box The Circle, Compass Box Affinity, and Compass Box No Name No. 2.
Malt Mileage Whisky & Spirit Reviews 