
April 18, 2016

A Tasmanian trio

This little session could be rather rock and roll – or maybe AC/DC! Please fasten your seatbelts…

Overeem ‘Sherry Cask Matured’ (60%, OB, Old Hobart Distillery, Tasmania, cask #OHD-074, +/-2015)

The ‘bourbon’ version had be much to my liking, despite it’s inherent youth and the use of very active wood. It’s even French oak in this very case… Colour: deep amber. Nose: starts with whiffs of brand new humidor, and goes on with notes of the very same humidor after it’s been in use for many years. Indeed, some tobacco. Also bits of pencil shavings, touches of cloves, mulled wine (or rather that particular spice mix, star anise, cinnamon, cloves), pecan pie, orange liqueur. All that works in sync, there are no off notes. With water: awesome. Old oloroso, walnuts, more tobacco, drops of soy sauce, a little pine sap (retsina)… Mouth (neat): very rich and spicy! The oaks plays first fiddle, with some pepper and ginger, as well as cloves, then we have loads of burnt raisins (a kugelhopf or some panettone forgotten in the oven), then orange drops. A very spicy combo. Bitter chocolate. With water: it’s still pretty oaky, but more fruits manage to come through. Oranges ‘of course’, especially bitter ones, also a little tamarind. Cinnamon cake and mints. Finish: long and spicy. Some kind of orange pie totally covered with cinnamon. And a little nutmeg. Comments: it’s cask-driven, but that worked well. SGP:461 - 84 points.

Cradle Mountain 18 yo (52.9%, Cadenhead, World Whiskies, Tasmania, cabernet sauvignon hogshead, 132 bottles, 2015)

A bottle that made many good people laugh at Whisky Ship Luzern this year. It was distilled at the Small Concern Whisky Distillery, and filled into the weirdest cask I’ve ever heard of, a cab hogshead. Probably Australian cab, but now that Pernod-Ricard’s Jacob’s Creek are issuing double-cask wine (finished in whisky casks, that was bound to happen!) nothing should surprise us anymore. Colour: red amber. Nose: between pink muscat wine and litchi syrup, with plenty of eucalyptus and a strange feeling of cranberry juice. Rather unfolds on cherries, wheelbarrows of ripe big black cherries! Almost totally un-whisky, but certainly fun. With water: this is pure oak-matured maraschino. Mouth (neat): but what is this? Longans and cherries cooked in some kind of hazelnut sauce, covered with peanut butter, cherry heering, and, yeah, Cherry Coke. Very, very bizarre, and very oaky too. Sucking old staves – gotta have a big mouth. With water: bitter, and still full of cherries, bitter almonds, and some kind of mouthwash for kids. Grenadine? Finish: medium. Amaretti, more cherries, guignolet, and bitter sawdust. Acrid aftertaste. Comments: another UFW (unidentified flying whisky). A platypus of whisky. I won’t be too harsh, because it was fun. The Mr Bean of whisky? SGP:661 - 70 points.

Good, let’s have one more and make a proper session out of this joyous ‘mess’…

Lark 'Small Cask Aged' (58%, OB, Tasmania, Port cask, cask #473, 2014)

We’ve already tried quite a few ex-Port Larks, and they’ve been to our liking, some being even excellent. Colour: salmony amber. Nose: it’s got his very peculiar dustiness that’s quite enjoyable. Grandma’s old fur coat, old perfumes, roses, pot-pourri, dried oranges, incense… It’s another UFW but this time, things are more coherent, it seems. With water: oh almost perfect. Drops of mint essence, praline, walnut cake, liquorice… Mouth (neat): some parts remind me of the Overeem, with an oak that’s running the show, but this has rather more red berries, blackcurrant, oranges, and, well, anything touriga nacional. I think it works, despite the heavy-ish nutmeg. With water: a lot of caraway coming through now, with some sweet liquorice and some kind of aniseed. That brings a lot of freshness. Finish: long, spicy and sweet at the same time, without any off beats. Comments: really very very good. Some aspects remind me of the works some Swedish distillers are doing these days. Sweden-Tasmania, aren’t they close? SGP:561 - 86 points.