Australasian August - Live Tasting - 29-30/08/09

[Jolly Toper]

Bakery Hill courtesy og Nick and Calliope. Before I forget Nick sourced the peated version for us for a future tasting along with one of the Tassie drams. One of them will be in a world tasting, in November, I think.

Nose: Gentle and approachable. So gentle in fact I had to approach it very close. Reasonably strong spirit coming over like model glue but over a rich fruit base. Undramatic but refined. Wood notes emerge. with spicy vanilla flashes. After a longish day I'm really enjoying this, lots to find, I've sneeked the odd drop of this since Nick passed it on and have mostly been impressed.

Palate: Interesting memories of the mouth feel from the Cradle Mountain Cab-Sav! Otherwise not much to report.

with water perhaps a smokiness in the finish. Sweeter and rounder having more of a gelatinous texture, in a good way.

Over-all far from difficult to drink. I'll go with the Scottish Lowland vote.

[Jolly Toper]

Lark, thanks again to Nick.

Bill Lark seems to be the Fritz Maytag of OZ. I hope I got that right.

Nose : Eek! More like St. George than Old Potrero. Quite the European fruit eaux-de-vie style. What kind of stills are used? This fruitiness is not something I look for but then again its not the end of the world. I bet I drink it all.

Palate: Where do these flavours come from? The cask, fementation time, yeast variety, strange drying fuel during malting, cereal variety? Quite rightly very un-Scottish. Frustratingly can't put my nasal finger on the notes but a hot, perhaps wood driven, spiciness prevails, cedar? Jasmine?. Its whisky Jim but not as we know it. Fascinating. More research required....

I won my bet, now off for the prize, Duncan Taylor's generic NAS Islay 46%

[Willie JJ]

I'll get to this tonight I hope. I had a busy weekend with one daughter's birthday and the other moving through to Glasgow.

[TheTross]

Apologies for leaving this as late as I have. Was away until Monday but have only just got round to tasting the samples that Nick sent me.

Ok:

Bakery Hill Unpeated Classic Malt Cask Strength (60.2%, barrel #2308)
Nose: Honeyed and quite spicy. A soft oakiness sits in the background. Lemon. Vanilla. Ground white pepper. Quite farmy and a little bourbonny. Hints of damp cardboard? Water eases the intensity and emphasises the woody (pencil shavings this time), farmy notes initially before becoming sweeter and more fruity.

Palate: Honeyed. Fairly hot and prickly at full strength. Pear drops and hints of exotic fruit (pineapple?). A little oak and spice. Becomes much less hot with water, with some faint grassy notes emerging above the honey and exotic fruit.

Finish: Sweet. Honey once again.


I thoroughly enjoyed this on the nose and palate but struggled with the finish. Water creates a softer, more fruity dram but again doesn't do much to coax the finish from its shell. All in all this is a very good, approachable whisky.



Lark Distillery (43%, Batch #LD84, bottled Sept '08)
Nose: A strong and rather bitter, spicy aroma at first that reminds me of the general smell from the spice section in Chinese/Asian stores. Develops fruity notes (weak orange, plum and lemon) after a short while. Faint hints of wood and cheap milk chocolate.

Palate: Fairly oily. Spices. Quite sweet and fruity, with hints of oak.

Finish: Fruity. Honeyed notes.


I had some difficulty in trying to pin-point some of the aromas and flavours with this one, with the finish being especially troublesome (or perhaps just bland). Pleasant enough but nowhere near as good as the Bakery Hill.



Thanks for the samples Nick! Was very interesting to try some antipodean offerings - much appreciated