Bakery Hill Classic Malt, Cask Strength, 60.2% Cask 2308

[Nick Brown]

Colour: pinkish gold, peach flesh

N: yummy, icing sugar, sweet, gristy, some sweet fruit - plums? apricots?, pencil shavings, warm wine, cookie dough, touch of sourness too - soor plooms - giving way to even more icing sugar (a few drops of water clearly define the icing sugar smell as the white flour you find in the mill room)

T: hugely fruity, grape, melon, apple, plum, some slight drying woodiness, charcoal, faint hint of plasticine (water brings out honey)

F: waxy, hay, grass, touch of gooseberry, becomes minty

The label doesn't mention age, nor does it mention cask type. The colour and flavour suggest it may not be a typical bourbon barrel - perhaps something from the nearby Yarra Valley wine region. This really is top rate whisky - not quite like Scotch, the fruitiness is different, but well made. There's hardly any heat, even at cask strength. There is also no suggestion of youth - none of the feintiness. This could suggest a relatively mature whisky or, more likely, the effect of first fill casks in a warm climate (the Amrut effect)

[TheTross]

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.