Liquor

130.8 - The Best Kind Of Blossom - 9yr
A pure single cask of Japanese single malt whisky is as rare as it gets. The cultural pursuit of perfection is on full display in this stunning and vibrant spirit. Tasting Panel Note: Juicy red apples and green limes dangled from branches as we strolled in the sunshine. A gust of wind stirred the sweetly scented honeysuckle and cherry blossom, creating a colourful cloud that rained on to freshly opened coconuts and crunchy dried banana chips. Adding water caused wild strawberries to spring up from the ground, ready to be dipped in thick cream and dusted with white chocolate flakes. Poached pears were now among the other orchard fruit, alongside peaches and cherries dripping with syrup from tinned fruit salad. Tropical notes then returned with battered bananas, refreshing coconut juice, and the unique spiciness of a sandalwood tea chest.
$173.00
4.396 - Heather Ember 25yr
Our 25-year-old Creator's Collection malt marries rich butterscotch flavors from an ex-bodega Oloroso butt with nuanced 'heather & honey' peat. This is Orkney at its impeccably balanced best! Tasting Panel Note: We all agreed this one was immediately stunning, as wispy Orcadian peat smoke mingled with impeccable, old-style sherry. It was observed more than once that this whisky was highly reminiscent of MUCH older official bottlings from this distillery. The nose evolved with beautiful and generous aromas of waxes, dried mushrooms, hessian, lapsing souchong tea and flinty coastal notes. Water brought peppery pastrami meatiness, black pepper, game salami, haggis nachos and dark fruits pickled in ancient balsamic. The palate was once again heavily old school in profile. Loads of gamey, leathery and salty sherry vibes met natural tar extracts, medicines and gorgeous, dry, heathery Orkney peat low down in the mix.
$114.00
58.57 - Exceeds Expectation 15yr
Tasting Panel Note: At first nose, the lights were dimmed as we enjoyed a soirée seated in leather chairs taking in the scents of a dunnage boudoir… or was it a bodega? Moss, mushroom, toffee, and oak delicately intertwined in the air. Neat, we snacked on bite-size treats of tuna à la ‘Van Gogh’ (with oil paint and black pepper) as well as cherries poached in spiced cola and coated in chocolate. Washed down with a bit of water, a waft of spice and macchiato teased our nostrils. Another round of treats arrived to finish with earthy mushroom canapés followed by more chocolate coated cherries and almonds on a flavoursome woody backdrop. After 11 years in a refill bourbon hogshead, this whisky was transferred to a first fill American oak PX cask for the remainder of its maturation.
$35.00
73.165 - Come For Dinner... Stay For Dessert 13yr
Ah, yes. In a sea of sherry and bourbon, it’s always fun to spot a Port barrique. The ripe red fruit character takes very well to more robust distillates, and 73 certainly falls into that category. One of the bolder “sweet, fruity & mellow” casks you will come across, and you’ll be happy you did. Tasting Panel Note: The aroma was that of tender, moist, slow-cooked pulled pork with a homemade barbecue sauce next to apple-glazed barbecued baby back ribs. If you are not hungry yet wait for the taste, as we tucked into roast duck breast with a hazelnut sauce. After reduction, the scent of ripe plums, heather honey, treacle tarts next to cranachan and Turkish delight added to the foodie theme. The taste was like grabbing a handful of real fruit juice jellies and soft pistachio nougat. Following 10 years in an ex-bourbon hogshead, we transferred this whisky into a second fill port barrique.
$30.00
85.96 - Walking The Verdant Vines 12yr
10 years in ex-bourbon wood allowed the benchmark orchard fruit, fig and fragrant spice notes of this full-bodied distillate to develop. Its final two years imbued the malt with the luscious tropical fruit and honeysuckle character garnered from a Sauternes barrique. The Bordeaux-based dessert wine develops these aromas and flavors through “noble rot”, an infection by the botrytis fungus. Sounds a little strange for a fungus to create these gorgeous flavors, but it’s true and remarkably delicious! Tasting Panel Note: The barrels have given the nose heather honey, rainbow drops and popcorn sweetness, and the aromatic fruitiness of apricots, plum jam and toffee apples. The palate, complex and fun, had salted caramel, sugared almonds, chocolate hazelnut spread and swathes of fruit, including rhubarb and apple crumble with custard, mango, melon, black grapes and spiced apricots. The reduced
$26.00
85.97 - Walking The Cool Bodegas 12yr
10 years in ex-bourbon wood allowed the benchmark orchard fruit, fig and fragrant spice notes of this full-bodied distillate to develop. Its final two years endowed the malt with nuttiness and baking spice character indicative of the Spanish oak Oloroso cask it was matured in. This is a transportive dram that will whisk you away to Southern Spain in an instant. Tasting Panel Note: A truly complex aroma greeted the Panel as sweet, fruity notes of tangerine combined with winter berries alongside orange oil and vanilla as well as a subtle nutty dryness. On the palate, we found juicy honey-spiced oranges made using cardamom, cloves and cinnamon, as well as the type of subtle sweetness that comes from glycerine as can be found in a dry, old amontillado sherry. Reduced, we were reminded of the poem ‘At Jerez’ by Carol Ann Duffy: “ ... or walk the cool bodegas’ aisles – where flor and oxygen grow talented in fragrances and flavours – to sniff, sip, spit, swallow, savour ... ”.
$26.00
B4.7 - Bourbon - Layers Of Complexity 5yr
This behemoth of a bourbon was aged in a new American oak 30-gallon barrel, which is just shy of a quarter cask. Loads of vanilla oak impartment here with a sticky, cakey mouthfeel that simply hedonistic. Dive into this gorgeous cask from one of America’s craft distilling pioneers! Tasting Panel Note: Gorgeous aromas of apple blossom and elderflower wafted over toasted pine nuts and hazelnut butter spread on to carrot cake, as the gentle spice of nutmeg and cloves blended into runny honey. The taste combined lime marmalade, cherry cake and dried cranberries with honey-glazed ham dotted with pink peppercorns, while dry rye spice met peppermint and menthol. With a dash of water came caramel wafers in vanilla ice cream drizzled with maple syrup and cold custard. Nutty notes returned on the palate alongside golden sultanas in fruit loaf, fennel seeds and mint-scented coconut husk on a dry and peppery finish.
$19.00
B5.10 - Bourbon - String In The Shade 7yr
The B5 casks we get from Tennessee are consistently impressive. Unlike most TN whiskey, this liquid does not undergo the Lincoln County Process, sparing it a charcoal filtration…. Less filtering = more flavor! Here we have birch beer and custard, leather and clove all surfing along the palate on a big wave of flavor. Tasting Panel Note: The nose brimmed with dark orange peel, rye bread spices, bitter marmalade with coriander seed, and heavier notes of warm strop leather, furniture polish, face cream and cloves. Some reduction brought currant buns, sticky toffee pudding, vanilla pods in custard with cardamom, boot polish and waxed canvas. A big, complicated beast! The palate was wonderfully spicy up front with caraway, sarsaparilla and paprika, before fruitier notes of raspberry cordial, blackcurrant leaf and raisins. Water brought juniper, aged cognac, cough mixtures, lanolin and caramelising brown sugars, with another nibble of rye spiciness in the aftertaste.
$28.00
B5.9 - Bourbon - Midnight Treat 6yr
Another decadent Tennessee B5 bourbon sporting the citrus-honey-spice trinity we’ve come to love! Here, a deep and dark sipper shows you what Kentucky’s neighbors to the south can achieve when the Lincoln County Process is skipped. Spoiler alert…. it’s very impressive. Tasting Panel Note: Our initial notes included maraschino juices, sweet orange wines, aged triple sec, nutmeg, liquorice and treacle spread on hot cross buns. It also brought to mind molten chocolate marshmallow and jam biscuits, dark honey and date molasses. Reduction made it more complex and we found notes of sunflower oil, shoe polish, cream soda and Turkish delight – thicker, deeper and darker. The palate when neat was peppered with cloves, crystallised satsuma chunks, runny honey, herbal wines and spiced blood orange liqueur. Some water made everything easier and brought out lemon cough drops, cherryade, eucalyptus resin and notes of birch beer and red liquorice.
$18.00
RW1.5 - Rye - Wait... What? 5yr
The quarter cask (30 gallons) used in this maturation is much smaller than the typically used standard American barrel (53 gallons), imparting more oak influence on the rye here. Red berries and old-fashioned root beer resound in this powerful Tasting Panel Note: We looked at each other as though we had been smelling the same magic potion the druid Getafix brewed to give Asterix and his fellow Gauls superhuman strength. The main ingredients were various herbs found around the village and in the surrounding forest. Can you recall how Asterix reacted on drinking the potion? Well, that was how we felt – “Pow"-erful! Heat and spice galore! Water to the rescue, as the nose developed into muscle rub as well as eucalyptus and prune juice. The palate benefited hugely, with flavours reminding us of an old-fashioned root beer blending sassafras and sarsaparilla root, spices, herbs, barks and berries.
$21.00