NEW RELEASES WILL BE ONLINE AT MIDDAY AEST, FRIDAY 3RD JUNE
Outturn Flavour round the firepit: Friday 3 June Issue 05, 2022
WINTER WARMERS Pack your boots and beanies: we’re into that crisp and cozy time of year featuring casks, experiences, and Society good times. Jump in!
FEEL THE WARMTH AT SMWS.COM.AU
Contents Whisky Reprise Andrew Derbidge........................................................................... 3 Winter Warmers Matt Bailey......................................................................................... 6
OUR BOTTLINGS
SPICY & DRY Cask No. 13.84 (Malt of the Month) Midnight woodland foxtrot ................................................... 8
YOUNG & SPRITELY
OLD & DIGNIFIED
Cask No. 28.63 Zesty and refreshing................................................................. 10
SWEET, FRUITY & MELLOW
11
11
Cask No. 115.21 A capering ester jester............................................................. 16
Cask No. 24.154 Confessions of a sherry cask................................................ 12
YOUR SOCIETY 2
17
OILY & COASTAL
PEATED Cask No. 3.326 En garde! ....................................................................................... 20 Cask No. 42.66 Sweet spot ...................................................................................... 22
DEEP, RICH & DRIED FRUITS
Cask No. 44.143 Good traditional fare ..............................................................
Cask No. 9.220 Mellow and yellow ....................................................................
Cask No. 93.161 Dirty martinis on a yacht .................................................... 20
SPICY & SWEET Cask No. 80.23 Perfectly prickly ...........................................................................
Cask No. 97.24 (Vaults Collection) A labyrinth for the wayward wanderer...................... 18
JUICY, OAK & VANILLA
Cask No. 7.263 Dancing to the rhythm ........................................................... 10 Cask No. 26.181 The light gets in ............................................................................
The Cask Is King Matt Bailey...................................................................................... 24
17
GIN Cask No. GN3.19 Apple jelly with juniper berry ........................................... 22
Events in your state.............................................................. 14 Winter Warming Cocktails & Drams......................... 15 Society Merchandise........................................................... 23
CELLARMASTER’S NOTE
Whisky Reprise A
funny thing happened to me on the way to the airport this week: I actually went to the airport! Granted, it was only a trip from Sydney to Melbourne (there and back on the same day!), but – like most of the world – I hadn’t set foot in an airport since 2019. It all felt strangely familiar, and yet still somewhat surreal. Checking in at the terminal, boarding the plane….it was a curious juxtaposition of simultaneously going through well-known motions on autopilot, yet feeling like it was being experienced for the first time. Like a lot of things in life, there’s a parallel with whisky: Have you ever re-visited a distillery or a particular bottled expression after a long absence? Maybe there was a whisky you enjoyed repeatedly in the early days of your
whisky journey, but then left it behind as you ventured out into wider territory. If you re-visit it after a prolonged gap – a gap that has been shaped by other external experiences and influences – the experience can trigger a range of contrasting responses. No matter whether the response is positive or negative, it’s entirely shaped by the familiarity you have (or once had) with the dram. Returning to a once-familiar whisky after a long absence can be a two-edged sword. Depending on what your palate has experienced in the interim, it’s possible your tastes have changed, and the whisky simply won’t impress you. You’ll wonder what you saw 3
“If there is a whisky you once drank a lot of and have since moved away from I encourage you to buy a fresh bottle of it and see how it compares to your memories of it from before.”
4
in it in the first place; possibly even questioning your early judgement! A reverse derivative of this is to conclude that it’s the whisky that must have changed, and they simply don’t make it like they used to! Nostalgia can be a tricky emotion to overcome, with its inherent tendency to look back fondly on the past – particularly when it comes to whisky. An alternative experience is to re-visit the whisky after a prolonged absence and to be surprised at just how much you love it! It’s like catching up with an old, close friend you’ve not seen for years – within minutes, it’s as though no time has passed. Or, alternatively, perhaps your palate and whisky experience/ discernment has improved over the intervening years, and you can now detect the subtle nuances and complexities in the spirit that may once have eluded you. It’s also possible that the mere familiarity and sentimental value you ascribe to the dram is buoying your response.
But wait: It is also entirely possible – although we rarely acknowledge and credit this – that the producer has improved the whisky from what it was previously. Perhaps the distillation cuts were adjusted at some point, or perhaps the cask and maturation regimen has been tweaked? Perhaps the ABV was raised from 43% to 46% and the spirit is now nonchillfiltered? If you think that the Glen Bagpipe 12yo from 2022 is markedly better than the Glen Bagpipe 12yo release that was available in 2007….it’s because it probably is. There’s a common lament from long-time whisky drinkers that whisky ain’t as good as it used to be. As broad, sweeping statements go, it’s a hard one to agree with. One of the happy byproducts of the single malt boom is that distilleries are far more in-tune these days with all the levers they can pull to influence the character and flavour of their malt. They have to be: Their single malt has to stand on its own two feet. It can’t rely on other malts and grains to be blended in to smooth out the rough edges or plug the gaps. Thanks to bodies like the Scotch Whisky Research Institute, and an
overall more scientific, research-led approach by distillers, the chemistry and science of whisky is far better understood these days. If there is a whisky you once drank a lot of and have since moved away from – particularly if it was a dram you turned to in the early days of your whisky journey – I encourage you to buy a fresh bottle of it and see how it compares to your memories of it from before. Just like travelling in a post-COVID world, things are still the same….and yet entirely different. Cheers,
Andrew Derbidge ~ Director, Cellarmaster & NSW Manager
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AMBASSADOR’S ADDRESS
6
W
e often like to say that the flavour in whisky can teleport you to another place in time from the flavours. It might be a certain lolly you had as a child that you suddenly recall from nosing a Sweet, Fruity & Mellow bottling, or a day on the beach with your family as a kid with an ice cream from tasting a Spicy & Dry cask. There’s another flavour element that a whisky can take you on a journey with: people. Now before you go out and start licking strangers looking for that elusive panel tasting note, let me make it clear: I mean the people you once perhaps enjoyed a dram with. For me, one of my earliest memories in whisky was with my grandfather. Well, ‘adopted’ family grandfather named Richard Meale. He was a prominent Australian classical composer who shaped operatic and chamber music in the 1960’s and 70’s into a lot of what we see today, alongside his contemporaries like Nigel Butterly and Peter Sculthorpe. The year was around 1999 and I wasn’t quite 18 yet (but for the purposes of responsible storytelling, let’s just assume I was). It was New Year’s Eve and I was out being a teenager in some local park with some friends. Likely a night of some cheap rum and getting up to no good while trying to find a nice vantage point for some fireworks. Maybe even getting a bit excited about the impending Y2K in a few hours to bring the world to a collapse, digitally at least. Had we known it would be one cash machine in Ireland that briefly malfunctioned instead of Amazon and Google collapsing, we’d be in a different mood. Later that night I returned home to see Richard’s light still on around 2am. He was a night owl after all. I knocked on his door, and he passed me a glass of Johnnie Walker Black Label. He was feeling particularly festive, it seemed, as he gave me about 200mls of it. We chatted and laughed, and I drank
Richard Meale
that Black Label like it was either beer or water - straight down the hatch. Big mistake. The heartburn I had that night was immense. I felt like I was about to die. But to spend the spooky hours of the night right at the start of 2000 with my grandfather and talk a bit of nonsense was more than worth it. To this day, I still associate Black Label with Richard, but also think how far I’ve come, how far we’ve all come since Y2K, and how we celebrate even small moments. I’m not usually one for looking back and prefer to look ahead, but sometimes a bit of nostalgia and associating people with a whisky is a nice feeling. I hope you find a moment this Winter to sit down, relax, take a moment out of your hectic lifestyle just to open a special single cask, share it with someone special, and let the memories collect of not just where you shared it, but with the people you had the chance to.
Matt Bailey ~ SMWS National Ambassador
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MALT OF THE MONTH
Odd-shaped stills, jacketed necks, and heavy slow spirit. We’ve written only just recently about distillery 13 back in February Outturn, so let’s turn our attention instead to the insane oddity that is this flavour explosion. Sherry cask, 7yo, Spicy & Dry, and absolutely wild. Imagine you’re in an old car workshop with oily rags where someone has spilled a bit of vintage Fernet Branca over some chutney and liquorice. That doesn’t even go 10% into describing this flavour explosion. Challenge your conventional norms on a whisky like this, and jump in the deep end. See you there…
REGION
Highland
CASK TYPE
1st fill Spanish oak PX hogshead
AGE
7 years
DATE DISTILLED
23 April 2013
CASK NO. 13.84
OUTTURN
233 bottles
ABV
59.0%
REDUCED FROM $189
AUS ALLOCATION 60 bottles
MIDNIGHT WOODLAND FOXTROT SPICY & DRY
$160
Limit of one bottle per Member
T MALTHE F O NTH MO RA EXT URED MAT
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A big and cluttered aroma full of toasted oak, pencil graphite, cluttered workshops full of oily rags and wood shavings. Sawdusty overalls and orange liqueurs (such as aged Cointreau), then herbal jellies, jasmine tea and rosewater. Reduction brings spiced lemon chutney, chai tea, freshly varnished furniture, fir wood and tea tree oil. To taste this one had an initial hit of mint tea infused with liquorice and fennel seed, then paprika, spiced venison salami and boot polish. Some sticky pecan pie stuck in our teeth! Water brought toffee apples, leaf mulch, fruit-scented pipe tobacco, petrichor, eucalyptus bark and spiced rum cocktails. A lovely slick of 1950s Fernet Branca with chocolate sauce. Previously in a bourbon hogshead for five years before being transferred to first fill Spanish oak PX hogshead.
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ZESTY AND REFRESHING YOUNG & SPRITELY CASK NO. 28.63
$170
REGION
Highland
CASK TYPE
1st fill bourbon barrel
AGE
10 years
DATE DISTILLED
5 November 2010
OUTTURN
230 bottles
ABV
58.2%
AUS ALLOCATION 36 bottles The nose suggested dolly mixtures, flying saucers, lemon puff biscuits and red fruits; also glossy magazines in a nail bar, cardamom and freshly shaved oak. The palate was juicy and zesty – poached pears, green fruits, sharp berries and citrus; the oak derivatives showered us with clove, cinnamon, vanilla and tarry black tea. The reduced nose found floral perfumes (rose petals, Turkish delight), freshcut hay and sweet, fruity fromage frais. The reduced palate was wonderfully refreshing – sweet, tart and easy drinking – lemon curd, lime marmalade and Haribos, butterscotch and crystallized ginger; then tobacco, dandelion and burdock, nutmeg and oak on the finish.
DANCING TO THE RHYTHM SWEET, FRUITY & MELLOW CASK NO. 7.263
$200
WEEK 2 RELEASE 10TH JUNE
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REGION
Speyside
CASK TYPE
1st fill bourbon barrel
AGE
14 years
DATE DISTILLED
13 January 2006
OUTTURN
200 bottles
ABV
58.8%
AUS ALLOCATION 42 bottles Sweet candy cane and charred wood cladding were dancing a cha-cha-cha with the luring scent of a pineapple tart and a leather rolling tobacco pouch in the background. On the palate we melted away like when caramelising butter and brown sugar, before marzipan and mouthcoating hot cross buns with Muscat vanilla ice cream appeared. After dilution the aroma turned very deep and unctuous, heady tropical fruits, banana split with glace cherries, raspberry ripple ice cream and orange pomander. We were all blown away by the texture of a lime custard pie with whipped cream and a coconut crème brulee with Malibu caramelised pineapple.
THE LIGHT GETS IN SWEET, FRUITY & MELLOW CASK NO. 26.181
$175
WEEK 3 RELEASE 17TH JUNE
PERFECTLY PRICKLY SPICY & SWEET CASK NO. 80.23
$150
REGION
Highland
CASK TYPE
1st fill bourbon barrel
AGE
7 years
DATE DISTILLED
16 October 2013
OUTTURN
224 bottles
ABV
63.5%
AUS ALLOCATION 30 bottles Classical, easy and extremely inviting we thought. The initial nose was full of gorse flower, salted crackers and ready salted crisps. Then sea greens, vase water, sunflower oil, heather flowers, light minerality, beach pebbles, hops and sandalwood. Reduction brought white jellybeans, cream soda, aged Riesling, cider apples, bergamot and green banana. A wee touch of grapefruit acidity keeps things fresh. The palate was superbly sweet and concentrated. Bubble-gum flavoured wax! Fruity muesli, dried apricots, almond oil, orgeat syrup, rosewater, lychee, hessians and pineapple jelly. Reduction brought tropical fruit teas, bay leaf, jasmine, light ointments, hessian, citrus piths and white stone fruits. Lush!
REGION
Speyside
CASK TYPE
1st fill bourbon hogshead
AGE
9 years
DATE DISTILLED
16 January 2012
OUTTURN
208 bottles
ABV
58.6%
AUS ALLOCATION 36 bottles We prepared a porridge with sultanas, raisins, cranberry and apple as well as a blackberry and basil fool. On the palate, we tucked into a mango, date and macadamia pudding with brandy custard and sweet and sour plums using tamarind, Chinese five spice, sugar and honey. When we added water a hot buttered croissant with apricot jam appeared before we got flaked almonds, rhubarb and custard crunch as well as hot cross buns and Bramley apple bake. The taste was now pleasantly warm, thick and still lively like a nettle tea with mellow hints of lemon and rounded off by aromatic liquorice.
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CONFESSIONS OF A SHERRY CASK
Another example of the new, unique small batch whiskies that are being selected and bottled by the SMWS Spirits Team. We filled the maturing whisky into a 1st fill premium Oloroso-sherry cask from Jose & Miguel Martin for an additional period of maturation by the Society’s Spirits Team. Like the 1.x’s on this selection we have taken full advantage of the affinity that we know distillery 24 has for Spanish oak and ex-sherry wood. J&MM are one of our handful of select suppliers of casks in Jerez, this cooperage is renowned for its innovation and strict quality control in the production of sherry casks exclusively for the Scotch Whisky industry.
CONFESSIONS OF A SHERRY CASK DEEP, RICH & DRIED FRUITS CASK NO. 24.154
$245
Limit of one bottle per Member
LOT BAL TLING BOT
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REGION
Speyside
CASK TYPE
1st fill Spanish oak Oloroso hogshead
AGE
12 years
DATE DISTILLED
13 October 2008
OUTTURN
313 bottles
ABV
63.3%
AUS ALLOCATION 54 bottles Sticky treacle and molasses oozed over Christmas pudding packed with prunes, dates and figs before a generous soaking of navy rum was lit by a single match. An abundance of cinnamon, nuts and dark chocolate caramelised with muscovado sugar while on the palate came star anise, cloves and brandy butter. Rich flavours of coffee, liquorice and plum chutney then merged with cigar boxes and burnt cereals. With water heavy fruitcake was served with rosemary dressed roast lamb and a side of singed blackcurrants, maple syrup and porridge. The palate had now expanded into almond oil and Brazil nut butter while thick custard arrived with rye bread, burnt ham and grilled black pudding. At ten years of age we combined selected casks from the same distillery. We then returned the single malt into a variety of different casks to develop further. This is one of those casks.
SCAN THE QR CODE to submit your ballot entry To be drawn Friday 10 June at 2pm AEST
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SOCIETY EXPERIENCES MELBOURNE
BRISBANE
HERESY HISTORY
CHALLENGE THE PANEL
Melbourne Whisky Room back in action! The SMWS is proudly reopening the space with a trip back, and forward in time, with Heresy History. Explore the vatted history of the SMWS.
Our popular ‘Challenge the panel’ format is back for 2022! Bring your palates and taste incredible single cask whisky and challenge our tasting panel!
THURSDAY 16 JUNE, 6.30PM
SUNDAY 26 JUNE, 1.30PM
Melbourne Whisky Room Upstairs W&A, 270 Russell St, Melbourne
Mrs J Rabbit’s Speakeasy 23 Logan Rd, Woolloongabba
ADELAIDE
HOBART
WINTER WARMERS: DINNER & DRAMS
LET’S GET SPIRITUAL!
Winter is here, so let’s cosy up with a full dinner and drams at our new favourite haunt, Gilbert St. New single casks, a hearty feed, and a night of great camaraderie with members and friends.
Bourbon, gin, rum, whisky! Explore the diversity and flavour, and see how each spirit works neat, and expertly mixed into a single cask cocktail created by local legend Ian Reed from Gold Bar.
FRIDAY 8 JULY, 6PM FOR 6.30PM
MONDAY 11 JULY, 6PM
Seven Stars Hotel 187 Angas St, Adelaide
Gold Bar 11 Morrison St, Hobart
MELBOURNE
WOLLONGONG
A GRAND ORKNEY ADVENTURE
WINTER WARMERS: DINNER & DRAMS
Highland Park is one of the most enigmatic and flavoursome distilleries in the world. Join in this rare evening of an Orkney vertical tasting from distillery number four.’.
Join us in the warmth of whisky love as we enjoy a fun evening of delicious food and amazing Society malts. Have fun pairing the food with the whiskies, and find your perfect match!
THURSDAY 21 JULY, 6.30PM
FRIDAY 22 JULY, 6PM FOR 6.30PM
Melbourne Whisky Room Upstairs W&A, 270 Russell St, Melbourne
FOR OUR LATEST EVENT LISTINGS AND TO BOOK ONLINE VISIT
SMWS.COM.AU/EVENTS 14
M2 Kitchen 1/354 Keira St, Wollongong
VIRTUAL TASTING
Winter Warming Cocktails & Drams JOIN US LIVE! THURSDAY 23 JUNE, 7PM AEST Winter is upon us, which means we’re warming up with a fine dram, a winter cocktail, and some good banter around the screen. Each virtual pack this month comes with 5 x drams + a special winter cocktail we’ll all make virtually at the same time with the included ingredients. Gather around the fire or crank the heater for a night of live cocktail creation, whisky, and good chatter for our Winter Warming Cocktails & Drams. You might even get a taste of a sneaky upcoming special vatting on the night.
Tune in live on Facebook & YouTube on Thursday 23 June, 7pm AEST. Or watch at your own leisure after.
GRAB YOUR VIRTUAL TASTING KIT AND JOIN IN! SMWS.COM.AU/SHOP
$A8CH9SET E
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A CAPERING ESTER JESTER SPICY & SWEET CASK NO. 115.21
$175
REGION
Speyside
CASK TYPE
2nd fill bourbon barrel
AGE
11 years
DATE DISTILLED
2 September 2009
OUTTURN
191 bottles
ABV
58.6%
AUS ALLOCATION 24 bottles On the nose – a bit of an ester jester – capering about with apricot jam, pineapple and glue; soft mints, eucalyptus and oak shavings. The palate gave us banana liqueur, apple, pineapple, coconut and vanilla – also some chocolate, salted caramel and ginger ale with lime. The reduced nose seemed to beat the drum for rum and gum – cinnamon baked banana, pear drops, vanilla cream, asafoetida gum, grape juice and wood sap. Water mellowed the palate considerably – now quite fresh, with pink wafers, orange boiled sweets and flowers; coconut cream and spiced honey – the finish a lively mix of menthol, sherbet fizz and cream soda.
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GOOD TRADITIONAL FARE DEEP, RICH & DRIED FRUITS CASK NO. 44.143
$260
WEEK 2 RELEASE 10TH JUNE
MELLOW AND YELLOW JUICY, OAK & VANILLA CASK NO. 9.220
$190
REGION
Speyside
CASK TYPE
1st fill STR barrique - Oloroso seasoned
AGE
17 years
DATE DISTILLED
27 June 2003
OUTTURN
213 bottles
ABV
57.0%
RA EXT URED MAT
AUS ALLOCATION 48 bottles A fascinating ‘struggle’ between an ‘old-school’ meaty spirit and the cask maturation - how about cooking a beef filet mignon with a garlic beurre noisette. Big and characterful on the palate, braised beef cheeks with pear and bitter chocolate sauce served with Japanese vegetable tempura fritters. With water, the nose turned even more meaty, gamey and oily, hints of garlic even. We decided on a sausage, apple and potato one-pan roast. The taste like beef rolls, thin seasoned beef slices wrapped around a pickle spear, bacon and onion all spread thinly with mustard served with dumplings and red cabbage. After fifteen years in an ex-bourbon hogshead, we transferred this whisky into a shaved-toasted-re-charred and oloroso seasoned 1st fill barrique.
REGION
Speyside
CASK TYPE
1st fill bourbon barrel
AGE
13 years
DATE DISTILLED
22 May 2007
OUTTURN
235 bottles
ABV
55.8%
AUS ALLOCATION 42 bottles The nose was initially bursting with crepes suzette and bags of sweet vanilla cream. Luscious custard made with young dessert wines, Juicy Fruit bubble-gum, white mushrooms, snapped green twigs, lime curd and honey-drenched granola. Water brought milk chocolate, satsumas, crushed oatcakes and dried banana chips. Superb we thought! The palate opened with spiced custard, sweet white port, Edinburgh rock, Drumstick lollies and new leather. Water evolved things elegantly towards ripe yellow plums and yellow wildflowers, then sunflower oil, rosewater, jasmine tea and umami paste. Some honey spread on warm soda bread in the background. 17
FOREVER GONE Cask 97.24 ‘A labyrinth for the wayward wanderer ‘ hails from a closed distillery. Distillery 97 stopped distilling in 1992 and was subsequently bought by Loch Lomond Group but never distilled again. The doors finally closed in 1996 and the distillery was then destroyed by fire in 2004. This is therefore from the very last years of its operation. Never to be seen again! This 2nd-fill barrel dazzled the expert tasting panel and yielded only 152 bottles for the world.
LTS VAUECTION L COL
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A LABYRINTH FOR THE WAYWARD WANDERER OLD & DIGNIFIED CASK NO. 97.24
$1,495
REGION
Lowland
CASK TYPE
2nd fill bourbon barrel
AGE
30 years
DATE DISTILLED
23 April 1990
OUTTURN
152 bottles
ABV
57.5%
AUS ALLOCATION 18 bottles A beautiful example of this lost Lowland classic. An initial burst of orange cordial and cocktail bitters was followed by spiced honey cake and sharp, zingy grassy freshness. Almost illusions of old-style, pure pot Irish whiskey. Something further underscored by metal polish, dried guava and banana liqueur. Water brought milk bottle sweets, sandalwood, clover and expensive olive oil. The complexity only mounts! In the mouth we found abundant sweetness with pineapple syrup, Turkish delight, spiced fruit chutneys, melon syrup and concentrated fruit salad juices. Pollens, bubble-gum and old copper coins. Water brought a drier edge with rapeseed oil, rye bread and a hit of very old calvados. Then heather ales, dandelion and burdock, crushed walnuts and red liquorice. Quite a ride!
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EN GARDE! PEATED CASK NO. 3.326
$330
REGION
Islay
CASK TYPE
Refill Guyanese rum barrel
AGE
17 years
DATE DISTILLED
16 February 2004
OUTTURN
240 bottles
ABV
56.0%
RA EXT URED MAT
AUS ALLOCATION 42 bottles
WEEK 3 RELEASE 17TH JUNE
EX-RUM CASK FROM
SMWS R2.13
DIRTY MARTINIS ON A YACHT OILY & COASTAL CASK NO. 93.161
$180
A deafening waft of rum greeted us from the top of the nosing glass! Pickled exotic fruits wrapped in seawatersoaked bandages and Elastoplast. Sardines bobbing in antiseptic, olive brine, anchovy butter and tarry beach wood. A bonkers nose we all agreed. With water, we noted smoked green tea, myrtle, wintergreen, farmhouse cider, bike chain grease, aniseed balls and lemons charring on a BBQ. The neat palate was full of smoked exotic fruits, burning heather, olive oil, lime curds, mineral oils, squid ink and some kind of high ester mouthwash. With water it became sootier, more herbal and more classical with beach pebbles, mineral salts, bacon rind, pickled ginger and vapour rubs. Previously in a bourbon barrel for 14 years before being transferred to an ex-Guyanese rum barrel.
REGION
Campbeltown
CASK TYPE
1st fill bourbon barrel
AGE
8 years
DATE DISTILLED
9 February 2012
OUTTURN
234 bottles
ABV
59.1%
AUS ALLOCATION 48 bottles This rather sweet and oily nose (flumps, salted caramel crêpes, freshly oiled clock mechanism, tinned mackerel) also has something of the seashore (lemon on scallops, freshly flooded rock-pools). The palate starts with wood (licking staves, chewing pencils), finds Moffat toffee and Oddfellows sweets (cinnamon, ginger and clove) before turning sharper with sweet and sour sauce over pineapple fritters. Water brings vanilla, coconut and coal scuttles to the nose, with wood now reminiscent of yacht decking or pine forest floor. Oiliness returns to the palate, followed by Jammy Dodgers, flying saucers, talc, leather, liquorice, ash and dirty martinis.
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SWEET SPOT PEATED CASK NO. 42.66
$190
REGION
Highland
CASK TYPE
Refill bourbon hogshead
AGE
14 years
DATE DISTILLED
29 March 2007
OUTTURN
268 bottles
ABV
57.1%
AUS ALLOCATION 42 bottles We cleaned a window while smoking a cigarette and getting more than a whiff from the fish and chip shop on the opposite side of the street. “Hot but pleasant, if you like this sort of thing”! Well, we stubbed out our sweet menthol cigarette in a very full ashtray and had some smoked jelly babies before eating deep fried oysters. A little water and refreshed we went back to work, greased axels against rust and knocked-in a new cricket bat (toe, edges and sweet spot) with a wooden mallet using raw linseed oil. Then we had dinner; chip shop (from the one opposite) chips, plenty of oil and vinegar and a beer battered cod.
APPLE JELLY WITH JUNIPER BERRY GIN CASK NO. GN3.19
$135
REGION
Hawick
CASK TYPE
2nd fill bourbon barrel
AGE
1 year
DATE DISTILLED
16 January 2020
OUTTURN
275 bottles
ABV
48.8%
AUS ALLOCATION 24 bottles A definite bright juniper and citrus note on the nose neat, followed by aromas of a wood-aged grappa, limoncello, jelly babies, honeydew melon and herbal limeade. That followed through seamlessly on the palate with a fresh lemon and lime slushy, hint of spiced vanilla, freeze-dried strawberries and apple jelly. With water we got a sparkling summertime fruit punch (plums, cherries and strawberries) combined with a fresh juniper berry filled sea-breeze, while to taste; coconut pudding with a lychee and mango fruit salad, spiced watermelon fries accompanied by a coconut lime dip and then a hint of liquorice in the finish.
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SMWS BEANIE & JACKET Keep your noggin warm and your back dry this winter with our very own beanie and windbreaker. Perfect for winter dramming at home or out and about in the wild. Stocks are limited.
IE BEAN
ET JACK
$30 $149
THE SOCIETY $30 VINYL SLIPMAT
$35
MUSIC & MALTS T-SHIRT The Music & Malts must-have tee. Presented on high-quality AS colour cotton stock. Available in black or white.
For those of you who still like to spin the black circle we have limited edition SMWS vinyl slipmats in white featuring the SWMS logo in black. These felt slipmats are perfect for your turntable, but can also act as great coasters if vinyl isn’t really your thing.
SMWS.COM.AU/SHOP All prices are including GST and excluding shipping
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I’ve just been in Scotland. Yes, that even feels odd to type out, but international travel is real again, and while it’s changed a bit, it’s so good to get back to the Vaults and catch up with our international team again.
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O
ne thing of many that became renewed in my mind from this trip is just how much development and focus we really do put into the cask. A closer examination into how much work really goes on from our spirits team each week has me really excited to talk more in-depth about this to our members. Let’s start with discussing just how much influence is understood here. Most distillers will talk about their distillate, most cask/stocks managers will talk about their casks. The truth is, they need to ‘meet in the middle’ to form that perfect harmony of flavours. If a whisky is too ‘spirity’ and feinty, it’ll likely be a bit harsh and under-cooked. If a whisky is too ‘oaky’, you end up with a whole bunch of those fishy/eggy/overoaked notes and it’s equally as unenjoyable. You need to meet right in the middle. The inner-perfectionist in me might like to think that the spirit is 50% of the influence on the final product, and the cask is the other 50%. Sounds idyllic, but I just don’t think this is true, almost ever. This balance will vary depending on which spirit you put into which cask and of whom you speak to of course. One contemporary Scottish whisky distiller I spoke to recently was firmly in the camp of saying that the spirit is “easily 80-90% of the final product, and the cask just finishes it up”, where as if were to ask the late Michel Couvreur what the influence balance is, he was once quoted as saying the spirit is “largely irrelevant to the end result, the cask is everything”. Neither view I would agree with. Perhaps the perfectionist 50/50 view is correct, but most distillers and the Society would largely agree it sits around 30% spirit, 70% cask, or thereabouts. Even writing that will likely put a nose or two out of joint from people who think it should be the other way around, but remember this will move and sway depending on the spirit and its interaction with the wood. That’s just where the alchemy begins after all.
This point will be where we rely on the cask to leech all that lovely flavour from the oak, the previous fill, and the environment it lives in, into the spirit. It’s best to think of a cask like a tea bag, and the spirit as the hot water from the kettle. The temperature of the water you put in the mug plays a huge role in itself: anywhere from 55% to 70% alcohol by volume entry point for most distilleries, and the longer you leave the tea bag in the cup, the more oak influence will play a part. Try this one at home: find the smallest teacup you own, and fill it with boiling water and a Dilmah ‘extra strength’ tea bag. Wait about 10 minutes. What you’ll end up with is an overly-tannic, over-oaked, unenjoyable drink. Now grab some green tea, a strainer, and some 70C hot water, strain for about 3-4 minutes, and take it out. You’ll be left with a perfectly balanced green tea, or to complete the comparison, a lovely balance of spirit and oak. So, using the roundabout figure of 70% influence or so, there’s a lot to be discussed as to the importance of the cask. If this humble oak vessel is to be responsible for what ends up in our glass and shared with friends, then we best take it seriously. Where do most casks come from, and what does the SMWS do differently? In a nutshell, most casks are either American oak (Quercus Alba), or European oak (Quercus Robur). To simplify it a bit, most American oak
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“We’re aiming for excellence in every cask, in every unique single cask offering, in every blended malt or experimentation.”
imparts a sweeter, more vanillin note, while most European oak imparts a drier, fruitier, more tannic note. A lot of this comes down to the grain, oak density, and thickness of staves. However, the other crucial part here is the previous use. Most American oak will start its life as virgin oak, be used once to produce bourbon that is most commonly between 2-5 years of age, then cannot be re-used to make bourbon again. That makes for a very plentiful supply of very rich ex-bourbon barrels that the Scotch whisky industry gladly takes, as well as most whisky producing nations. Most ex-European oak starts its life as ex-wine, exfortified, or ex-grape based spirit like Cognac or Armagnac. As ex-sherried whisky is hugely desired by whisky drinkers for its Christmas cake-like characteristics, and European oak has a rather drastically different journey to make its way to the whisky producing industry, the prices are often radically different with good ex-sherry butts now costing in excess of $2,200
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each. And just to go on a rant for a moment, which could take up a whole other article for another time, but the next time I have to endure a brand ambassador wax lyrical about their “old bodega casks sourced from slumbering wineries and vintage sherry houses” etc, I’m going to scream. It simply doesn’t exist. There’s a reason almost every single sherry cask maturing whisky is from seasoned stock, and truthfully it more and more provides a more uniform, more consistent, more tailored whisky as the end result. More on that another time… With that in mind, the next steps are really what the SMWS does here. Our commitment is to the highest quality on offer for members. We’re not interested in scrapping around for casks from broker’s lists of blenders stocks into wood we had no say in: we’ll leave that for other ‘independent bottlers’. We’re a whisky club; a global society of members who we want to be able to come to one of our experiences, or pick off an Outturn, and know that if you read the tasting notes and pick a flavour profile, the quality is always assured. Even just the last twelve months of global accolades for our spirits and experiences are testament to what’s really going on, showing it’s really not just us saying this! Our goal is managing the wood type, the supplier characteristics, the ex-fill, the timeframe, our own maturation in our own warehouses, the regular and ongoing training of the tasting panel, our blending, vatting, sourcing, and even the mashbill-to-bottle crafting of our offering. All of this is just a fraction of what we’re working on that we’re doing our best to bring to members. We listen to you, we hear what you’re asking, and we’re always working on improving. The next step in this cask being key to our success is in planning the timeframes with distilleries, and talking to a few now on not just sourcing great spirit to put into our own sourced wood, but also the exacting mash bill recipe that we’re after. Some of the photos pictured here are of our spirits director Kai Ivalo & Euan Campbell working closely with the team at Tevasa and other smaller Jerez sherry houses in sourcing top quality oak and working on our spirits.
We’re not trading on any old name that once held quality stocks, we’re not releasing tartanclad bottlings filled with 9th-refill blenders stock, we’re not hitting and hoping for the best. We’re planning for it. We’re aiming for excellence in every cask, in every unique single cask offering, in every blended malt or experimentation. We’re challenging convention, surprising palates, and continuing to push flavour to the fore. The next steps are maturation and monitoring in our own SMWS warehouses which has been ongoing for many years now. This supply is rapidly increasing and the planning for panel assessment on stocks that we won’t see anytime between now and the next 40 years is phenomenal. This will involve multi-layers of planning, multiple panel levels, expert analysis, flaw and feature detection, unique flavours, and one of a kind releases. Then there’s the complexity of bottling predominantly single cask whisky, which in and of itself is a minefield of logistics and bottling complexity: this whole game would be a lot easier if we just had one product instead of thousands! From the depths of the humble cask many discoveries are found so that we can bring this to members, month after month, and see the growth of fine spirits continue in Australia for members.
This is the part where I say that I owe you, our member, an apology. We really need to be better at communicating this whole part. We already offer that full transparency of what’s in your glass with attributes like cask type, age statement, date distilled, full panel tasting note and more. Where we need to get better is in offering up that fuller story behind each release, where we can. Take a look at the note on Cask 24.153 in this Outturn as an example of what I mean. That’s what I would call our ‘authenticity’. The story of how we’ve developed a relationship to a distillery or cooperage who knows we’ll treat the output with respect, and talk to where that story began, why that provenance is important, what it means from a flavour perspective, and how we communicate that. After this most recent trip, I’m renewed with a massive optimism for the future of the SMWS, and I look forward to sharing this June Outturn with you as we head into the colder months. Cheers! Matt 27
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Society bottlings are offered and sold through The Artisanal Spirits Company Pty Ltd, Liquor Licence LIQP770017428.
