Black Gate 620s Whisky Review!

A young Australian single malt whisky, with a huge ABV, from a tiny distillery in regional New South Wales that is quickly gaining a serious following. This should be good!

Black Gate Distillery was established back in 2009 by husband & wife team Brian & Genise Hollingworth, near the small town of Mendooran in central New South Wales, around five hour's drive north-west of Sydney. Brian & Genise are both very friendly and very humble people, and they definitely know what they're doing. The cult following that their spirits have garnered is testament to that. While they started off producing a range of different spirits while waiting for their whisky to mature, single malt whisky and aged rum are the current focus. The distillery itself is tiny, even by Australian standards, with an annual production of around 4,000 litres of spirit through two direct-fired (yes, direct-fired - see photo above!) copper pot stills, of 630-litres and 300-litres capacity respectively. The larger of the two was only added in 2017, so at the time of writing all bottled Black Gate single malt was made in the smaller still alone. Most pot stills are heated internally by steam coil, whereas these are externally heated using a gas flame under the base of the stills. And they certainly do make a big difference to the finished product, adding a slight charred or burnt note to the spirit that is very pleasant.

These whiskies are very young by international standards, with all releases to date being between two (the minimum age for whisky in Australia) and four years of age, but they're helped along by the local conditions, with massive variations in temperature, from below freezing in winter to over 40 degrees centigrade in summer, resulting in faster and more aggressive maturation. They're also given an extra shove by the use of smaller casks, predominantly of the Australian sherry (Apera) and port (Tawny) persuasions, although there are now also full-sized casks maturing at the distillery. The majority of Black Gate's whisky releases to date were distilled from unpeated or lightly-peated barley, sourced from Tasmania, Victoria and locally in New South Wales, but there have been a few heavily peated expressions released recently that used peated malted barley sourced from the UK. Which is great to see! Adding to their appeal is the fact that Black Gate do not chill filter or artificially colour any of their single malts, and their bottling strength doesn't go below 46% ABV. The personal touches also help, and many of Black Gate's direct customers receive a hand-written thank you card from Brian & Genise with their purchases. Which is incredible when you think about it, and it's not something I've ever seen before.

The expression I'm looking at today is Black Gate 620s, which is one of only a few cask strength releases to date. The whisky's name refers to this being a marriage of six re-coopered 20-litre casks, which were left to mature for just 2 years and 2 months, before being vatted together and bottled at a massive 71.1% ABV. If memory serves me correctly this is the third-highest ABV whisky that I've ever tasted, and the two that are in front, both Heartwoods at 72% and 73.5% respectively, were much older than this Black Gate, and were also matured in full-sized casks. So this should be interesting! 620s was distilled from lightly-peated malted barley in March 2016, and was bottled in May 2018 with a yield of just 184 individually numbered 500ml bottles, and as mentioned above no Black Gate whiskies are chill filtered or artificially coloured. It can still be found in specialist retailers for around $220 AUD. That may sound expensive for a 500ml bottle, but when you consider the extra cost of the 20-litre casks, the ridiculous amount of duty (and other taxes) that would have to be paid on a whisky of this strength in Australia, and the very limited nature of this bottling, it's very reasonable! Personally I don't mind the 500ml bottles that are becoming more widely-used in Australian whisky, since as a general rule it keeps the pricing at a more reasonable level, and it also helps with availability. Unfortunately there are plenty of Australian producers that are exceptions to that general rule, but that's certainly not the case with Black Gate. In fact when it comes to offering value for money in Australian single malt whiskies, they're among the contenders for the top prize.

Image from oakbarrel.com.au

Black Gate 620s, 71.1% ABV cask strength. Mendooran, NSW, Australia.

Distilled March 2016, bottled May 2018, aged 2 years & 2 months. Vatting of six re-coopered 20-litre casks, yielded 184 500ml bottles. Non-chill filtered, natural colour.

Colour: Light copper.

Nose: It's a fire-y beast to start with, but it settles down quickly. Lots of dark lightly-burnt caramel and medium-dark chocolate, sweetened coconut, and a little dry toasted malt. A little dark rum-like, and there's still a bit of nose prickle to it, but for a 2-year old whisky at 71% that's to be expected! A little charred eucalyptus / gum forest and some thick vanilla paste with more breathing time. 

Texture: Medium weight, rich & syrup-thick. Quite punchy with a bit of heat too, but again, that's to be expected. 

Taste: Big hit of chilli chocolate, more lightly-burnt caramel and dry toasted malt. Some savoury / dry herbal honey, more thick vanilla paste and some thick stone fruit syrup. 

Finish: Short-medium length. Toasted spices, more burnt caramel and sweetened coconut, and that stone fruit syrup and thick vanilla paste again. A little herbal and slightly vegetal, that eucalyptus / gum forest note coming through again. Something slightly lactic & slightly burnt towards the end as well, which is interesting. 

Score: 3 out of 5. 

Notes: This is a big intense whisky, and it's a little rough around the edges, but there's plenty to like! There's a lot of flavour, and it's very concentrated and condensed, and quite punchy of course. But for such a young whisky at such a high strength it's clearly very well made, and there's loads of character to explore. Even 20-litre casks couldn't completely hide bad spirit, and they definitely haven't had to here. It may not be the most complex whisky out there, and you'd hardly call it subtle, but for its age its very impressive, and high ABV fans will definitely enjoy it. That toasted malt & burnt caramel would have to be down to those direct-fired stills, which is a unique and very intriguing touch. That uniqueness and those interesting flavours do help Black Gate stand out from the pack, which is very important in the booming and fast-expanding Australian whisky industry.

This one probably would've benefited from a little water to be fair, but that's not how I do things for these reviews, so I waited until afterwards to try that. And a few drops did soften everything out without losing anything at all, and it boosted the sweetness and vanilla as well. Well worth trying! Brian & Genise are putting out great stuff down at Black Gate without following anyone's lead, and they're amassing a well-deserved following as a result. Keep up the good work guys!

Cheers!