Black Gate Apera Vatting Whisky Review!

A recent bottling from one of mainland Australia's smallest distilleries, Black Gate. Don't let their small stature fool you though, this tiny operation is a force to be reckoned with. 

Black Gate Apera Vatting. Not the most romantic name for a whisky release, perhaps, although it still tells us everything we need to know! This is a vatting of three different 100-litre Apera (Australian sherry-style fortified wine) casks. This single malt whisky is not to be confused with the defunct term 'vatted malt', now known as a blended malt, or a blend of malt whiskies from multiple distilleries. The three casks in this vatting were all distilled at Black Gate Distillery, so this is a single malt, as is proudly stated on the label. The casks were sourced from South Australia's McWilliams Winery, and were then re-coopered down to 100-litres capacity, which is becoming a more common cask size in Australia - thankfully many distilleries are moving away from the tiny 20-litre casks that have been a fixture in our nation's whisky for many years. Those tiny casks tend to give too much wood and cask influence in a very short period of time, and that generally happens before the whisky is actually mature. To give some perspective they're smaller than what the Scotch whisky industry calls a "blood tub", which are 30-40 litres, that are hardly ever used for that exact reason - and that's without the added aggression of Australia's more temperate and wildly variable climate. Another factor is the Australian whisky industry's propensity for first-fill fortified wine casks, typically Tawny (Australian port-style wine), meaning that a small cask that is thoroughly soaked with wine and is then filled "wet" without re-charring can easily result in a 'whisky' that is really just a mix of fortified wine and immature malted barley spirit. That's not always the case of course, there are exceptions, but it can and does happen on a regular basis. So a 100-litre cask is a much more balanced proposition that lets the spirit age for longer than the two-year minimum age for Australian whisky without becoming too wood-heavy, so it can actually mature while still receiving a large dose of cask influence compared to a full-size barrel (200L) or hogshead (225-250L) for example. 

Black Gate Distillery is a tiny husband & wife operation, owned & run by Brian & Genise Hollingworth, two of the nicest and most modest people in the Australian whisky industry. Founded in 2009, the distillery is located in the regional town of Mendooran, roughly four hour's drive north-west of Newcastle in central New South Wales. We're talking about massive temperature variances here, both between seasons - from over 40 degrees C in summer to below zero in winter, and also from day to night. Now you may have noticed that I've used the word "tiny" a couple of times here - and this really is a tiny operation. Black Gate has a capacity of around 4,000 litres of spirit per year, and that includes a 75/25 split of both malt whisky and aged rum. To put that capacity into perspective, if they were to use full-size 200-litre ex-bourbon casks, that would mean they were filling just 20 casks per year. For some more perspective, let's look at Islay's largest distillery, Diageo's Caol Ila - which is not actually all that large in comparison with some mainland distilleries - that has a capacity of around 6,000,000 litres of spirit per year. If we average that capacity out that's around 16,500 litres per day - meaning they could produce Black Gate's annual production in less than six hours! Even the smallest distillery in Scotland, Strathearn in Perthshire, produces around 10,000 litres per year. And that operation is often referred to as a micro-distillery. So at less than half of that amount, Black Gate definitely qualifies as one of those! I realise that I'm harping on about this one point, but there's one more fact to consider: the bottling that I'm reviewing today is the largest release that Black Gate have ever bottled. How large? A total of 634 bottles, and they're 500ml bottles to boot. I think you've gotten the point by now, so let's move on!

Another point about Black Gate that doesn't get enough attention is the fact that they use direct-fired stills. There are now two copper pot stills at the distillery, although the second is a more recent addition and its product hasn't hit the market yet, and both are heated by gas flame from directly underneath. To my knowledge there are only two Australian whisky brands available today that were distilled in direct-fired stills, being Black Gate and Tasmania's Belgrove Distillery. There are only a handful of direct-fired whisky distilleries in the world, and even in Scotland there are now only four distilleries left using direct-fire stills; Glenfarclas, Glenfiddich, Macallan and Springbank. Although in the latter two cases only the wash stills are direct-fired, with the spirit stills being heated by internal steam coils. Direct-firing necessitates a thicker base of the still to withstand the flame and also the much higher temperatures that can reach over 600 degrees Celsius. The belief is that direct heating produces a more flavoursome new make spirit, and the theory is that this is due to those higher temperatures and direct flame heating toasting or even lightly burning particles in the wash, giving a different flavour. If you ask me it's great to see some Australian distillers doing things differently to the norm (which is still the same basic distillery plan as set out by Bill & Lyn Lark decades ago), and major production differences like this need to be encouraged and embraced!

So, as mentioned, Black Gate Apera Vatting is a vatting or mix of three 100-litre apera casks, that were distilled between December 2015 and April 2016, cask numbers BG040, BG048 and BG049 which were then vatted together and allowed to marry before being bottled in August 2020. That puts it at a minimum age of four years, which is practically teenaged in Australian whisky terms. The three casks yielded a total of 634 x 500ml bottles, which is a little odd - 3 x 100-litre casks should yield a maximum of 600 x 500ml bottles without even a drop of evaporation or angel's share, so there must have been a serious amount of water added to bring it down to bottling strength from the cask strength. It was reduced to a bottling strength of 47% ABV and is non-chill filtered without any added colouring. The sample for this review came from Brisbane bottle shop Malt Traders, who featured this whisky in a recent Australian whisky tasting hosted by yours truly, so I couldn't resist asking for a take-home sample to review myself. This single malt is still available in Australia at the time of writing, both from Malt Traders and from Black Gate's own website, and it's quite reasonably priced to boot, even with the 500ml bottle taken into account. Let's see how it goes, shall we?

Black Gate Distillery Apera Vatting, 4-years old, 47% ABV. Mendooran, NSW, Australia.

Vatting of 3 x 100-litre Apera (Australian sherry) casks, filled between 12/2015 and 4/2016, bottled 8/2020. 634 x 500ml bottles. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. 

Colour: Copper. 

Nose: Buttery dark caramel, demerara sugar & rich, ripe stone fruit. Apricot, peach, plum and rum-soaked raisins. Verging on fruit jam in fact but it's not overly sweet or cloying. Some soft wood spice and a touch of unflavoured / natural bubble gum. 

Texture: Medium-heavy weight, oily & buttery. Balanced sweetness. No heat at all. 

Taste: Buttered burnt toast, with stone fruit jam and black pepper. Warm stewed stone fruit with a touch of burnt oats - probably the direct-fired still showing itself - and demerara sugar. Slight burnt coffee ground bitterness with a touch of black pepper. 

Finish: Medium length. More dark caramel and stewed stone fruit, melted butter and black pepper. Slightly astringent with rum-soaked raisins, roasted nuts and buttered burnt (lightly bitter) toast. 

Score: 3.5 out of 5. 

Notes: Very nice! This is a little lighter in character than most of the other Black Gate single malts that I've tasted, and that works in this whisky's favour without sacrificing any flavour. This Apera Vatting is almost middle-aged for an Australian whisky - although thankfully that situation is slowly changing - and the extra maturity shows in comparison with most of the competition. The combination of relatively large (for an Australian whisky) 100-litre casks, plus the longer ageing and a lower bottling strength than some - and it's perfectly chosen in this case - combined with Black Gate's assertive maturation thanks to the local climate have given us an excellent, flavoursome but easy drinking single malt. And unlike many hotter-climate whiskies this does not need water or extended breathing time to relax and show itself. But this Black Gate also doesn't suffer from the lack of texture & weight and/or lesser volume of flavour that often applies to most of the lighter Australian whiskies - i.e. those bottled at young ages and at 40-43% ABV. That burnt grain & buttered toast note from the direct-firing, plus the subtle rum-like influence (which could be suggestive, I suppose!) certainly add to that weight, and also give extra complexity by keeping the sweetness and wood influence in check. 

It's also good to see Apera casks getting a workout rather than the more commonly used Tawny (Port) casks that tend to be more dry and tannic, and also more aggressive and hard to manage. It had been a while since I last tasted a current release from Black Gate, and this whisky only shows that I need to do so more often. Well done to Brian & Genise, you guys are kicking plenty of goals and it's great to see!

Cheers!