Highwayman Batch 3.0 (Peated) Whisky Review!

It's here! The first peated release from Bryon Bay's Highwayman single malt whisky!

Since launching roughly two years ago in the midst of the pandemic, Byron Bay's Highwayman Australian whisky has gone from strength to strength. Each release sells out in record time, even the relatively large batches of 300-ish bottles, and since the first few batches which launched with the Australian Whisky Appreciation Society Facebook group, all sales have been directly through the Highwayman website, going straight to the man himself, Dan Woolley. Woolley has a huge & well-earned following in the Australian whisky scene since putting in a huge amount of air & road miles (hence the brand name "Highwayman") over a long career as Brand Ambassador for countless major brands, latterly and most famously Islay's Laphroaig. Since launching his own whisky brand in mid-2020, all of his releases (approx. 17 to date) have been unpeated, with the first ten batches distilled elsewhere, mainly in Tasmania, but all were fully matured in Dan's own casks in Byron Bay. See here for more information on those earlier releases. Distillation began at Byron Bay back in early-2018, and the first release of Dan's own Byron Bay-distilled spirit debuted in May 2021 with his first single cask release. But with a resume like Dan's, not to mention his insatiable thirst for peat, there has always been smoke on the Highwayman horizon. Now the first peated release is finally here! Highwayman Batch 3.0 is titled "Fires to Floods" to mark the truly disastrous flooding that hit northern New South Wales and southern Queensland in February-March 2022, not long before this whisky was bottled. Dan has also taken it upon himself to implement a huge fundraising effort for Northern Rivers Flood Relief, including a recent whisky auction and a number of Highwayman whisky tastings generously hosted by some of Australia's best whisky bars, with all proceeds going to said charity fund. It's a great cause. 

Mashing, fermenting and distilling for Highwayman happens at Lord Byron Distillery, run by Brian Restall and his family and located on a small industrial estate in Byron Bay in northern New South Wales, less than two hour's drive south of Brisbane. But don't take that to mean that Dan is just sitting back and letting Brian & his team do all of the work by contract distilling - far, far from it! All Highwayman production takes place in Dan's own equipment including the mash tun and the copper pot still itself, both of which are only used for Highwayman whisky since Lord Byron produce their products - chiefly rum, gin & vodka - on separate equipment. Dan is also heavily involved in every step of the process from the mashing to the spirit cuts, and if you take a few steps to the left from Lord Byron Distillery and literally enter the next door in the complex you'll find Highwayman "HQ", which is Dan's bond store and cellar door. This thoughtfully designed and thoroughly decked out unit is open by appointment only, and the group tasting sessions and one-on-one masterclasses, all run by Dan himself, are highly recommended! As it happens, visiting the bond store & cellar door for one of these experiences will also give you the chance to buy some of the sold out releases from Dan's archive that are now only available from the cellar door. 

Highwayman's peated releases - and there are many more in the pipeline - are denoted by a change of artwork, from the sand/beige & black colour scheme in the unpeated releases to the red & black colour scheme in the peated releases - which looks awesome! So far the mash bill for the majority of the peated Byron Bay-distilled spirit has been 2/3rds peated Scottish barley and 1/3rd local unpeated barley sourced from NSW, fermented for over two weeks and double-distilled in Dan's own copper pot still, then - importantly for Byron Bay's temperate climate - slowly diluted from still strength to 55% ABV before being filled into casks. This crucial step, coupled with the sub-tropical climate and some smaller cask sizes, helps the whisky soften and come of age in a shorter amount of time than it would otherwise, and if you ask me it's something that more Australian producers should be looking at or at least experimenting with to help counteract our aggressive climate. In many cases Dan is also charring, re-charring and/or re-seasoning casks prior to filling them with his spirit, rather than the "wet fill" casks that many of our whisky producers use where the casks are simply emptied of their previous contents and are immediately filled with new make spirit, which tends to result in the spirit being flooded with the "in drink", which is the previous contents that has soaked into the wood and is drawn into the spirit as it matures.  

Speaking of casks, Highwayman Batch 3.0 "Fires to Floods" is a vatting of peated and unpeated whisky, all distilled & matured in Byron Bay, with the peated components being distilled from 50 ppm Scottish peated barley and the unpeated components being distilled from local NSW (Australian) unpeated barley. This single malt whisky is from a mix of different cask types including Pedro Ximinez sherry, tawny (Australian port), red wine and bourbon casks, with the youngest component being 2-years old , which is the minimum age for Australian whisky, and the oldest being 3.5-years old. The total outturn was 320 x 500ml bottles at a natural cask strength of 53.9% ABV. Remember the 55% ABV filling strength mentioned above, so this release is one of the first to actually drop in ABV during maturation, albeit only slightly. Let's see what we're in for!

Colour: Dark bronze. 

Nose: Rich, dense & complex. Earthy, with soft dry peat and dried mushrooms - umami then, but also leaning towards rancio. Black cherry syrup with couple of freeze-dried raspberries thrown in. Some thick balsamic vinegar / balsamic glaze, Turkish delight coated in dark chocolate, and blow-torched coconut shavings. Dried herbs behind that - sage? - with some treacle coming through as it breathes. 

Texture: Heavy weight, thick & syrupy. Earthy, sweet & sour (lifting acidity). No heat at all. 

Taste: Big syrupy arrival with that earthy dried mushroom (umami) and a lovely soft, subtle peatiness underneath it. Cherry cola syrup, with the two freeze-dried raspberries thrown in again, and that balsamic glaze adding a nice subtle acidity. Leathery / dried tobacco hints doing the same. 

Finish: Long length. Dried herbs coming back through, touch of strong syrupy coffee (think bittersweet Turkish coffee) and that balsamic glaze adding depth. Soft earthy peat running underneath the black cherry cola syrup, with a hint of those burnt coconut shavings to round things out.

Score: 4 out of 5. 

Notes: Lovely big, rich whisky that completely belies its age. It's right on the balance of heavy cask influence, but with some intriguing savoury & acidic notes adding depth & complexity. Really enjoy that balsamic acidity in particular which is something that I've found in a couple of Highwayman releases so far, and it helps to balance out the wood influence and keep the taste buds interested. The peat is relatively subtle, I'd equate it to a Benromach or maybe Ardmore level in this case, but with a different style and character of peat influence. So the peat-averse should have no issues here since the peat is very well integrated, in a light & earthy style, but it's certainly there, holding up against some big assertive cask influence. Those earthy, savoury notes are intriguing as well, I'm guessing they're partly due to the peat being so well integrated in the finished whisky and also working with the casks, rather than fighting against them and potentially losing - which is often the case with peat vs. assertive sherry / wine casks, even with much more heavily peated whiskies. 

It's great to see Highwayman's first peated release finally bust through the warehouse doors and hit the virtual shelves, although like most of Dan's releases it's already sold out - but as I mentioned above, if you're heading to Byron Bay NSW anytime soon, make sure you book in here for one of Dan's masterclasses, which will also get you access to his stash of "archive" bottles if you time it right - and if you can convince him to sell you one! As always, I can't wait to see what Dan comes up with next. There are some epic and "out there" Highwayman releases in the works, so stay tuned!

Cheers.