Diemen's Rising Australian Whisky Review!

No, this is not another new Australian distillery! But it is a new Australian whisky, technically a blended malt since two single malts have been blended together, although there's a fair amount of serendipity beneath that classification. Read on!

Diemen's Rising is the latest venture from both Dan Woolley's Highwayman Whisky based in tourism hot spot Byron Bay, NSW, and Matt Parkin's AOB (Art of Booze) Distillery, based in Mullumbimby, a much smaller town around 20km north. Serendipitous point number one, Mullumbimby is Woolley's hometown, and Parkin actually lives in the house next door! Hordes of self-titled "influencers" have made me hate the word 'collaboration' since they like to condescendingly use it as a substitute for "advertising" or "paid promotion", but we actually do have two parties working together here, which is rather unusual in the Australian whisky industry. Blended Australian whiskies are few & far between, with most distilleries focussing on their own single malts, while only a couple of companies and/or independent bottlers have looked at blended malts and/or blended whiskies. "House of Lark" with their blended malt and Starward Distillery's two-fold are at the low end of this market, while Heartwood is at the higher end - and deservedly so. With this new Diemen's Rising product, the first release - simply titled 001 - was released on the 9th of January, with the second - 002 - releasing on Monday the 30th of January at a price of $249 AUD. Crucially they're both in 700ml bottles, which is an unusual thing for the smaller Australian producers. As you can see from the photos below, the bottle design is very unique, something like the love child of a gothic tiki mug and a hand grenade!

I've written plenty about Woolley's Highwayman Whisky (he continues to resist my ingenious suggestion of rebranding to "Woolley's Whisky Wonderland") before, but AOB Distillery is probably a new one for even the most devout of Australian whisky followers. That's likely because gin was and is their mainstay like many Australian distilleries, but they've recently taken their first step into the whisky realm. Art of Booze actually pre-dates Highwayman, being founded in Brisbane back in 2017 by mates Matt Parkin and Pete Jaffe. Like Highwayman their initial releases were distilled elsewhere, in this case at Adam's Distillery in Perth, Tasmania (not Western Australia), which is around 2.5-hours north of Hobart. Which brings us to serendipitous point number two; the two whiskies in this blended malt were actually made in the same equipment! The mash tun and pot still that were responsible for the AOB components of this whisky started life at Adam's Distillery, but in 2018 they were sold to Dan Woolley who had them shipped up to Byron Bay's Lord Byron Distillery to start distilling his own spirit for Highwayman. Lord Byron is literally next door to the bond store & cellar door that is known as 'Highwayman HQ', and all Highwayman releases since batch ten have been wholly produced in Dan's mash tun and pot still. So the two malt whiskies in this blended malt were mashed in the same mash tun and distilled in the same pot still while located at two different distilleries over 2000km apart, latterly in NSW but formerly in Tasmania. As for the name, the colonial name for the state of Tasmania was Van Diemen's Land, named after the Governor who sent explorer Abel Tasman on his exploratory journey in the 1600s. So 'Diemen's Rising' refers to the Tasmanian origins for a) the AOB spirit and b) the Highwayman equipment, with the 'Rising' referring to the 2000km trip north to NSW. 

This malt whisky has had a ridiculously complex upbringing. The AOB component in this whisky was contract distilled in 2016/2017 at Adam's Distillery in Tasmania, and was matured there in various cask types for a few years before being transported to Mullumbimby NSW. In 2021 this whisky was vatted together and filled into botrytis sweet wine casks. In 2022 those sweet wine casks were again vatted together and combined with two Highwayman ex-apera (Australian sherry) casks of 2-year old peated single malt. But that's not all, folks. This blended / vatted malt was then split into three parts, with some going into mead (basically honey wine) casks, and some going into rum casks, and some going into maple syrup casks (yes, really). The mead and rum cask components were then married together and released as Diemen's Rising 001, while the maple syrup cask component will be released as Diemen's Rising 002 on the 30th of January. Some of this blended malt has been matured in more than four different cask types, with an overall minimum age of over 2-years (being the legal minimum for Australian whisky) and a maximum age of 6-years. Both releases were bottled at 57.8% ABV, and are non-chill filtered and natural colour.

We're obviously going to be looking at big sugar and big cask influence here. Neither a mead cask nor a maple syrup cask would be permitted in Scotch whisky production, and frankly, not being a fan of overly sweet whisky, on paper the cask treatment here does make me a little nervous. While some distilleries are moving away from it now, and a couple of exceptions have kept away from it since day one, on the whole the Australian whisky "style" still leans heavily on wood influence, often to an extreme extent. Not necessarily oak or even barrels mind you, since only "wooden vessels" is specified in our extremely loose whisky regulations, while previous contents are not specified at all. This gives our whisky producers a massive amount of room to play around with casks that have held just about anything, in some cases giving results that many would consider unsavoury (yes, pun intended), particularly compared to what Scotch whisky drinkers expect. Sadly this also means that in many cases barely any attention is given to the wash or the spirit as points of differentiation, particularly from those who don't brew their own wash. But we're getting off topic here, and it doesn't apply to this whisky anyway. Neither Adam's Distillery nor Highwayman / Lord Byron take that shortcut, both brew their own wash on site. Plus it's hard to deny that this cask-reliant approach constitutes a large part of what has made Australian whisky successful, and has probably helped bring new whisky drinkers on-board by appealing to their sweet tooths. That said, both of the tiny teams responsible for Diemen's Rising have plenty of experience under their belt and certainly know what they're doing, so I should know better. Plus the peated Highwayman whisky in these vattings should help to balance out the cask sweetness. Let's find out, shall we?

Diemen's Rising 001, NAS, Blended Malt. 57.8%. Tasmania & NSW, Australia.

Adam's Distillery Tasmanian single malt and peated Highwayman single malt from Byron Bay NSW. Adam's spirit matured in multiple cask types then vatted together into sweet wine casks, then married with peated Highwayman apera casks, then filled into both mead (honey wine) and rum casks. Non-chill filtered, natural colour.

Colour: Dark copper. 

Nose: Sweet & rich, but not overly honeyed or overly sweet. Phew! Still has the Adam's spirit DNA to it as well. There's a good amount of wood smoke, even herbal smoke (e.g. burning heather), definitely honey from those mead casks but it's surprisingly measured - thankfully. Black cherry bubble gum, juicy toasted oak, burnt orange peel. Earthy & muddy milk baking chocolate notes behind - there's that Adam's DNA, no amount of casks can seemingly hide it!  

Texture: Heavy weight. Rich, spicy, thick & syrupy. Slight heat but very well integrated. 

Taste: Spicy, with plenty of drying cinnamon, and whole peppercorns. Stewed stone fruit, roasted peanuts. Smoke is far more subtle here, barely detectable. More of an earthy tobacco note with a touch of that muddy milk baking chocolate. 

Finish: Medium length. More bubble gum, with an almost plasticky fruitiness. Juicy oak, earthy muddy notes, and drying spices. The herbal note shows through briefly with more black cherry & roasted peanut. 

Score: 3.5 out of 5. 

Notes: A little bit mad! Nowhere near as mad as I'd expected, though. Nowhere near as sweet as I'd feared either - like I said, I should've known better, these guys know what they're doing! This is still a very cask-driven whisky though, make no mistake, and there's still plenty of sweetness. But within that realm it's actually quite a balanced whisky. Lovely smoke on the nose as well, which sadly doesn't make it through to the palate - the casks are just too strong for that, or there were just too many of them I suppose. That said, it still has the earthy, muddy, baking chocolate notes that I get in every Adam's whisky I've ever tried - that calling card seems to withstand any type of cask or level of cask influence. Honestly I can't say I'm particularly fond of those notes, but thankfully it's milder here than in some of the other examples I've tried. Despite my doubts given that ridiculously long & complicated list of casks, this is certainly a well-made whisky!

Diemen's Rising 002, NAS, Blended Malt, 57.8%. Tasmania & NSW, Australia.

Same as above but after marrying filled into ex-maple syrup casks. Non-chill filtered, natural colour.

Colour: Dark copper, almost identical, a noticeable haze to this one though.

Nose: Sweet, salty, oaky. Salted honey, plum sauce, that bubble gum note again but it's more tropical here. Thick salty maple syrup. Touch of spearmint around the edges. 

Texture: Medium weight. Rich, salty, oaky. Starts out quite dry then sweetens quickly. No heat at all.

Taste: Spicy dry oak initially, then a big whack of chilli salt. Sweetening then with plum sauce, salted honey, and fruit roll-ups / fruit straps. That earthy, muddy, milk baking chocolate note again. 

Finish: Medium length. Salty again, slightly greasy / fatty, with a subtle touch of smoke behind that. Bubble gum again with maple syrup, ground black pepper, and drying oak to finish. 

Score: 3 out of 5. 

Notes: Again, pretty crazy! This one doesn't have the weight or complexity of 001, or that smokiness either. 002 is really quite salty though, which is a surprise. There are definitely parallels between both batches, as you'd expect, and both have those bubble gum notes and also the Adam's muddy/earthy calling card. 002 is certainly cask-forward and there's no doubting the influence of the maple syrup cask, in fact it's much more prominent than the mead & rum casks were in 001. But again it's not as sweet as I'd feared. I'd have to give the win to 001, with it's extra weight and extra complexity, but both releases are anything but boring!

It's great to see another Australian blended malt come onto the market, and it's great to see more Australian distilleries working together rather than against each other, and looking at the bigger picture. We'll keep seeing these from the likes of Heartwood of course, while Fleurieu & Black Gate have teamed up a few times now with great results. But I'd say we'll also see some more low-end blends come in in the near future, particularly with the current & continuing financial pressure that people are under. In a way, that's a sign that the Australian whisky industry is maturing. Which - provided it's done right and without shortcuts or misleading labelling - should be a good thing. 

Thanks to Mr. Highwayman, a.k.a. Dan Woolley, for the samples for these reviews!

Cheers!

Kavalan Solist Oloroso Sherry Whisky Review!

It's been years since I last tasted a Kavalan of any description. The last couple of Solist bottlings that I tried didn't quite float my boat, but they're considerably older these days, so this more recent bottling could change that.    

Solist is the name given to Kavalan's cask strength single cask bottlings - and no, it's not "Soloist", which would make more sense in English and is a common mistake among reviews & retail listings. There are a huge number of cask variants in the Solist series, including bourbon, wine, sherry and port casks, plus many more in their higher-level ranges with their wooden boxes. And there have been hundreds of casks released since their initial launch, which in Australia was circa 2014-2015 if my memory serves me. I last reviewed one of these back in late 2015, around the time that the Solist Vinho Barrique (wine cask) was given the "world's best single malt" award at the World Whiskies Awards. Remember though, just like the Sullivan's Cove French Oak bottling that won the same award in 2014, these are single cask bottlings and each cask varies in almost every way. It's hard to deny the "halo effect" that these awards have though, even when the single cask bottling is not available for sale, or when the release that wins the award is already sold out. Regardless, largely thanks to a touch of ignorance from the public to the world's press shouting it from the rooftops, one of these awards can even change the landscape of a nation's whisky industry. That single cask of Sullivan's Cove did for Tasmanian whisky in 2014, and like the 2013 Yamazaki Sherry Cask did for Japanese whisky in 2015 thanks to the infamous man in the hat, and yes, note that the award was given two years after the bottle was released. As for Taiwan's Kavalan, there was a little hype surrounding the winning wine cask variant at the time, but it doesn't seem to have given Taiwanese whisky the massive boost that it has for some other winners over the years. In this case, the "halo effect" was shorter lived, and there was only a spike in popularity and demand, rather than a massive and continually growing cult following or widespread popularity outside of the hardcore whisky enthusiasts. But that's basically ancient history now, and Kavalan has since gained a small cult following on its own by producing quality whisky, which is more important anyway! 

Kavalan Distillery is owned by Taiwanese food & beverage conglomerate King Car Group, and the name Kavalan means "flat land people" in an ancient local dialect, which was the original name for the region now known as Yilan County. The distillery is around an hour's drive south of Taiwan's capital city, Taipei. The distillery was founded in 2005, and like many newer distilleries it was helped along by the late Dr. Jim Swan, who has consulted on & helped establish many "new world" distilleries such as India's Amrut, Wales' Penderyn, England's Cotswolds, and Israel's Milk & Honey, and also smaller Scotch whisky distilleries such as Kilchoman, Lindores Abbey, Annandale, Kingsbarns and Clydeside. Dr. Swan was a master at taking advantage of local conditions and setting up a distillery to produce high quality spirit at younger ages, something that those distilleries do very well. Dr. Swan and his team helped get many of the "new world" whisky distilleries noticed through the quality of their product, and he really helped the entire whisky industry rediscover that older does not necessarily mean better, and that age is just a number. He & his team were instrumental in helping these distilleries select and source equipment, ingredients and casks, plus tailoring fermentation and distillation regimens, and also wood management including pioneering the "STR" (shaved, toasted and re-charred ex-wine barrels) cask treatments that are now commonplace in the whisky industry. As it happens, that award-winning Vinho Barrique bottling of Kavalan Solist that we talked about above is matured in STR wine casks. 

In Kavalan's case, those local conditions are obviously playing a massive part in the final character of their whisky. Sub-tropical heat & humidity affects just about every part of the production process, but particularly maturation. Taiwan is a massive whisky market in terms of both volume and dollar value, and they certainly like their cask influence - the darker and sweeter the better, it seems. Most of the "traditional" sherry cask Scotch whisky distilleries, e.g. Glendronach and Macallan, now release Taiwanese exclusive whiskies, and they're almost always first-fill sherry casks. Kavalan Solist Oloroso Sherry Cask that we're looking at today, as you can tell from the photo below, is no exception. Kavalan whiskies do not carry age statements, but in the case of the Solist series of single casks the date of distillation is easy to work out from the cask number - they're not easy to read on these white labels, though! In this particular bottlings' case the cask number is S100129021B, and the first six digits give us the year, month and date of distillation - 29/01/2010 for this cask, and the bottling date is printed on the label - 31/12/2020 in this case. So this whisky is just under 10-years old. But as you can tell - and no E150a is added to the Solist series - the cask has definitely been busy over those nine years in the sub-tropical Taiwanese climate. Cask strength in this case is 58.6% ABV, and these Solist bottlings are not chill filtered. Pricing in Australia ranges from $200 AUD for an ex-bourbon cask to $300 for an ex-sherry cask like this one, while the fancier versions in their wooden boxes start at over $500. Sherry town, here we come!

Kavalan Solist Oloroso Sherry Cask, NAS, 58.6%. Taiwan. 

Cask number S100129021B, distilled 29/01/2010, fully matured in a single Oloroso sherry cask, bottled 31/12/2020 (9-years old). Non-chill filtered, natural colour. 

Colour: Very dark red. 

Nose: Sweet, woody & a little nippy / spiky. Milk chocolate, orange liqueur, wood spices & brown sugar. Black cherry & raisin, nutty oak. Oily varnish, touch of acetone, coffee grounds & date syrup. 

Texture: Medium weight. Spicy & lightly astringent (tannic) start, then syrupy sweet. Slight heat but well hidden. 

Taste: Dried fruit - raisin, plum, orange, and date syrup again. Black cherry jam, touch of vanilla cream, freshly sawn wood. Touches of varnish and acetone again. Plum pudding (Christmas pudding) and more hazelnut. 

Finish: Long length. Cola syrup and brown sugar caramel, fresh wood, dark chocolate and big pinches of drying wood spices (cinnamon, sandalwood). Lightly earthy then - mushrooms & coffee grounds. Raisins, dates & black cherry jam again. Plum pudding / Christmas pudding with some dark rum. 

Score: 3.5 out of 5. 

Notes: Supercharged sherry bomb, as expected. But there's still a good amount of character, particularly for nine years of age, in a fresh sherry cask, in a hot climate. I would guess that this was a 500-litre sherry butt for that reason, although I could be wrong, since it hasn't been completely overwhelmed by the wood - very close to it, though! Obviously this whisky doesn't have the luxury of slower maturation over decades in a sherry cask, or it would be a tannic wood monster - if it hadn't completely evaporated before it had the chance. This certainly quite a clean sherry cask too, with only a slight earthiness on the finish which is more than welcome at that point, and there's less actual wood influence here & little tannin compared to many other hot climate whiskies - thanks to larger format casks, no doubt. 

Obviously you're going to need to love sweet, and you're going to need to love sherry. But if you do, this Kavalan Solist will be right up your alley. I should add, I tend to find the ex-bourbon cask Solist to be the sweetest of them all, to the point where I haven't enjoyed the couple of examples that I've tried, reminding me more of a bourbon liqueur than an ex-bourbon cask malt whisky. So the spice & dried fruit notes in this Oloroso version are helping there. 

Cheers!

Ledaig 13 Rum Finish Whisky Review!

A rum cask finished Ledaig? Haven't seen that before, you say? Well neither had I! This must be some obscure independent bottling then, right? Wrong! 

It is a distillery exclusive bottling, admittedly. But don't be too disheartened, you don't actually need to make the trek to Mull to get your hands on it. Unlike many, Tobermory Distillery will gladly ship most of its exclusive bottlings internationally. Their online store was even offering free international shipping recently, an offer that I've never seen from any other Scottish operation, and a saving of around $75-80 AUD for those of us down under. So I had to jump at the chance to get my hands on one of these, among some other little gems of course! That amazing offer has since ended, but it's still well worth checking their website periodically for these special bottlings. Yes you'll need to pay customs their usual extortionate amount of money to get your bottle/s into Australia, but again, for unique bottlings like this it's well worth it. Even more so if you live somewhere where this isn't a greedy draconian government trying to rob you at every turn when you dare to buy alcohol. At the time of writing there are a number of releases available in both unpeated Tobermory guise and peated Ledaig guise, and this rum cask finished Ledaig is still available, as is an Amarone sweet wine cask finish and a virgin oak cask finish, not to mention the Tobermory offerings - the 17-year old Madeira cask finish is highly recommended! For what it's worth the same applies to the other two single malt distilleries in distillery owner Distell's portfolio; Islay's Bunnahabhain and the underrated Deanston located north of Stirling in the Highlands. The former is even selling Feis Ile Islay Festival releases on their website, and they've begun distributing them to some international markets in small quantities when they've previously been exclusive to the distillery shop during the festival. Keep these coming please Distell!

The only other rum cask finish Ledaig I'm aware of was a single cask bottling from the maverick independent bottlers Murray McDavid, and I don't believe the distillery has ever dabbled in rum casks for their official bottlings under either the Tobermory or Ledaig labels. Other island distilleries such as Kilchoman and Bruichladdich have played with rum casks in the past, as has Ardbeg with the Drum Feis Ile bottling for 2018 and Talisker with their Special Release for 2020. They're also a semi-regular feature from Campbeltown's Springbank and Glen Scotia, which seems to work very well. But overall rum casks are still a reasonably uncommon thing in whisky, particularly among official bottlings. Which is a bit of a shame if you ask me, because when it's done well the results can be excellent. I do hope Laphroaig have some rum casks in their warehouses, because something tells me that could work very well. Fingers crossed. 

On to the whisky at hand! This is a 13-year old Ledaig that was matured initially in refill bourbon casks and then finished in first-fill rum casks for three years. There's no word on where said casks came from or on the style of rum that they held, but that's a common thing with rum casks. While I don't know the exact reason in this case, it's often because the provenance can't be traced back to the original producers. This distillery exclusive Ledaig was bottled at a cask strength of 54.0%, and naturally it's non-chill filtered and natural colour. This isn't a single cask bottling, but there's no word on how many bottles were released. Never mind all that, let's get into it!

Ledaig 13-year old Rum Cask Finish, 54.0%. Tobermory, Scotland.

Distilled 2009, aged in ex-bourbon casks then finished in ex-rum casks for 3-years. Distillery exclusive. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. 

Colour: Medium gold. 

Nose: Peaty & dirty, as any Ledaig should be! Big, oily, muddy, dank peat. Aniseed, salt-laden seaweed, slight whiff of petrol. Sweet shellfish (crab meat?), leafy green herbs, spearmint, and a damp minerality, like volcanic rockpools at low tide. Sharp lime juice, maybe even finger limes. Overripe banana, some dried mango, and caramel tart - thick sweet caramel with sweet buttery pastry. 

Texture: Medium weight. Oily, sweet, peaty & tarry. No heat at all. 

Taste: Sweet buttery caramel sauce, aniseed, cinnamon & clove spice, leafy herbs, and spearmint again. That dank, oily, tarry peatiness running underneath. Touch of sweet freeze-dried berries, hint of petrol, and sharp lime juice heading into the finish. 

Finish: Long length. Sharp zesty lime juice carries through, and the big oily, dank peat comes back to the fore. Buttery caramel sauce, overripe banana, touch of dried berries, and sweet pastry. Zesty lime (maybe finger limes), tarry oiliness, and rocky minerality singing ring through to the end. 

Score: 4 out of 5. 

Notes: Yet another great Ledaig, and a far better showing for their first rum cask release than a certain famous Islay distillery managed back in 2018. The rum cask influence here is more subtle, more supportive and more integrated. The interesting point there is that Mr. Brendan McCarron was formerly at said famous distillery, which shall remain nameless, before becoming Master Distiller for Distell's three single malt Scotch whisky distilleries. While these rum casks obviously would've already been filled before he came on board, he would've been heavily involved in the final vatting, if not entirely responsible for it. He's certainly doing a great job with Tobermory, Deanston and Bunnahabhain, alongside the distillery teams of course. All three are going from strength to strength now!

If you'd asked me twenty minutes ago to name my ideal cask type for Ledaig, I'd probably go with the tried & true first-fill or Oloroso sherry. But the sweet caramel, subtle tropical fruit & herbal notes from the rum casks have worked beautifully with the dank, muddy, oily, tarry & peaty Ledaig goodness. I think we need more rum casks please Tobermory! In fact I'll extend that to all of the peated and/or coastal or island malt distilleries out there. When it's done well, like it has been here, it's a winning recipe. 

Cheers!

Octomore 13.1 & 13.2 Whisky Reviews!

"The Impossible Equation" continues. Yes, the same old "they told us it couldn't be done, but we did it anyway" tale. But they've actually done some things differently with lucky number thirteen...

Warning, controversial statement ahead. Here it is: Octomore has been steadily losing to Port Charlotte since the ninth series of the former was released back in 2018. The latter underwent a full rebrand around the same time, adding to the impact of a new permanent 10-year old core range bottling and an annual Islay Barley release, both bottled at 50% ABV. When it comes to value between these two brands of peated Bruichladdich, there's no comparison. One is still more "sexy", more heavily marketed in its opaque bottles, while the other is quieter and more discrete, albeit much louder than it was prior to that much-needed rebranding. The Octomore 8-series was a stand-out, setting the bar high without any "filler", and the subsequent series' have had significant low points and fewer high points (10.2 and maybe 12.3 being the exceptions if you ask me) in comparison. I myself, like many I suspect, became afflicted with Octomore fatigue around the 10-series. Yes the controversial ppm figures (see here for more detail) that Octomore marketing relies on have dropped significantly, but they're still big numbers, it's not that change alone. More importantly the whisky itself has become significantly less peaty and considerably softer, to the point where I'd say Octomore has changed in style, and that change has narrowed the gap between the two brands. Don't get me wrong, Octomore is absolutely still good whisky, it's still a Bruichladdich product after all. Put the torches & pitchforks away! The asking prices have continued to rise with each batch released, and in Australia you'll struggle to find a _.1 Octomore for less than $250 (approx. $170 USD) and a _.3 for less than $320 (approx. $220 USD). They're far from the worst offenders when it comes to recent price increases, but that's a lot of money for what is still (mostly) a 5-year old whisky. 

But let's step away from pricing for now. The 13-series has seen a few interesting departures from the Octomore recipe, which was generally a 5-year old ex-bourbon _.1, a wine cask influenced travel exclusive _.2, an ex-bourbon and/or ex-wine Islay barley _.3, and either a bonkers virgin oak _.4 or a 10-year old as the fourth bottling. I suppose they've still kept to that broader recipe, but there are some interesting points of difference in the 13-series. Firstly, Octomore 13.1 has been matured in two different lots of first-fill ex-bourbon casks, i.e. it was double-matured in the same cask type. It was matured in first-fill bourbon casks for four years, and then finished in another lot of first-fill ex-bourbon casks for the fifth & final year of maturation. To my knowledge this is the first time we've seen this in an Octomore, and it's quite a rare practice in Scotch whisky generally, especially in one so young. Secondly, Octomore 13.2 has been fully matured in ex-sherry casks of the Oloroso variety. To my recollection this is the first time we've seen 100% sherry maturation in any general release Octomore, i.e. not a Feis Ile release like Event Horizon or Discovery. Thirdly, the Islay barley 13.3 has been matured in a combination of first-fill ex-bourbon casks, second-fill Rivesaltes (French fortified wine) casks, and second-fill Ribera Del Duero (Spanish red wine) casks. It's far from the first time a _.3 Octomore has seen some wine cask influence, in fact most of them do. But this is the first time first-fill bourbon casks have been combined with two different types of second-fill European oak wine casks, plus all components were fully-matured and married together, rather than merely being finished. Lastly, there is no fourth release in the 13-series, at least at time time of writing, and the previous 10-year old release from the 12-series was only available from the distillery shop. Maybe the older stocks of Octomore are drying up, or they're being held back for an older release in future.

Released overseas in mid-late 2022, the Octomore 13-series is yet to be released in Australia, but it isn't far away. We don't know local pricing or availability yet, but based on the pricing direct from the distillery shop for 13.1, 13.2, and 13.3; which were £135, £150, and a whopping £190 respectively, it's safe to say that there'll be another increase when they do hit the shelves here. Whoops, I'm talking about pricing again! **Edit: I was right, unfortunately, in fact it's even worse than I expected. 13.1 is now $300, 13.3 is a ridiculous $400, and 13.2 hasn't even appeared yet but it'll be close to the .3. Sad times. ** The two Octomores that I'm reviewing here came from a sample swap with a generous fellow whisky geek, who imported the bottles from Europe. Both 13.1 and 13.2 were distilled from the same batch of barley in the same year, peated to 137.3 ppm (that extra 0.3 parts per million makes all the difference). To recap, 13.1 was double-matured in two lots of first-fill bourbon casks, and 13.2 was fully matured in first-fill Oloroso sherry casks. Which meant I couldn't help but compare the two! We'll go with the double ex-bourbon cask 13.1 first.  

Octomore 13.1, 5-years old, 59.2%. Islay, Scotland.

Distilled from Scottish barley peated to 137.3 ppm (mainland peat), matured in first-fill ex-bourbon casks for approx. 4-years, then finished in a second lot of first-fill ex-bourbon casks for the fifth year. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. 

Colour: Pale gold. 

Nose: Peaty, spicy, herbal/floral. Big chunky earthy peat, aniseed, and burning heather. Then creamy vanilla, sweet fruit - white melon, brown-skinned pear, fresh cut grass. Hot asphalt, new (i.e. clean & dry) rope, and a touch of clean rubber. Honeyed malted barley and almond meal in behind. 

Texture: Medium weight. Oily. Massive peat, wood smoke, and sweetness. Very slight heat. 

Taste: Big chunky, earthy peat & thick smoke. Eventually fades into creamy vanilla, honeyed malted barley, and that sweet white melon & brown-skinned pear. More aniseed & almond meal in the background. 

Finish: Long length. Marker pen, almond meal, sweet fresh oak & aniseed. The big earthy peat & thick smoke running underneath the entire time. More burning heather, and honeyed malted barley to finish. 

Score: 4 out of 5. 

Notes: Just as tasty as ever really, but a step up from 11.1 & 12.1 if memory serves. It's less aggressive than the earlier versions, maybe with a touch more complexity. There's also more smoke than I remember in the earlier stuff, which were focussed almost entirely on peat rather than smoke. The oak influence has been kept in check by that big peaty, oily spirit, and despite the extra cask involvement I can't say that I find it much more woody, oaky or vanilla-led than other recent _.1 Octomores. It's a curious move to put this batch through a second lot of first-fill bourbon casks. Maybe the first lot of casks were a little lazy? Whatever the case, the final product is a winner!

Now the one we've all been waiting for; the first general release official bottling of Octomore to be fully matured in sherry casks! Specifically, 100% first-fill Oloroso sherry butts (500-litres) from Fernando de Castilla in Jerez, Spain. The distillery has stated that all of these casks were matured in the old dunnage warehouses in the village of Port Charlotte, a couple of miles down the road from the distillery. Full maturation in first-fill sherry casks might have you thinking "sherry bomb", but this is still a young 5-year old whisky, and those casks were big butts (tee-hee) that have been used for actual sherry maturation rather than being short-term seasoned. So I'd say the sherry influence will be measured. Time to find out!

Octomore 13.2, 5-years old, 58.3%. Islay, Scotland.

Distilled from Scottish barley peated to 137.3 ppm (mainland peat), matured in first-fill Oloroso sherry butts. Non-chill filtered, natural colour.

Colour: Amber. 

Nose: Surprisingly dirty & funky! Loads of rancio character, and heading into sulphur territory. A slightly weird sweaty sourness around the edges too. Roasted nuts, gamey cured pork (charcuterie), and rubber. Balsamic vinegar over dried strawberries. Raisins, orange rind, and fatty, salty smoked bacon. Honeycomb (cinder toffee to the Brits). Touch of brine & gentle peat smoke in the background. 

Texture: Medium weight. Syrupy, sweet & sour, rancio. Slight flatness on the mid-palate (see notes). No heat. 

Taste: Dried orange, plenty of roasted nuts again, more fatty, salty smoked bacon. Thick, acrid, dirty smoke, almost burnt rubber or plastic. Leather. Touch of bitter coffee. Walnut brittle. 

Finish: Medium length. Balsamic vinegar over dried berries again. Black pepper, leather, thick acrid peat smoke, touch of rubber, and more roasted nuts. Brown sugar, tobacco, and orange rind. 

Score: 3.5 out of 5. But only just.

Notes: Well that's quite the surprise! This is a totally different whisky to what I expected, with much more dirty, rancio, funky character. That does happen with these ex-bodega / ex-solera Oloroso casks, they're often not as clean as short term sherry seasoned casks. 13.2 does also have a whiff of sulphur to it, including the slight flat spot in flavour & texture on the mid-palate that I often find with sulphured whiskies. As in you're expecting a flavour lift or curve mid-way through the palate (Ralfy would say, "the development"), but there's either a lag before it arrives, or it just flatlines. Hopefully that makes sense! That sweaty sourness on the nose is a challenge as well, but thankfully it fades with breathing time, and doesn't carry through to the palate. 

I can see this Octomore being a little divisive. It's a world away from the ex-bourbon iterations, and I can't recall getting this much rancio character in an Octomore before. Or this much dirtiness, for that matter. I don't think there's enough sulphur here to put anyone off completely, but it may come as a surprise like it did for me. Then again, maybe this scenario of going straight from 13.1 to 13.2 (with a short break & water in between) has amplified that dirty difference. Still, a fascinating, challenging, weird whisky that calls for more exploration!

Cheers!

SMWS R13.2 Caroni Rum Review!

My first review of 2023, and it's not even a whisky! Why am I reviewing a rum on Peated Perfection? Well, firstly because it's delicious, but there are two other reasons. I'm sure we're all tired of hearing the words "...it's a whisky drinker's X" following any 'malternative' spirit reviews these days, but I might have to use the phrase myself this time!

Image from french-connections.whisky.fr (LMDW).

Firstly, this is not just any rum. This is the rum equivalent of something like a Brora or Port Ellen, or perhaps more accurately like a Convalmore, since this distillery will never be rebuilt or reopened. This is a Caroni rum from the now-legendary dead distillery which was located on the small Caribbean island of Trinidad and Tobago from 1923-2002. Just like Port Ellen, Convalmore and many others, Caroni was underappreciated while it was operating, and the cult status that it now enjoys began after its death twenty years ago. The second reason for this rum review is that this is a 22-year old single cask Caroni from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS), only the second cask that they've bottled from the distillery, hence the code R13.2. The "R" denotes that it's a rum rather than a malt whisky, with R13 representing the 13th rum distillery the SMWS bottled - which is Caroni - and the .2 meaning this is their second cask of Caroni. This is one of two rum bottlings that I've tried from the SMWS, and the other was everything that I don't want and don't like in a rum. I'm no rum connoisseur mind you, but frankly I'd liken that one more to industrial drain cleaner rather than a potable spirit, and I have to question why it was ever bottled. That said, a couple of (possibly insane and/or masochistic) people did claim to enjoy it, so who am I to judge - as always it's an entirely subjective thing. But we'll forget about that little transgression, since this Caroni more than makes up it! 

I've only started to appreciate Caribbean rums in the last couple of years, having previously avoided the entire category since I properly discovered whisky - and we don't talk about the dark days before that little revelation. But the few examples that I've tried, from Four Square, Hampden, Black Tot and now Caroni, have been excellent spirits. While challenging initially they've offered complexity that comes close to that of a decent malt whisky. Don't get me wrong, I won't be trading my drams for tots anytime soon! But those examples above have given me a new perspective on this spirit that is often misunderstood here in Australia, and even more so in Queensland. A large part of that misunderstanding has to do with sugar, with most novice drum drinkers expecting a sweet experience from their chosen bottom-shelf poison, without realising that many of those examples have actually (entirely legally) had sugar and other sweeteners added to them, rather than that sweetness being a component of the spirit itself. The same goes for artificial colouring in the case of many "dark" or "navy" rums, where the same dreaded E150a that plagues our beloved malt whisky often rears its head en masse. Naturally presented rums that contain no added sugar, no added flavours, no added colouring, and no chill filtration, are often a completely different experience to what many expect. This particular rum though, this 22-year old single cask Caroni, might just be my favourite non-whisky spirit that I've tasted to date. Yes, that's a big claim, and sure, some other challengers aren't far behind. But I stand by it! 

Some of this rum's appeal is certainly Caroni's fascinating - and mysterious - history. The distillery was built in 1923 on the grounds of an old sugar factory located near the island's capital city, Port of Spain. It was owned & operated by the Trinidad government from 1975 until 2001 when they sold a 49% stake to Angostura (of bitters fame). That rather-messy sale was controversial on the island because there were only two rum distilleries operating in Trinidad at the time, Angostura and Caroni, and this sale included most of Caroni's maturing stock going to it's only local competitor. Production at Caroni had already been dwindling since the mid-90s, and it was finally closed in 2002, with the distillery buildings becoming derelict shortly afterwards. The local sugar industry collapsed around the same time, playing a large part in the demise of Caroni, and Angostura is the only surviving distillery in Trinidad, having to import all of its sugarcane. Like most rum distilleries Caroni had both column stills and pot stills on site, although only the column still was used in the last few decades of production and most of the pot still spirit was mixed with neutral alcohol and was intended for blending. Caroni rum was distilled from molasses made from local sugarcane processed on-site, primarily producing a heavy, "navy style" dark rum that like many of the Caribbean rums was once supplied to the British Navy for blending into their sailor's rum rations - a practice which only ceased in 1970.

Fast-forward to 2004 and Caroni's buildings are all-but gone, with only a couple of rusting corrugated iron sheds remaining. But one of those sheds contained a treasure trove! Luca Gargano, owner of Italian liquor distributor & importer Velier, was travelling around Trinidad & Tobago and found, with the help of some former distillery employees, a cache of thousands of maturing casks of Caroni, some dating back to the 1970s. He eventually purchasing the majority of this stock, and while other importers & distributors had some casks and there were small amounts elsewhere (mainly for blending), it was these Velier casks and their bottlings that really put Caroni back on the map for rum enthusiasts, and helped it develop the legendary status that it now has. These days there are thought to only be around 400 casks remaining worldwide, and once they're gone that'll be all she wrote for Caroni rum. While we're talking about Caroni casks, there are a couple of important factors to consider here. Firstly, the distillery did not only produce the heavy, high ester style of rum that has made it so famous. They produced both a light spirit and a heavy spirit, mostly filled & matured separately, but sometimes blended together prior to filling into cask. Many bottlings will declare which style of spirit they contain, but that's not always the case. Secondly and in a similar vein, the final product is hugely dependent on where the cask/s were aged. If they were transported to Europe for maturation, known in the rum world as continental ageing, the result will be considerably different to maturation in the Caribbean, a.k.a. tropical ageing. Obviously continental ageing will give slower, steadier maturation, while tropical ageing will be much more aggressive, and it's not unheard of for a cask to have an angel's share (liquid lost to evaporation) of up to 85% - resulting in in an extremely concentrated rum.

As I've mentioned, this SMWS bottling, R13.2 in their code system, is a 22-year old single cask rum from a single first-fill ex-bourbon barrel, bottled at a cask strength of 62.1% ABV. As you'd expect from 'The Society" there's been no chill filtration, no added colouring, and no added sugar or flavouring involved. It was distilled in January 1998 and bottled in late-2020, and at the time of writing they still have a couple of bottles available in Australia at a reasonable price of $595 AUD - available only to SMWS members, of course. That may sound like a lot of money for a bottle of rum, but believe me, even if you disregard the history & mystery behind this legendary dead distillery, the quality of this rum is worth every cent. Which is not something I'd say very often!

SMWS R13.2, Caroni Rum, 22-year old, 62.1%. Trinidad. 

Distilled January 1998, matured in a single ex-bourbon barrel, bottled late-2020. Cask strength, non-chill filtered, natural colour, no added sugar or flavouring. 267 bottles. 

Colour: Bronze. 

Nose: Spicy, fruity & lightly funky. Old engine oil, overripe pineapple, dried orange. Sweet & spicy ginger fudge in rich dark chocolate. Oily enamel paint. Dark vanilla syrup, brown sugar caramel & cinnamon. Petrol, burnt caramelised banana. Floral spearmint around the edges. 

Texture: Heavy weight. Rich, spicy & oily. Slight heat, but at 62% that's to be expected!

Taste: More old engine oil, burnt caramelised banana, ginger caramel fudge, touches of ripe pineapple & mango further in. A little petrol, dried orange, and a decent whack of sweet wood & cinnamon. Vanilla syrup & dark chocolate. 

Finish: Medium-long length. Ginger caramel fudge, burnt caramelised banana, petrol & spearmint. Sweet wood, dried orange, and brown sugar. Lightly bitter burnt toast to finish. 

Score: 4 out of 5, close to a 4.5 - bearing in mind my limited experience with "proper" rum, of course. 

Notes: What a nose. What a flavour. What a rum! This Caroni is an absolute flavour bomb with plenty on offer, including the trademark "rum funk" estery notes but without going over the top. Rum funk is very different to whisky funk, although sometimes that oily, dirty diesel note is a common thread between the two terms - terms that are subjective at best and vague at worst. But the tasting notes help differentiate these estery notes, with overripe fruit - sometimes verging on rotten - and petrol. Just like rancio notes in sherried whisky (or sherry) and tannins in wine, these are divisive aromas & flavours that aren't for everyone. And some rums really push that envelope for those who are relatively new to it. This isn't one of them though, the "funk" is kept in check, at least to my palate. This is actually quite easy going despite the big ABV and the complexity that it carries with it. 

Yes, I'm going to have to say it. It's a whisky drinkers rum. Sorry, I had to get that out of my system! Highly recommended. 

Cheers!