76.151 Cloves studded in honey-glazed ham (Vaults Collection)

Description

It’s been a minute since we’ve seen Distillery 76 on Australian shores — in fact, I believe it was 76.148 from a few years ago — but we’re super excited to welcome back this distillery and its meaty spirit character! 30 years old (26 years ex-bourbon, four years 1st fill Spanish Oak Oloroso) and oozing with absolute elegance and spices. Honey-glazed ham is correct, but there might just be a heavily peppered steak waiting for you on a side plate somewhere, too… Bottled at 57.2% natural cask strength even after 30 years of maturation — a full-flavoured Vaults Collection bottling not to be missed this October.

An irresistible concoction of coffee and cloves pulled us towards beef jerky smoked with pencil shavings and served with maple syrup on bacon. A prickly palate of peppercorns and pickles danced with glee to the sound of black pudding sizzling in whirling clouds of wood smoke. A drop of water unleashed a compelling accumulation of chamomile, caramel and cooling camphor that skilfully merged with the heavyweight hues of molasses, prunes and almond-coated jamaica cake. Then cloves and saffron adorned poached pears alongside oloroso sherry trifle while we used burnt sticks to trickle rich honey over oily iberico ham. After spending 26 years in an ex-bourbon hogshead this was transferred to a first fill Spanish oak oloroso hogshead for the remainder of its maturation.