163.2 ‘Distressed’ tranquility

Description

From the team

The first bottling from Distillery 163 we’ve seen in Australia and the second worldwide! You can read an in-depth article on this distillery on our site’s blog Whiskywise, but it’s worth noting that these whiskies were actually bottled at the distillery, something that rarely happens (in fact, the last time it happened was at a certain Melbourne distillery a few years ago…). For the first three expressions, the Society filled the same new-make spirit from Distillery 163 into 1^st fill ex-bourbon barrels from three different Kentucky bourbon distilleries.

“We wanted to give members an honest sense of spirit character with these initial releases in ex-bourbon barrels,” says Kai Ivalo, SMWS Whisky Director. “But we’re also going to be filling some new-make spirit into a variety of different casks, including sherry casks, a few years down the line.”

Tasting Panel notes

Some of us were reminded of long-gone school days opening a ‘distressed leather’ pencil case, drinking instant hot chocolate and building a traditional balsa wood model aircraft. On the palate these memories were soon erased by tart and prickly flavours of sea buckthorn juice, pink peppercorns, medicinal herbs and pungent hickory-smoked sausages. Water released, at first, a petrolic, ripe fruitiness like an aged riesling wine before the scent of burning heather and candied smoked chestnuts took centre stage. The taste, barbecued mackerels came drizzled in zingy ginger, chilli and lime, and served with rustic sesame, sunflower and flax crackers.