Matt Bailey

Let Flavour be Your Guide

This year, although strangely shaped through the lens of lockdowns, vaccines, uncertainty, and cancelled events, feels somewhat more communityfocused. It’s evident through members coming together and sharing in the spirit of the Society.

There was a moment at our Virtual Pub event back in August that made me think about this even more. That importance of coming together, celebrating flavour, and really shaping what it means to be a member of the Society. If you’re reading this, you probably already resonate with this. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank you if you’ve recently referred a friend to join: we’ve been fastidiously building 3 x dram packs for new members and referrers all last month again, and we’re going to keep giving them out until we run out! A big shout out here to the heroes behind the scenes: Suzy & Donelle in our office making this production happen, and in separate offices while we navigate these wild times!

August was a special month. Our first ever Australian whisky. A moment in both Society and Australian whisky history. September was our Gathering month with in-person and virtual experiences to take us on a flavour journey. We also welcomed the New Sydney Hotel in Hobart to our Partner Bars in Australia! October also has a rather special selection as well, and we’d like to formally welcome distillery 148 to the coding system. It won’t take much to work out where this is from, but it’s again worth noting some of the factoids about this particular selection. Cask 148.1 is: • The oldest private barrel released from this distillery. • Hand-picked by your Australian team, then approved by our expert UK panel. • Distilled, matured, and bottled entirely in

Australia. • A few cases are going to the UK for members to see what we’re up to as well. I’ve personally and professionally had quite a history with this distillery and am very excited to hear what members have to say about this milestone. From the early days of hanging onto every word that David Vitale had to say behind a Tiki bar in Essendon, to mounting televisions in their staff room on a random visit, to helping shape some of their New World Project range, to siphoning off cask strength solera spirit with the production team, to seeing their expansion into Port Melbourne: this distillery is the very definition of an Aussie dreamer giving it a go. For this month, we welcome guest columnist Martin Eber, plus some special quotes from those close to distillery 148 and this release. We also have a monumental in-depth article on the ‘Makers World’ vs ‘Drinkers World’ of Australian whisky written by the Chairman of Starward distillery, Chris Middleton, on our website. This article is too big for an Outturn, but it’s a members-only special piece, so make sure you’re logged in so you can see it under ‘Whiskywise’. Let flavour be your guide, and dive into our October Outturn!

Cheers!

Matt Bailey ~ SMWS National Ambassador