Celebrating on Friday 5 & 19 July Issue 7, 2024
MALT MAGIC
The magic of beer & whisky! Welcome to Boilermaker month…
YOUR SOCIETY
BEER AND WHISKY
IT NEED NOT BE COMPLICATED…
BY MATT BAILEY
Iget the pleasure of hosting a lot of tastings, and many times they are to newcomers to either the SMWS, or to whisky in general. Often times they are to groups of people just starting on their journey of discovering the golden nectar. Often they’ve heard about the lovely flavours of whisky, or have seen Harvey Specter or James Bond or Jude Law or Christina Hendrix or Nick Offerman drinking it and are keen to learn more.
One of the first things I’m often talking about at these newcomer events is how whisky is, at its core, distilled beer. This usually creates a bit of shock. Is is really just beer that’s been through those magical copper stills? Well… take out the hops part, and in a nutshell, yeah, it is! We then delve into how brandy is distilled wine, and rum is distilled molasses or cane etc. The amount of people who never really connect the dots on the grains or the base ingredient is quite astounding, but not really surprising.
It’s easy to lose track of the raw ingredients that go into making great whiskies: brands often spend vast amounts of time and money focusing on the end product, and for many that end result might be Harvey drinking Macallan,
or Jude Law drinking Johnnie Walker, or Nick Offerman promoting Lagavulin. But it’s so much more than all of that. It’s the agricultural backbone. It’s the farmers that make it. It’s the time it takes in a coopered cask to get here.
This month, we’re celebrating that base malt. That wonderful barley that forms the basis of amazing beer that we can pair perfectly with a well-aged single malt. To that end, we’re doing a virtual with a tin, some beer giveaways throughout the month, and we’re pairing each new release with a suggest beer pairing to taste alongside it.
We’re also doing a member giveaway just by posting your favourite pairing of SMWS dram & ale further in… read on, and cheers!
Cheers.
Matt Bailey ~ Branch Director, SMWS Australia
A SCOTSMAN IN AUSTRALIA
Rewind to 2018, and I get a special request from HQ to help source some of these famed exShiraz barrels from Australia. One thing led to another, and we finally shipped some amazing locally-crafted wood over to Scotland. Australian barrels, maturing Scotch whisky. A pretty cool little project. We’ve already seen some of these casks coming through here and there, but this is the main project we’re finally excited to release locally.
Marmalade Overdrive is the latest experimental small batch ‘heresy’ project from the desk of our whisky manager, Euan Campbell, and proudly has an Australian history in wood. A marvellous, richly-textured, easy-drinking, malt of the month that we’re so excited to share around finally.
Bottled at a very comfortable ‘drinking strength’ of 50% ABV and matured for at least 14 years, this is the most exciting new heresy bottling we’ve ever produced. Maximum 2x bottles per/member until end of the month, unless sold out prior.
$169
See following page for further details MARMALADE OVERDRIVE
MARMALADE OVERDRIVE MALT OFTHEMONTH
MARMALADE OVERDRIVE
$169 FOR JULY REDUCED FROM $199 BLENDED MALT
EXTRA MATURED
REGION Blended Malt
CASK TYPE 1st fill ex-bourbon barrels & ex-Australian shiraz hogsheads
AGE 14 years
DATE DISTILLED 6 July 2007
OUTTURN 2,658 bottles
ABV 50.0%
AUS ALLOCATION 162 bottles
On a cold spring morning, we journeyed across the bridge to the Kingdom of Fife. Our mission? To nose and select some freshly imported Australian Shiraz barrels, of course! Alongside the experts from Nebb Whisky Barrels, we made our selections and went about identifying suitable whiskies to fill into the casks. We opted for some 11yo 1st fill bourbon matured Speyside whiskies. They were left to slumber for around three years before being blended to create this unique whisky.
What an aroma neat, with popcorn drizzled in melted salted butter, heather and gorse flowers baking in the hot summer sun, pears poached in red wine and crimson marmalade on a slice of malt loaf. Juicy and fruity on the palate with the pleasing tartness of green apples in perfect balance with the silky sweetness of strawberry jelly and honey liqueur. In the finish gentle spices like cinnamon, cardamom and nutmeg that resemble the calm Caribbean Sea lapping a sandy beach. Following reduction - careful when adding water - the scent reminded us of cherry clafoutis, toffee apples and mango chutney. In the taste, a floral hint to start followed by diluted blackcurrant juice. The finish gave us white pepper.
$169 YOUNG & SPRITELY
REGION Speyside
CASK TYPE 1st fill ex-bourbon hogshead
AGE 10 years
DATE DISTILLED 16 January 2012
OUTTURN 241 bottles
ABV 57.9%
AUS ALLOCATION 24 bottles
An aroma that put a smile on our faces with apple pie and pear tartlets followed by waxy honeycomb, Werther’s Original butter candies and honey roasted cashews. The taste was described by one panel member as “lovely and lively” with hints of typical gin botanicals, a pleasing chilli heat and booze-soaked satsumas. Following the addition of water, a lighter scent of lime mousse, key lime pie as well as freshly pressed apple juice with the sweetness of maple roasted pecans. On the palate, sweet white grape juice, lime leaves, herbal tea, birch syrup and cassia bark with a quince jelly finish.
REGION Speyside
CASK TYPE 2nd fill ex-Bourbon barrel
AGE 30 years
DATE DISTILLED 17 June 1992
OUTTURN 198 bottles
ABV 49.3%
AUS ALLOCATION 24 bottles
We imagined sitting by a river on a warm, sunny day and watching hay being baled in a nearby field. On the palate, sweet fruity flavours of ripe peaches and juicy pears met a super-smooth mouthfeel coming from caramelised apricots with an almond cream. A drop of water and we were presented with a bowl of lychees served in a lemongrass syrup. To taste, tropical fruits galore, with a scoop of delicate bourbon vanilla ice cream. At 26 years of age, we combined selected casks from the same distillery. We then returned the single malt into a variety of different casks to develop further. This is one of those casks.
PAIR WITHA
TAKE A TUMBLE
SWEET, FRUITY & MELLOW
CASK No. 1.261
$215
LITTLE DRAM ON THE PRAIRIE
SPICY & SWEET
CASK No. 140.12
$240
REGION Speyside
CASK TYPE 1st fill ex-bourbon barrel
AGE 9 years
DATE DISTILLED 25 January 2012
OUTTURN 217 bottles
ABV 59.4%
AUS ALLOCATION 24 bottles
We noted sunflower and olive oils to begin, that typically oily, textural richness that so often seems to characterise this make from bourbon in youth is here in abundance. Also many fresh breads and pastries, petrichor, damp moss, orange vitamin tablets in soda water, golden syrup and oatcakes. Water brought out malt syrup, shilling ales, hops, brown bread, croissant, meadow flowers and putty. The palate when neat showed a lovely balance between oily texture and warm bready flavours. Lots of netter tea, herbal extracts and soft sandalwood notes too. Water brought pressed flowers, pollens, vase water, lemon barley water and syrupy sweet fruit cordials.
REGION Texas
CASK TYPE 2nd fill Port barrique
AGE 4 years
DATE DISTILLED 10 May 2017
OUTTURN 172 bottles
ABV 62.0%
AUS ALLOCATION 36 bottles
After one year in a French oak barrique which previously contained Baby Blue Corn Whiskey, this whisky was transferred into a second-fill port barrique. The nose holds definite port, plum jam, toffee apples, cherries and raspberry jam tarts as well as funky rum, raisins, molasses, Demerara and new leather. The palate, initially chalky, radiates warm cinnamon and chilli spice, before settling to toffee, sweet bourbon, toasted coconut and vanilla icecream, with leather and tobacco to finish. The palate now delivers buttery pancakes, honey, stewed fruit, Golden Virginia, hickory, chicory and sour cherry – remarkable.
PAIR WITHA KOLSCH
DIVE INTO THE CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN
We’ve had a few 5’s through lately. Mostly 18-19yo single casks, or indeed last month’s rare release 5, Philosopher’s Stone, which sold out in record time. Are these casks some of the most underrated incredible Lowland whisky out there?
We tend to think so. Lowland whisky as a region is going through an exciting resurgence of interest lately. Diversity in flavours, lush tropical notes, clean vanilla bean hints, and so much more.
Cask 5.130 is our first ever Vaults
Collection from this distillery. An absolutely tiny global Outturn from one cask of just 167 bottles ever yielded, this cask spent 29 years in an ex-bourbon cask before enjoying an additional maturation in an ex-Oloroso sherry ‘STR’ barrique. Rich white chocolate, old tobacco pouch, almonds, dried mint, rose pedals and more. Do not miss this rarity, only 12 bottles available, limit one per member.
PAIR WITHA
C H OCOLATE PORT E R
VAULTS COLLECTION EXTRA MATURED
CHOCOLATE MICE NIBBLING RHUBARB
$1,295 SWEET, FRUITY & MELLOW
CASK No. 5.130
REGION Lowland
CASK TYPE
1st fill STR Oloroso sherry barrique
AGE 31 years
DATE DISTILLED 25 March 1992
167 bottles
TASTING NOTES
Tiny white chocolate mice scurried around among pineapples, bananas and crunchy green apples, following an irresistible trail of demerara sugar and toasted coconut shavings. On the palate, the mice found nectarines and peaches with candied ginger mixed with fragrant tobacco, before they discovered their favourite treat: stewed rhubarb. With a drizzle of water it was almonds and dried mint that tempted the white chocolate mice to forage through hibiscus, rose and lily petals. At 29 years of age we transferred this whisky to a first-fill STR barrique that had been seasoned with Oloroso wine.
DEEP, RICH & DRIED FRUITS
CASK No. 66.214
$260
EMERGENCY WHISKY!
JUICY, OAK & VANILLA
CASK No. 35.327
$155
REGION Highland
CASK TYPE 1st fill American oak ex-PX hogshead
AGE 14 years
DATE DISTILLED 23 July 2007
OUTTURN 252 bottles
ABV
AUS ALLOCATION 42 bottles
Imagine sitting on the veranda of a neoclassical mansion set in the American South with your grandparents smoking pipes and telling you stories from the past. The sun was setting over the fields as the smell from the cooking reached you of burnt butter, walnut, and date-stuffed chicken breasts. To drink there was bramble wine and Vino de Naranja, orange wine from Andalucía matured in oak casks with additional bitter orange peel making the taste sweet, with notes of coffee, toffee, sultanas, and oranges. Following twelve years in an ex-bourbon hogshead, we transferred this whisky into a 1st fill # 3 charred hogshead.
REGION Speyside
CASK TYPE 1st fill ex-bourbon barrel
AGE 9 years
DATE DISTILLED 28 June 2012
OUTTURN 227 bottles
ABV 59.6%
AUS ALLOCATION 36 bottles
Initial nosing suggested to us the cask was slightly more dominant in this instance. Some lovely and cosy notes of banana syrup, warm fudge, toffee apples and new shoe leather were detected initially. Then meadow flowers heavy with pollen and fruity shilling beers. Reduction brought out pear drops, lychee sorbet, barley water and hessian cloth. The neat palate displayed rhubarb rock, lemon sherbet, banana bread and softer herbal and peppery tones that became more mentholated with time. Some water made things more direct and classically on vanilla custard, shortbread, lemon cough drops and olive oil.
PAIR
SALT-BAKED VIKING
OILY & COASTAL
CASK No. 4.358
$199
AN ODE TO INTENSITY
LIGHTLY PEATED
CASK No. 3.347
$360
REGION Highland
CASK TYPE 1st fill ex-bourbon barrel
AGE 12 years
DATE DISTILLED 18 February 2010
OUTTURN 239 bottles
ABV 63.2%
AUS ALLOCATION 24 bottles
A delicately salty nose made us think of pure ozone, coastal wildflowers, trampled greenery, beach pebbles and bath salts, alongside wee notes of angelica root and sooty coal hearths. Some water brought notes of fennel seed, ashy goat’s cheese, white mushrooms and sandalwood. The palate was similarly focused on saline purity, with distant threads of peat smoke, lanolin, panseared mackerel and briny olives. At seven years of age, we combined selected casks from the same distillery. We then returned the single malt into a variety of different casks to develop further. This is one of those casks.
REGION Islay
CASK TYPE 2nd fill ex-bourbon hogshead
AGE 18 years
DATE DISTILLED 16 February 2004
OUTTURN 232 bottles
ABV 55.7%
AUS ALLOCATION 36 bottles
Plenty of intense, fragrant, sweet peat smoke, tropical bath bombs, smoked pineapple and peaches and pears poached in a smoked sweet wine. On the palate, peat-smoked honey garlic prawns macerated in whisky and brown sugar in an Asian stir fry with jasmine rice, alongside an exotic fruit smoothie of kiwi, pineapple and lychee. Following reduction, the aroma was that of smoky lobster bisque, seafood linguine, lavender shortbread, Thai basil and muddled mint. The taste was like a slice of woodfired frutti di mare pizza with herbed shrimps, scallops, anchovy fillets, chopped basil leaves and fennel seeds.
PAIR WITHA BOCK
SOUPÇON OF SOOT
PEATED
CASK No. 16.71
$169
SALTED MARZIPAN SANDWICH
PEATED
CASK No. 155.5
$220
REGION Highland
CASK TYPE Refill re-charred hogshead
AGE 8 years
DATE DISTILLED 2 July 2013
OUTTURN 207 bottles
ABV 64.4%
AUS ALLOCATION 36 bottles
The nose was a hillbilly honker – hay-smoked cloudy cider and beech-smoked cheese, apple skins, nutmeg and burning barns – oh, and ice cream cones for the kids. The palate had chalky textures, herbal hints, lavender and violets and tasty bittersweet flavours of apple chutney and pineapple crumble with a soupçon of soot drying the finish. The reduced nose remained curious – blackcurrant leaf and jam, toffee and Caramac sweetness, sacks of green malt in an old shack and further herbal hints of menthol and mint. The palate became sweet (pan drops) and earthy – charred lemon, tree bark, ash and pork cooked in cider.
REGION Israel
CASK TYPE 1st fill ex-bourbon barrel
AGE 4 years
DATE DISTILLED 25 July 2018
OUTTURN 180 bottles
ABV 65.2%
AUS ALLOCATION 36 bottles
A heavy slab of marzipan found itself wedged tightly in a madeira cake soaked in calvados and Jamaican rum while crispy seaweed was fried in tempura batter. On the palate a wave of drying spice wove a smog of smoked paprika and cinnamon around singed porridge with salt and a life-affirming dash of sweet marsala wine. Adding water encouraged us to clean a barbecue with half a lemon before serving green peppercorn salami and oysters with a bouquet garni and bay leaves. Now sweeter flavours combined almond oil, hazelnuts and salted peanuts with subdued smoke wafting over spearmint and chamomile tea.
BLACK LAGER
…AND THEY WERE NEVER SEEN AGAIN!
This is about as niche and wild as you get. A single cask, cask strength, Swedish, heavily peated, long-aged, single malt. Wrap your head and lips around that. This is an exciting release for us in July, and really showcases what is going on in the cold capital of Swedish single malts. Located in the high coast of Sweden, they are about as remote as you can get. The casks maturing up there are exposed to the brisk sea air and high elevation, and are maturing in unheated warehouses. During hot days, the pressure in the barrels increase, the whisky expands and penetrates deeper into the oak. Deep inside the barrel, the oak’s flavours are released, which come out when the temperature and pressure drop again. Expect notes of tar, BBQ glazed meats, doused oysters, smoked lemons, and mineral salts. The perfect winter dram!
A FLASHING BLADE
CASK No. 144.4 $259
REGION Sweden
CASK TYPE 1st fill ex-bourbon barrel AGE 7 years DATE DISTILLED 15 May 2014
No messing about here. Immediate notes of pickled gherkins in brine, elastoplasts, tar extracts, BBQ glazed pork ribs, peat fire embers in a cast iron hearth and green olive tapenade on salted flat bread. A brilliant peat-dominated distillate. With water we found carbolic acidity, hot mash water and smoky grist - touring a distillery in full peaty production modealso malt vinegar doused oysters and smoked lemons. The palate was pure seawater and lemon juice at first. Before a big surge of petrol, mineral salts, engine oils and touches of camphor and paraffin. With water there was some more complexity emerging with aniseed distillate, mercurochrome and suggestions of paraffin, TCP, horseradish and soy sauce.
ASWEDISH MASTERPIECE
DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH
Welcome back rum! I had a member remark the other week that we’ve not seen a rum in Outturn in a while. Well, this clears that up, and back with a bang! The clue to this rum is in the name, but even more incredibly is the 350+ years worth of distilling history this distillery has. Rum has been made in Guyana since around 1670 and we’re excited to bring this funk to members in July with Cask R2.20. Our 20th cask to be approved by our tasting panel, you can expect this long-aged spirit to have notes of herbal meatballs, brown sugar, and sticky toffee pudding. Decadent indeed.
RAW DIAMOND WITH A FRENCH POLISH
CASK No. R2.20 $260 GUYANESE RUM REGION
CASK TYPE 2nd fill toasted French oak barrique
AGE 18 years
DATE DISTILLED 31 July 2004
A surprisingly herbal note greeted the panel with descriptors like feverfew tea, ginseng coffee next to mixed herb salsa verde and pink peppercorn sauce. Seamlessly followed by the palate, earthy and vegetal with hints of a gingerbread, cinnamon and clove dusted apple pie but also bramble and vanilla jam. Water added a herbal crust on a tuna steak and sweet, brown sugar barbequed meatballs, while to taste the sweetness really came to the fore with sticky toffee pudding and dark chocolate sponge cake accompanied by a glass of cherry cola. Following 12 years in an ex-bourbon barrel, we transferred this whisky into a second fill toasted French oak barrique that was previously used to mature whisky 121.98.
WE ’DLOVE TO HEARYOURS ! BEERAND RUM?
REGION Chicago
CASK TYPE 1st fill ex-bourbon 30 US gallon barrel
AGE 5 years
DATE DISTILLED 7 June 2017
OUTTURN 132 bottles
We looked at each other as though we had been smelling the same magic potion the druid Getafix brewed to give Asterix and his fellow Gauls superhuman strength. The main ingredients were various herbs found around the village and in the surrounding forest. Can you recall how Asterix reacted on drinking the potion? Well, that was how we felt – “Pow”-erful! Heat and spice galore! Water to the rescue, as the nose developed into muscle rub as well as eucalyptus and prune juice. The palate benefited hugely, with flavours reminding us of an old-fashioned root beer blending sassafras and sarsaparilla root, spices, herbs, barks and berries.
PAIR WITHA FRESH IPA
SMWS EXPERIENCES IN YOUR AREA
SYDNEY
WINTER WHISKY DINNER @ IZY.AKI WITH FRANZ SCHEURER
The master is back. The 1+1=3 moment of food and whisky pairings like no other on earth, as the SMWS collaborates again with Franz Scheurer and fine dining experience of Izakaya with Chef Darren Templeman.
SOLD OUT
July 29, 6:30pm, Izy.Aki, The Rocks, Sydney 2000.
PERTH
BOILERMAKERS WITH FOX FRIDAY CRAFT BREWERY
Craft ales, single cask whisky, great banter. This is what boilermaker month is all about. Join your state ambassador David Stucken at the terrific Terrarium, for an evening of beer and malts!
July 28, 1pm, Bar Terrarium, Perth, 6000.
LAUNCESTON
THE FESTIVAL CASKS (AT LONG LAST) LAND IN LONNIE!
Enjoy an intimate whisky dinner at Alida in Launceston this month as we explore and celebrate the 2024 Rare Release festival casks — better late than never! Book in ASAP as spots are extremely limited.
July 20, 6:30pm, Alida Restaurant at Penny Royal, 1 Bridge Rd, Launceston 7250
MIGHTY OAKEN CASK
PART
#4:
SHERRY BUTT, THE CASK THAT MADE WHISKY
BY CHRIS MIDDLETON
“FOR
TWO HUNDRED YEARS, THE EXSHERRY CASK WAS THE PREFERRED AND UNIVERSAL CONTAINER FOR MATURING SCOTCH AND IRISH WHISKY.”
For two hundred years, the exsherry cask was the preferred and universal container for maturing Scotch and Irish whisky. Its popularity was due to its strong and delectable sherry influence imbued into the Gaelic spirit uisge beatha, whisky, in the English vernacular. Sherry imparted distinctive vinous flavours and served as the sensory bridge between brandy and wine, especially in the populous English market well-accustomed to cognac and sherry. By the 1870s, whisky had established itself as Britain’s leading spirit.
Sherry is a southern Spanish wine blended with a small amount of neutral grape spirit, or young brandy, to preserve the wine for transport and longevity while adding flavour compounds. Sherry is more than another fortified wine as it is matured by
biological and oxidation aging processes, giving the sherry varietals distinctive flavour profiles. The flor layer biologically ages Fino, Manzanillo and Amontillado styles, bringing nutty, apple and citrus nuances. Oxidised sherries like Oloroso and Pedro Ximenes deliver sweeter, bolder and raisininfused flavours.
“SHERRY IS A SOUTHERN SPANISH WINE BLENDED WITH A SMALL AMOUNT OF NEUTRAL GRAPE SPIRIT, OR YOUNG BRANDY, TO PRESERVE THE WINE FOR TRANSPORT AND LONGEVITY WHILE ADDING FLAVOUR COMPOUNDS.”
Britain’s wars with France during the 18th and early 19th centuries forced Great Britain to form alliances and trade treaties with Spain, which ceded the sherry flavour shift to the two major British whisky industries. Irish and Scottish distillers obtained a supply of empty ex-sherry butts from this wine trade. The more advanced Dublin distilleries began prescribing sherry butts in the 1780s as export demand grew in England. Scotland’s distilleries had no meaningful export business, except grain spirit for rectification in England until the 1850s; by then, sherry casks were de rigueur for Scotch. Until the 19th century, distilleries, spirit dealers and even Scottish estates cellared negligible volumes of whisky for maturation. Instead, most whisky was kept in stoneware crocks or flagons, commonly drunk raw or in toddies. In the Highlands, where much illicit distilling occurred, small anker casks were carried by pony or hidden in wagons for local sale and consumption.
“SHERRIED WHISKY WAS ORIGINALLY A WINE-DRIVEN SPIRIT RATHER THAN OAK-INFLUENCED. THAT’S BECAUSE OAK EXTRACTIVES IN SHERRY ARE AVOIDED BY JEREZ VINTNERS, PREFERRING EXHAUSTED AND INERT CASKS FOR MATURATION.”
By 1830, sherry became Britain’s mostconsumed wine, and in the 1860s, it commanded a 42% share of Britain’s total wine sales. The Spanish sherry trade shipped export butts (500 litres), peaking in 1874 at 68,467 butts. Over two and half million butts were imported to Britain throughout the 19th century; some were sent back to Jerez in a circular trade for reuse by the bodegas; many were re-coopered by the whisky industry into smaller hogshead and barrel capacities for recycling, even refilling for a second or third time. Scotch production doubled between 1874 and 1899, while sherry casks fell by a third. This differencedelta compelled distilleries to supplement their sherry cask inventory with new, virgin casks aggressively treated with lime, caustic soda and steam to extract tannin and other undesirable compounds. New make spirit was stored in new wood for a year or two before finishing in an ex-sherry cask for another year or more. The pleasing flavours of sherried whisky fuelled exports to England and expatriate colonies throughout the British Empire, and after the Excise on Spirits Act of 1860 permitted blended whisky, the industry boomed.
Changing consumer tastes to dry-style table wines, aggravated by two World Wars, the Spanish Civil War and the Depression, drove sherry’s long-term decline since 1875. Since 1970, the global sales for sherry have continued to retreat, falling by 80%. The lack of consumer demand for sherry exacerbated the shortage of casks, making them an increasingly more expensive and diminishing resource. During the 1930s, the cost of a butt increased eightfold. Fortuitously, the American whisky industry, after Prohibition, the Depression and the Second World War, began generating excess ex-bourbon barrels in the 1960s. U.S. regulations since 1936 permit single usage of a ‘charred white oak container’ to be labelled straight whisky. These surpluses of bourbon barrels found a second life in the British Isles.
Sherried whisky was originally a wine-driven spirit rather than oak-influenced. That’s because oak extractives in sherry are avoided by Jerez vintners, preferring exhausted and
inert casks for maturation — a flavour legacy inherited by sherried whisky until the 1870s. For the next hundred years, export sherry butts and flavour treatments, such as adding prune juice and ersatz-sherry flavourings to the whisky, and the introduction of pneumatic cask treatments (paxarette) in the 1880s, helped sustain sherried whisky production until 1986. That is when the Spanish government banned the shipment of bulk sherry in wood to prevent fraud and adulteration in export market bottlings. In response, bodegas and Spanish cooperages produced faux-sherry casks for the whisky industry to circumnavigate this loss of sherried wood by briefly seasoning new casks with cheap bulk sherry. Unlike long-seasoned sherry butts, the new oak character of these young casks made its oaken wood presence discernible on the palate, with European oak rendering more spice, dried fruits, and slightly astringent mouthfeel. The more popular American oak imparts hints of vanilla, coconut, and sweetness on the palate.
“WHILE SPECIALLY PREPARED SHERRY CASKS HAVE HELPED FILL THE VOID OVER THE PAST FORTY YEARS, TODAY, OVER 95% OF SCOTCH’S FIRST FILL IS NOW EX-BOURBON.”
While specially prepared sherry casks have helped fill the void over the past forty years, today, over 95% of Scotch’s first fill is now ex-bourbon. A small percentage of whisky production is sherried whisky, with these modern oaken whiskies responsible for the ‘sherry bombs’ so popular with contemporary malt drinkers.
Australian coda: Australia has produced fortified wines since the 1890s. By 1950, 85% of domestic wine consumption was fortified
wines, mainly local sherry, followed by domestic port and vermouth. Fortified wine continued to dominate the wine industry until 1970 when the demand for table wines replaced fortified styles. With the European Union negotiating the protection of their regional wine appellations and styles under Geographical Indication, Australian wine producers were no longer permitted to use the Spanish term ‘Sherry’ after September 2010. Instead, the new category trademark, Apera, was adopted for this Australian class of fortified wine. Australian Apera consumption is reduced to a trickle, less than 0.5% of volume wine sales, with very few retired casks available each dumping season for local distilleries to refill with whisky. Some of Australia’s larger distilleries maturing expressions of whisky in Apera casks have adopted the Spanish technique of filling new casks with Apera wine to impregnate the staves with its vinous flavour.
THIS IS THE 4TH INSTALMENT IN THE MIGHTY OAKEN SERIES BY CHRIS MIDDLETON. THE SERIES CAN BE READ ONLINE AT SMWS.COM.AU/NEWS
“HAUF & HAUF” VIRTUAL TASTING
MONDAY 22 JULY @ 7PM AEST
It’s boilermaker month! We’re packing every virtual this month with a delicious craft beer mystery pick. Every pack will be randomly packed with a different ale to share, along with 5 new and exciting whiskies from the Society. We’ll share a ‘Hauf n’ Hauf’, some tales, and some good times live on camera with you all! Join us live on Monday 22 July, 7pm, YouTube & Facebook, for a good time with a can of beer, 5 x new whiskies, and some banter with AD & MB!
GRAB YOUR VIRTUAL TASTING KIT AND JOIN IN THE FUN!
THE MASTER OF CHOCOLATE IS BACK
TUESDAY 20 AUGUST @ 7PM AEST
Long-term members will know what this is all about, but we’re super excited to announce that Krsna Rajalingam, the Society Chocolate Scientist, is back for 2024 with a whole new set of expertly hand-made bonbons paired with single cask, cask strength, Society whiskies and other spirits. Those who’ve been involved in these special events in the past have witnessed true flavour explosions like no other on earth. A master at work if you will. The raw creation of flavours that you thought could never work, but somehow are amazingly built around each whisky from the Society in each pack.
The twist for 2024 however is that we need YOUR help this time in picking the whiskies to match up with Krsna’s magic. He’s opening the doors to his chocolate factory with the Society golden ticket, and needs your input in picking the 5th whisky to which Krsna will then craft the 5th bonbon as the member-selected one.
How to help? Jump onto our Facebook Group, and see the pinned post at the top. We’ll be taking votes for which cask to pair with which chocolate from Friday 28 June for just 3 days, then the famed 2024 BASIK x SMWS collaboration virtual pack goes on sale on Friday 19 July. Krsna & SMWS will host this special pairing live on Tuesday 20 August 2024, at 7pm AEST.
Packs are strictly limited, just $169 per pack for all 5x 30ml samples, plus a double bonbon set to share. This is shaping up to be the most ambitious chocolate pairing ever in history. Do not miss this flavour explosion with the chocolate scientist & SMWS...
PACKS ON SALE MIDDAY FRIDAY 19 JULY AEST. LIMIT TWO PER MEMBER.
SMWS.COM.AU/SHOP
SHOW U S YOUR BOILERMAKERS
ONE OF FIVE BOTTLES OF BABA HERESY BLENDED MALT
This month is all about beer & whisky pairings. Those barley moments of wonder, that perfect pairing of malts.
Take a photo of your favourite beer & whisky pairing using a Society whisky (or really any SMWS spirit) and the most creative photo and pairing will win one of five bottles of the upcoming Whisky Baba heresy blended malt, valued at $169, completely on us!
Entries are open until midnight 28 July, and winners will be announced on a video by Wednesday 31 July 2024.
BOILERMAKER
MEMBERSHIP
Exclusive to the month of July, we’re introducing a whole new membership option, available for one month only.
The Boilermaker Membership has:
A full year’s global membership to the SMWS, valued at $120.
A bottle of Marmalade Overdrive, valued at $169.
Two cans of fresh beer to share, valued at $20.
That’s $309 worth of value, for just $199, for July only!
Once the month is out, this membership option is over. First in, best dressed. Open a world of flavour, share a special drop with some friends, and discover the world’s leading whisky club, the SMWS.
Offer is limited to new members, not renewals. Offer is not available to those who’ve previously been a member in the last 3 months of the SMWS, regardless of branch. Offer not transferrable, or redeemable for any other offer. No vouchers or further discounts apply.