Category: Hellyers Road

[46.2%・NAS・Bottled Circa 2014-2018・Official Bottling・General Release]

Nose:

Iodine, and a singular sooty peat smoke. Squid ink and burnt plastic. Hints of zingy green kiwis and rice paper still lurk in the background.

Palate & Finish:

Light vanilla sweetness with a bit of kiwi citrus and fresh garden herbs followed by a solid pasting of peat providing steady follow through alongside smoke and golden honey.

The somewhat dirty smoke continue to hang in the finish, a tad on the woody side with a hint of whisky tablet sweetness.

Thoughts:

Certainly nothing to frown upon as a peated youngling.. quite close to scoring a tick..

-Nicholas

[46.2%・NAS・Bottled Circa 2014-2018・Official Bottling・General Release]

Nose:

A dose of that wrapping rice paper for Chinese milk lolly, zingy with some kiwis along with a powdery delivery of blackberries and artificial cherries.

Palate & Finish:

Starts off light and a tad dry, cherries and some tangy citrus but also some wee metallic notes, thin layer of hay and barley with some fresh wheatgrass.

Traces of vaguely sugary content from some dried fruits in the finish along with a hint of charred toast.

Thoughts:

Somewhat of a left field whisky even by Australian standard, perhaps it’s the distillation..

-Nicholas

[62.2%・11 Years Old・Bottled in 2018・Official Bottling・Cask No. 4295/03・Single Cask Release]

Nose:

A fat Port cask driven note from the get go.  Still quite spirit heavy with a buttery toffee base with a slight clay note.  Overall, the Port wood fragrance is quite pleasant.

Palate & Finish:

Sweet prunes on the palate but incredibly spicy, the Port influence can’t prevent the spirit hotness from causing a scene, followed later on by blueberry syrup, milk chocolate and hint of menthol.

The burn gradually subsides in the finish to release more blueberry syrup and malt.

Thoughts:

Hot and spicy without restraint, not one for the faint-hearted I am afraid..

-Nicholas

[67.4%・14 Years Old・Bottled in 2018・Official Bottling・Cask No. 2087/08・Single Cask Release]

Nose:

Honey and cereal and of course rather alcoholic, metallic with barley husk, quite unrefined and raw.

Palate & Finish:

Sweet oily honey with a very naked showing of the barley infused with wood.  Faring quite green with some olive oil and more spirit-y spices in the mix.

That greenness continues in the finish, and lead to this burnt toast aftertaste.

Thoughts:

This is 14 years old, which is old by Australian standard but it certainly feels like this could really use even more maturation time..

-Nicholas

[65.5%・13 Years Old・Bottled in 2018・Official Bottling・Cask No. 4032.14・Single Cask Release]

Nose:

The dram is very peated indeed, smoked bacon, smoked haddock and Dettol, super robust with sea salt hitting the malt and iodine bursting out, a fishy note develops in time.

Palate & Finish:

A deceivingly smooth dose of mild sweetness at first before the peat very much just explodes onto the taste buds, wood fire and ash to go with some succulent fruits before the spicy sensation rushes in to set a rather vegetative mid-palate.

The peat eases a bit in the finish but in its softened form still carries long..

Thoughts:

I’m really impressed with how utterly and unrelenting peaty this is, quite close to scoring a star..

✓ [Recommended if you like the style/ distillery]

-Nicholas