Category: Reviews

Reviews of whiskies

Morris Sherry Barrel

Morris has announced and released the third whisky in its permanent or core-range portfolio.  Morris Sherry Barrel joins its two stablemates, the Signature and the Muscat Barrel.

Morris – a name associated with wine-making for more than 150 years – launched its whisky brand and its first two releases in June 2021, and the Sherry Barrel has joined the party some 16 months later.  Whisky & Wisdom has previously told the full story of Morris whisky in our feature piece here (including a review and discussion of the Signature release), so we won’t repeat all the details on this occasion – click on the preceding link for the full background or to re-familiarise yourself with the Morris story.  

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Iniquity – Lazy Daze and Iniquity Gold Batch 007

The single malts from Iniquity, produced by Tin Shed Distilling Co, consistently rank amongst the finest Australian whiskies.  Two new releases from Iniquity crossed our desk this week and, not surprisingly, they impressed.  So much so, we figured they deserved a review and write up.  Accordingly, below are the details and our thoughts on Iniquity’s new Lazy Daze release, as well Iniquity Gold Batch 007 … 

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Cape Byron Whisky

Cape Byron whisky burst on to the Australian scene in late 2022 with the official unveiling of its inaugural single malt releases. Of course, the distillery had long been established by then and was already well known for its gins. But well before the newmake malt spirit was even filled into casks back in 2019, whisky enthusiasts in Australia and further afield were already aware of the distillery and knew what was coming. That’s a pretty unusual situation for an Australian distillery, but then it’s also pretty unusual for an Australian distillery to have one of the giants and legends of the Scotch whisky industry – Jim McEwan, no less – onboard as a consultant, distiller, and business partner. To understand that arrangement, you have to go back to the beginning…

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Westward Whiskey Tempranillo Cask

Westward Distillery, in Portland, Oregon continues to push the envelope in making American single malt whisk(e)y in a style that’s unshackled from some of the more traditional aspects or methods that define (and sometimes limit), say, Scotch whisky. The latest release from Westward to explore flavour further is the Westward Tempranillo Cask.

Whisky & Wisdom has written about Westward previously, and if you need a quick memory jog about the distillery’s story and philosophy, you might like to check out the first few paragraphs in our previous article here. The Westward Tempranillo Cask is the first release in a new range that’s been christened the Cascadia Creative Series.

The Cascadia Creative Series is a collaboration between the distillery and Dominio IV Wines, also located in Oregon. The series has been designed to highlight the provenance of the Cascade Mountains in Oregon and to celebrate the creativity of the local team at Dominio IV Wines, a nearby producer from the Williamette Valley. The valley, on the western side of the Cascade Range, is home to over 7,500 hectares of vineyards and over 500 wineries.

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Indri Trini “The Three Wood”

Indri is the latest single malt brand to emerge from India, and it’s wasted no time in garnering accolades and attention. Like so many other “overnight success stories”, the real story reveals that success is actually the result of years of effort and development, and not some sudden, lucky strike of lightning. Trini (fully styled as Trini The Three Wood) is the flagship offering from the Indri stable, and it’s a whisky worth your attention. Indri Trini’s credentials, as we’ll see in a moment, make for a worthy pedigree.

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The Macallan – A Night On Earth

A Night On Earth (In Scotland) is the new, limited edition expression from The Macallan, released in time for Christmas and the new year.  The Macallan announced last year that it would be unveiling a series of annual, limited edition gifting expressions, and this is actually the second edition of A Night On Earth, after last year’s well-received 2021 release.   The suffix, “In Scotland” is added towards the bottom of the label in a smaller and lighter font, giving context to the whisky’s name and philosophy.

Macallan’s A Night On Earth essentially celebrates Hogmanay – the Scottish tradition of saying goodbye to the old year and welcoming in the new year.  Aye, it’s effectively the Scottish take on what the rest of the world calls New Year’s Eve.   Traditionally, one of the key aspects of Hogmanay is the first-footing – being the first person after midnight to cross the threshold (i.e. enter the house) of a friend or neighbour and present them with one or more gifts.  Traditionally, this would have been coal, shortbread, salt, or whisky, and was intended to bring good luck to the householder for the year ahead.  The host reciprocates by providing some food and drink which are then enjoyed together, and the festivities can continue well into wee hours of the morning (and the late hours, for that matter) with people knocking on doors to be the first-footer!

No accident, then, that A Night On Earth is timed as we approach the gift-giving season!   The whisky comes in impressive packaging that is a bit reminiscent of unpacking Russian dolls as you encounter layer under layer. 

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The Macallan M Copper

Exciting news for fans and observers of The Macallan this month with the release of the new addition to The Macallan’s M Collection range for 2022 – in this instance, the M Copper. The M Collection is a special, high-end offering within The Macallan’s portfolio that aims to showcase the brand’s so-called Six Pillars. As the word “pillar” suggests, these are the foundations on which the brand is built, and they comprise the following:

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The Speyside Whisky Trail

With travel opening up again around the world, and particularly in the UK, whisky tourism is slowly getting back into the swing of things. And no whisky pilgrimage to Scotland would be complete without swinging by Speyside and dropping into a distillery or two. Or three. Or twenty. In fact, for those looking to make a specific trip of it, Alastair Rooney’s new book, “The Speyside Whisky Trail” is the perfect guide for discovering a lot about Scotland and visiting 20 distilleries along the way.

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Paul John Mithuna & the new Paul John releases

For fans of whisky looking for something new or different to explore, the choices and options beyond the shores of Scotland grow more and more each day. Many of the so-called “new world” malt whisky countries now have industries that have at least a decade under their belt (e.g. Taiwan, India, the USA and, of course, Australia) and the whiskies from these countries are now firmly established. Paul John whisky, from India, is a brand that burst out of the starting blocks 2012, and has been going from strength to strength ever since.  The new Paul John Mithuna release, together with the excellent Oloroso expression, take things to the next level again.

John Distilleries Pty Ltd, the company behind the brand, has been in the spirits business since 1992, and turned its hand to producing single malt in 2008. With its first release of matured spirit four years later in 2012, by 2015 Paul John had expanded to have a core range consisting of Classic, Brilliance, Bold, Peated, amongst others. (You can read Whisky & Wisdom’s early thoughts on these whiskies in our 2015 article here). Things went up a notch in 2017 with the release of their special Oloroso bottling, and the range is now increasingly exotic with three new expressions now available in Australia: Nirvana, Oloroso, and Mithuna.   Our tasting notes and reviews for these three are presented further below, but first some general background information on each one….

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Ian Macleod Distillers – The malts of Tamdhu, Glengoyne, and Smokehead

The Scotch whisky industry is a diverse and complex beast, consisting of companies large and small.  Amongst the whisky enthusiasts’ community, attention can often focus on the big players (e.g. Diageo, Pernod Ricard / Chivas, etc), or there are some smaller players that attract a healthy slice of the spotlight (e.g. J. A. Mitchell & Co of Springbank fame, or J. & G. Grant of Glenfarclas renown, etc).  Meanwhile, there are some medium-sized operations that quietly yet effectively keep ticking over and grow their space.  Ian Macleod Distillers is one such company.   Ian Macleod Distillers’ portfolio of distilleries and brands – which includes Glengoyne, Tamdhu, Rosebank, and Smokehead – are not whiskies that punch above their weight.  Rather, they are whiskies whose impressive weight is perhaps still to be fully appreciated.

The process of better understanding and appreciating three of those brands, at least in Australia, began this month with a visit to these shores by Gordon Dundas, Global Ambassador for Ian Macleod Distillers.  With a renewed focus on showcasing Tamdhu, Glengoyne and Smokehead through established drinks distributor, Swift and Moore, Dundas was in town to give insight into the character and nuances of these single malt whiskies.   But first, some background… 

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