April Outturn 2023

Launching: Friday 7 April Issue 04, 2023

MUSIC & MALTS

Everywhere you turn right now, the rising cost of living is visible and having an impact. Inflation, interest rates, rent, staffing costs, commodities, consumables…the price of everything is going up. Not surprisingly, the rising costs of doing business have hit the whisky industry, and we’re seeing the RRP’s of most brands, bottlings, and expressions going up accordingly as everyone in the supply chain passes on the costs.

Most whisky drinkers would be happily ignorant of the long and complex list of players involved in the industry’s supply chain, and how the conditions and landscape under which they all work have become increasingly challenging. It’s easy to think that the distilleries just need yeast, barley, water, oak casks, and the glass for their bottles to make their whisky and put it on the shelves of our liquor stores, but that’s not even the tip of the iceberg.

I spoke recently with one of the senior management personnel at a well-known distillery in Scotland, and he shared some of the issues and dramas that the industry was currently dealing with. Three standout examples were things that would unlikely occur to most punters who rock up to their local bottleshop looking for a bargain. The first of these was the distillery’s power bill. Distilleries are enormous consumers of gas, using it to heat their water for mashing, and obviously to heat their stills. (And particularly so for the distilleries that still use direct-firing). Courtesy of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the flow-on impact on gas supply and prices across Europe, this particular distillery’s rolling contract with their energy supplier went up an unbelievable 892%! (Correct, there is no decimal point in that figure!) To put a figure to that, their gas bill is now an additional £380,000 per month above what they were previously paying.

No distillery, no matter what size, can simply absorb such an extra expense… not surprisingly, the wholesale price to the brand’s distributors around the world went up significantly over night.

The second example was a dramatic shortage of cardboard and packaging materials, explained as being due to Amazon effectively monopolising Europe’s cardboard supply to service their enormous boxing requirements for shipping and delivery. The distilleries are thus facing major delays, shortages, and significant price increases and premiums just to put their whisky in the standard cardboard boxes we’re accustomed to.

And the third example was the acquisition cost of quality, ex-sherry casks: The price of sherry casks has gone up 68% in the last year alone. Imagine what that means for the operational expenses incurred by some of our favourite

distilleries! (In a similar vein, my colleague also shared that the cost of them buying in their malted barley had also increased by 35% in the last six months).

Other “behind the scenes” costs are also impacting your favourite whisky’s final RRP. For example, transportation and shipping costs remain at an all-time high, impacting the supply costs of materials (e.g. the shipping of grain, casks, glass), logistics, and – for us in Australia – the cost of shipping cases of whisky to the other side of the planet. Closer to home, Australia’s excise tax on alcohol – which is indexed and increases every six months – has had two major “spike” increases well above the CPI. The rate increase in August last year was the biggest excise increase in 50 years, and this was increased by a further 3.7% just two months ago.

And so, dear reader, all these many things are contributing to a snowballing effect that is driving the retail prices of so many whiskies to new and unnervingly high levels. Even whiskies considered common or garden-variety (unfairly, I might add) such as Glenfiddich 12yo and Glenlivet 12yo are now retailing at around $85. Lagavulin 16yo – a whisky once considered de rigueur on anyone’s home shelf – now sits at $200+!

The one re-assuring or pleasing thing in all of this is that my colleague advised, “We’d rather pass on the costs and have a higher price on the shelf at the shop, than try and cut corners in our production and end up compromising the quality of our whisky.” And when it comes to good whisky, I think that’s something we’ll take heart in.

“The price of sherry casks has gone up 68% in the last year alone. Imagine what that means for the operational expenses incurred by some of our favourite distilleries!”

Andrew Derbidge ~ Chairman and NSW Manager, SMWS Australia

Music & Malts

Icome from a rather musicoriented family background. I went through a music-focused high school, the same school my mother and grandmother went through, on trumpet as my main instrument. I also had to study piano as a mandatory course, music theory, musicianship, advanced composition, Viennese modelling, audiology, transcription, sightreading, arranging, notation, orchestration, and recording tech.

I’ve also been lucky enough to perform with some incredible ensembles, solo with an orchestra, travel parts of the world with a band, Scandinavia with a quintet, and section with some of the best orchestras in Australia. I’m not saying this to brag, I’m saying this to let you know this was the easy part when compared to pairing whisky with music! Reading black dots on a page and turning it into music is a breeze when compared to finding that perfect whisky pairing with music.

WATCH THE LATEST CASK PREVIEWS on our YouTube channel

Pairing whisky with other things is also relatively a bit easier in some ways, depending on who you ask and to what level of complexity you’re striving for. Whisky with food, with chocolate, with mixers, with fruit, with citrus, etc. This is all fun in the flavour and can invoke those mind-blowing moments where the perfect pairing comes together in either a complementary or contrasting way. It’s rare, but when it happens, a certain perfect pairing can change everything we think in food and spirit. It re-wires our brain. It creates those moments of flavour elation which seem almost impossible in meeting textures together. I’d like to think that it might be possible to occasionally create the impossible here as well.

You want to know what’s harder than all of that sometimes? Pairing music and malts! Yes, it’s true. Music is infinitely subjective, and will mean something to someone that carries no meaning to someone else. So then we find the technical aspects of pairing: this whisky is a nice, big, grubby, peated malt. That could pair with a big, dirty, grubby, metal album? Maybe, but that comes across as a bit mono-dimensional and simplistic. A bit like pairing blue cheese with peated whisky; sure it often works, but it’s only one side of the story and lazy. Okay, so we then have to look at character in music versus character in malts. Maybe start by pairing the textural and timbral qualities of the music with the textural and timbral qualities of the whisky? A whisky that is thick in mouthfeel with an album whose production quality is thick and cloying?

How about The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds with a big, creamy Glencadam? Or on the other end of the spectrum, some Leroy Anderson with this month’s 2.134 ‘Herbs on a sponge cake’? It has been a while between Light & Delicate flavour profile appearances, and the last one we saw was a properly incredible Welsh whisky, from memory!

I guess my point here is we need to find the ‘anchor’ for each of these pairings, much more so than simplistic flavour pairings can cater for. The mix of texture, time, origin, and personal connection will play a much stronger role. I hope you enjoy our month of Music & Malts for its second year running this April. As always, you can catch some cask previews on our YouTube channel (of which we’d love for you to hit the subscribe button, too), and more at our amazing experiences this month.

“Reading black dots on a page and turning it into music is a breeze when compared to finding that perfect whisky pairing with music.”

Matt Bailey ~ Branch Director, SMWS Australia

DEEP FROM WITHIN THE BODEGA

Meaty distillate, long fermentation, and stainless steel bits to reduce copper contact are just some of the curios of this Diageo workhorse distillery, code named ’41’ in Society livery.

Distillery 41 was built in 1851 by a Mr William Mackenzie (well before his son Thomas would build distillery 65 across the river) and at one point in the late 1800’s was one of the biggest malt whisky distilleries operating in Scotland. Its other claim to fame throughout history is that it’s also the first distillery to install the classic pagoda on the kiln with the goal of minimising contact between the peat smoke and the drying malt.

The distillery also had the unfortunate history of being burned down, twice, and being faithfully and lovingly rebuilt twice. Modernisation has led the distillery today to being a lot more efficient, and probably less likely to burn to the ground, but it still maintains that heavy, rich, textural quality to the spirit, and when extra-matured in a rather special ex-bodega sherry butt it really comes alive.

For this release, we’ve worked closely with a cask supplier on sourcing some genuinely fantastic ex-bodega sherry butts to mature our spirit in. We’ll dig more into this topic of bodega vs seasoned casks on an upcoming YouTube video, but in the meantime I urge you not to miss this 41.149 Merry cherry sherry for our special Malt of the Month release. Notes of butterscotch pudding, sherry-soaked raisins, and dunnage floor mushrooms!

Available first Friday on the 7th of April at midday

AEST, and only through smws.com.au/shop.

MERRY CHERRY SHERRY

SPICY & DRY

CASK NO. 41.149

$189

REDUCED FROM $220

REGION Speyside

CASK TYPE 1st fill Oloroso ex-Bodega butt

AGE 11 years

DATE DISTILLED 28 June 2010

OUTTURN 601 bottles

ABV 57.8%

AUS ALLOCATION 66 bottles

The heady aromas of currants and raisins soaked in sweet sherry joined black cherry clafoutis desserts with butterscotch sweets and ginger. Cherries continued on the palate but now with nuts, charred wood and coriander seeds coated in treacle and citrus zest. Adding water uncovered sultanas, orange segments and baked peaches with fresh almonds, marzipan and creme catalan while salty sea air blew through an open sherry bodega. Within the bodega, complex oloroso flavours of walnuts and porcini mushrooms blended with heavy and oily malt spirit before a dash of lime juice splashed onto oak spices and dry tannins. After spending 9 years in an ex-oloroso butt this was transferred to an ex-bodega 1st fill oloroso butt for the remainder of its maturation.

DARWIN’S TIPPLE

Sheer brilliance in a glass. Long-term Society members are no stranger to spotting the ’35’ code, but it’s definitely been a while between drams for the code at this end of the spectrum of age. When first tasting this, it’s a remarkably clean and sparkling spirit. A playful spirit full of fresh stone fruit and hidden complexities, this might just be the perfect sipper to bring you back into summer as it fades away. Cracking good fun.

DARWIN’S TIPPLE

SWEET, FRUITY & MELLOW

CASK NO. 35.309

$170

REGION Speyside

CASK TYPE 1st fill bourbon barrel

AGE 9 years

DATE DISTILLED 28 June 2012

OUTTURN 226 bottles

ABV 60.3%

AUS ALLOCATION 48 bottles

An intriguing initial nose that opened with citrus bath salts and then evolved with laundered fabrics, pineapple cubes, melon liqueur and warm cedar wood. Some aromatic heather flower and mossy notes too. With water we found it became more buttery and sweet with barley sugars, lemon water, malt extract, pollens and kumquat. On arrival in the mouth we noted a creamy, Guinness foam note, then sweet dessert wines, yellow plums baked with calvados and things like marshmallow, apricot jam and vanilla custard. With reduction we found a more herbal theme with lemon verbena, wormwood and tea tree oil. Before lighter aspects like fruit scone mix, banana bread and fruity muesli.

WALKING THROUGH A MAGICAL LANDSCAPE

SWEET, FRUITY & MELLOW

CASK NO. 5.99

$290

WEEK 2

RELEASE

14TH APRIL

AS NATURE INTENDED

SWEET, FRUITY & MELLOW

CASK NO. 73.132

$180

WEEK 3

RELEASE

21ST APRIL

REGION Lowland

CASK TYPE 1st fill bourbon barrel

AGE 18 years

DATE DISTILLED 27 January 2003

OUTTURN 181 bottles

ABV 57.0%

AUS ALLOCATION 24 bottles

Walking through an exotic landscape where orange blossom and potpourri rain down over lilies, we were refreshed by a glass of banana beer, while watching the cooper toasting an oak cask. No banana beer on the palate – instead we found assorted chalky sweets, dried heather flowers, custard creams and jam donuts – just a hint of oaky tannins on the finish. With water, our magical landscape shifted to one of damp earth and watermelons below and coconuts, nectarines and peaches above. The palate was now a complex blend of orange oil, strawberry sherbets, chocolate shavings and chamomile tea. A complexity worth unravelling.

REGION Speyside

CASK TYPE 1st fill bourbon barrel

AGE 10 years

DATE DISTILLED 25 Mar 2011

OUTTURN 228 bottles

ABV 62.9%

AUS ALLOCATION 42 bottles

The initial nose suggested freshly laundered linens, citrus sherbets, pollen heavy white flowers and crisp green apples. A scattering of pear drops too. All fresh, green, bright and easy. Water enhanced the floral aspects with dried flowers in vase water, then freshly malted barley, sweetheart stout and Turkish delight. The palate when neat opened with lemon curds, biscuity cheesecake thickness and barley sugars. We also got vanilla syrup, dandelions and lemon shortbread. Reduction brought notes of limeade, mint choc chip ice cream and vanilla custard slice.

SOLO ICE CREAM SPIDERS

SWEET, FRUITY & MELLOW

CASK NO. 26.185

$195

LAST CHANCE

SPEYSIDE BALSAMIC

SPICY & SWEET

CASK NO. 46.131

$170

REGION Highland

CASK TYPE 1st fill bourbon barrel

AGE 8 years

DATE DISTILLED 23 October 2012

OUTTURN 245 bottles

ABV 61.1%

AUS ALLOCATION 245 bottles

The nose transports us to after-school sparkling lemon spiders and citrus lollies from the local corner store. Iced Vovo biscuits, vanilla and toffee chews. The palate is oddly dry and chalky, yet vibrant and zesty; heather honey, Kirk’s creaming soda and green apple slices sprinkled with lemon juice (preparing an apple pie); the finish warms with light spice, oak, lemon peel and leather. The reduced nose goes from green to yellow – sandalwood, passion fruit sorbet, lime juice over mango and beeswax candles in a cardboard box. The palate becomes juicier – lush grass, Starburst sweets (in wax paper), pineapple fritters with syrup and jasmine rice wrapped in banana leaf.

REGION Speyside

CASK TYPE 1st fill bourbon barrel

AGE 9 years

DATE DISTILLED 15 May 2012

OUTTURN 166 bottles

ABV 64.6%

AUS ALLOCATION 30 bottles

A fresh nose that imparted many summery impressions with notes of suncream and meadow flowers. Grassy, floral, bright and with plenty cereals, dried heather and hoppy ales. With water we got pine needles, clay, waxed canvass, white balsamic and mint julep. The neat palate opened with cough drops, soft waxes, citronella, plum eau de vie, crushed nettles, herbal teas and soft fudge. Surprisingly quaffable even at full strength. With water it reverted to the core ingredients with lots of lemon barley water, fresh cereals, bailed hay, grass, white flowers, dried apricot and heather honey.

HERBS ON A SPONGE CAKE

How can a whisky that’s at full cask strength of 59.4% be “Light & Delicate”?! It’s amazing the power of flavour and how it works. Flavour profiles aren’t linked to cask or age, they are purely the flavour, and this is precisely that. It’s the second oldest distillery code, bottled at a lovely 15 years in a 1st-fill exbourbon barrel, and just dances and floats like the chit chat on a Sunday arvo. Buttery popcorn, Victoria sponge cake, grassy herbs and fresh pastry. A real ‘time and place’ moment whisky.

Watch our video on Cask 2.134 on our YouTube channel, just search SMWS Australia on YouTube

HERBS ON A SPONGE CAKE

LIGHT & DELICATE

REGION

CASK TYPE 1st fill bourbon barrel

AGE 15 years

DATE DISTILLED 7 April 2006

OUTTURN 141 bottles

ABV 59.4%

AUS ALLOCATION 48 bottles

Delightful aromas of heather honey, buttered popcorn and ginger biscuits merged with fresh flowers and flambeed banana on victoria sponge cake. On the palate the sponge cake had a thick layer of cherry jam and a topping of vanilla icing. Zesty limes and pink grapefruit mixed with green grass before finishing with balsa wood and oak spices. Herbal notes and liquorice emerged with water along with honeysuckle, buttery pastry and rum and raisin ice cream. Flavours of juicy orange and lemon sorbet now combined with cinnamon, fennel and tarragon before turning into menthol and fresh pine sawdust on the finish.

SOCIETY EXPERIENCES

SYDNEY

MMMM: MAGNIFICENT MALTS & MUSIC MASTERCLASS

Join us for a very special evening as we explore some of the Society’s oldest whiskies and match them with music! This small, intimate event will be an opportunity to try some of the Society’s older whiskies by the dram. In fact, we’ve picked out a 23yo, a 29yo, two 30yo, a 31yo, and a 33yo from our Premium and Vaults Collection ranges to be savoured and enjoyed. We’ll be joined on the night by the fabulous Casey Golden trio, who’ll be playing live music sporadically throughout the evening and matching a specific piece of music to each featured malt. Get in fast!

Thursday 6 April, Royal Automobile Club, 89 Macquarie St, Sydney. 6:30pm for a 7pm start. More detail at smws.com.au/events

SYDNEY

SYDNEY WHISKY DINNER

The Maestro is back once more! Discover the true “1+1=3” moment in food and whisky pairings like no other on earth thanks to Franz Scheurer x collab with Jose Silva for one appearance and dinner. Come see culinary magic in action.

Wednesday 26 April, 7 Bay St Double Bay, 7pm for a 7:30pm start.

SYDNEY

MAY OUTTURN PREVIEW

Did you know we host a carefully-curated Outturn preview of the coming month ahead with our Partner Bar Captain’s Balcony each month? Join Matt Wooler for a night of preview casks and good banter. Date TBA. More detail at smws.com.au/events

MELBOURNE

ADDICTED TO AUDIO & MALTS

For a special first of its kind, we’re pairing up with our friends over at Addicted To Audio in Richmond for three hosts hosting three rooms of malts and super high-end audio storytelling. Even wanted to know how a Society dram tastes with a $1m speaker setup sounds?

Wednesday 19 April, Addicted to Audio, 453 Church St, Richmond. 6:30 for a 7pm start.

FOR OUR LATEST EVENT LISTINGS AND TO BOOK ONLINE VISIT SMWS.COM.AU/EVENTS

All the right notes

In his column from Unfiltered issue 37 in back in November 2017, SMWS UK honorary ambassador Hans Offringa explored the shared evolution and symmetry between his twin loves — a good whisky and great jazz.

“Jazz was born in a whisky barrel.”

ARTIE SHAW

Ilove jazz, especially the bebop variety. Listening with a dram in hand, contemplating the world at large, philosophising, generating ideas for new publications. That is what I used to do with my late friend and mentor Michael Jackson (1942-2007), who shared a love for dram and music with me.

One such evening I suggested writing a book in which I could blend both topics. Michael got the idea immediately and told me a nice story about a meeting he’d had with Dexter Gordon, many years previously. Apparently, the tall tenor sax player had a fondness for Lagavulin and loved a ‘smoky martini’ made with that peaty single malt from Islay.

That story not only set the tone for the evening, but also for Whisky & Jazz, a book I started researching when Michael was still alive. I found a great quote of clarinettist and author Artie

Shaw, showing me I was on the right track. Unfortunately, Michael passed away before its completion. It seemed only logical to dedicate Whisky & Jazz to him.

There are interesting similarities to be found between whisky and jazz. Both were crafted under the suppression of a neighbouring majority that looked down upon the craft as well as the craftsmen.

The illicit stills in the Highlands paradoxically flourished due to English suppression and eventually produced the most appreciated, most powerful expression — the single malt.

Jazz was born out of traditional folk music brought by African slaves to the Americas and first considered a raw and uneducated form of “noise” by the majority of the white population in the US, only decades later to be embraced by that same crowd.

There’s also something very specific about jazz and whisky. One has swing and the other has grain at its base. If either core ingredient is missing, it can’t possibly deliver a true product.

Different rhythms occur and different streams run from the still into the cask. How to assemble them is the true art. A bad solo can ruin a piece of music, whereas a bad cask can do the same with the whisky inside. The same applies to the opposite: A good solo and a good dram create true pleasure to the ear and the palate.

However, they do not exist solely by themselves. Solos have to be welded into the song, blended with the other instruments on the stage.

A single malt only can make a reputation for itself by being compared with others, preferably through a tasting enjoyed in good company.

Both whisky and jazz are acquired tastes, both products created by professional and dedicated craftsmen. On a micro-level, it’s about a single malt whisky blended with an individual musician’s performance.

A deeper dive into the life and times of those great individuals might deliver even more comparisons and show a true blend of music(ian) and whisky.

The blends I chose for Whisky & Jazz are personal preferences, not set in stone. I had a lot of fun with creating these combinations and can recommend you start blending music with your own SMWS bottlings of choice.

Here’s one for a start: Cask No. 10.115: Free the Imagination with Chet Baker’s Imagination. Distillery 10 produces drams that match Chet’s musical abilities. Gentle, inviting, harmonious and evocative.

Hans Offringa is the SMWS ambassador for the Netherlands. He and his wife, Becky Lovett Offringa, are The Whisky Couple, known for their whisky-related books, articles, photography and presentations.

Some copies of the coffee table style book Whisky & Jazz are still available at Amazon.com.au as well as a limited, slightly different paperback edition called Malts & Jazz. We have it on good authority that the author is planning to do a revision of the book.

“A good solo and a good dram create true pleasure to the ear and the palate.”

To celebrate our Music & Malts month in April, we’ re offering a special musically-themed giveaway with your chance to WIN one of five 12-month Spotify Premium gift vouchers, valued at $99 each.

Make your music stand out with a dram in hand, ad-free with a Spotify Premium voucher covering 12 months of listening and enjoying your own pairings at home.

To go in the draw, it’ s super simple: refer a friend to join the SMWS, get them to put your name in the referral box upon joining, and you’ re in. We’ ll draw the winners on Wednesday 3rd May by 2pm AEST.

Promotion runs from Saturday 1st April until Sunday 30th April. You can refer as many friends as you like and gain additional entries to win.

VIRTUAL TASTING

Music Malts

$89 * EACHSET

JOIN US LIVE! WEDNESDAY 26 APRIL, 7PM AEST

Join us for a special virtual tasting in April celebrating the connection between music and malts, tasting some marvellous new malts, pairing them up with music, and chatting with some musicians live about their thoughts on the styles and shapes in our glasses!

It’s a peach

Outturn]

Sun-kissed island paradise

[Premium Release]

Walking through a magical landscape [April Outturn]

Presented live like all good music should be, on Wednesday 26 April, at 7pm AEST

Tune in live on Facebook & YouTube or watch later at a time that suits.

GRAB YOUR VIRTUAL TASTING KIT AND JOIN IN THE FUN! SMWS.COM.AU/SHOP

*Available on Outturn day. Includes 5 x 30ml drams of the above bottlings, two tasting mats and full tasting notes.

CHALK AND PEPPER

SPICY & DRY

CASK NO. 13.93

$190

REGION Highland

CASK TYPE 2nd fill bourbon barrel

AGE 9 years

DATE DISTILLED 25 October 2012

OUTTURN 232 bottles

ABV 64.6%

AUS ALLOCATION 36 bottles

A typically big, bold and yet rather dry and austere profile initially. We got chalky qualities such as clay and white pebbles, along with canvass, digestive biscuits, turmeric and dried flowers. Some water brought deeper notes of cooking oils, camphor, new leather and a wee touch of creme caramel. The mouth initially displayed a robust oiliness of texture, along with medicines and dry waxes. Reduction enhanced these waxy tones and added tart citrus jellies, sooty notes, herbal toothpaste and warm peppery heat.

SMOKY DARK CAJUN

DEEP, RICH & DRIED FRUITS

CASK NO. 66.191

$370

EXTRA MATURED

REGION Highland

CASK TYPE 1st fill STR barrique

AGE 23 years

DATE DISTILLED 23 October 1997

OUTTURN 240 bottles

ABV 49.2%

AUS ALLOCATION 18 bottles

Where should we start; peat, soot and tar or a smoked herbal Martini cocktail or smoked blood orange, or treacle tart – certainly on the ‘dark side of the moon’ maybe even dragon blood incense! The taste was that of well charred bacon or in the deep American south, a New Orleans creole gumbo with a dark smoky cajun roux used as a thickening agent. After we added water we slow-cooked braised ox cheeks in red wine and while we waited, had a pulled beef brisket with a smoky spicy barbeque sauce. After 21 years in an ex-bourbon hogshead, we transferred this whisky into a first fill STR oloroso seasoned barrique.

REGION

SUN-KISSED ISLAND PARADISE

OLD & DIGNIFIED

CASK NO. 50.116

$785

PREMIUMBOTTLING

IT’S A PEACH

JUICY, OAK & VANILLA

CASK NO. 113.61

$180

Lowland

CASK TYPE 2nd fill bourbon barrel

AGE 31 years

DATE DISTILLED 26 January 1990

OUTTURN 78 bottles

ABV

45.8%

AUS ALLOCATION 36 bottles

The nose evokes a table laden with fruit (fresh figs, blackberries, perfumed pear, kumquats) – in the middle there’s a violin case holding a Stradivarius and a caramel log. The complex palate has green melon and custard apple, butterscotch and coffee creams, hints of prosciutto, Armagnac and leather (like toting your 1930’s suitcase through Funchal markets towards Blandy’s). The reduced nose is a sun-kissed island paradise – aromatherapy oils (sandalwood, patchouli, sage) a glass of port, hints of tobacco and floral perfumes, coffee and marshmallows. The juicy palate has peach, pear, citrus and sweet mint; then mouth-drying oak, orange peel and balsamico to finish.

REGION Speyside

CASK TYPE 1st fill bourbon barrel

AGE 11 years

DATE DISTILLED 4 October 2010

OUTTURN 199 bottles

ABV 65.4%

AUS ALLOCATION 36 bottles

We found ourselves in a German bakery - Windbeutel (classic cream puffs),Zimtschnecken (cinnamon rolls) and Quarktaschen (curd cheese turnover with puff pastry). Soft and mellow on the palate with silky pastry cream, coconut, mango and pineapple as well as, back in the bakery, white chocolate cheesecake. Following the addition of water an effervescent mixture of a gin and tonic with a slice of Seville orange alongside cinnamon roasted peaches with honey mascarpone whipped cream emerged before we were served that classic cocktail from Venice invented in 1948. It was a white peach Bellini, blending peaches into a puree adding prosecco and garnished with a slice of peach.

THE CHESHIRE CAT

If you know, you know. There are two distilleries in Taiwan making incredible single malt whisky, and this is an older, peated, single cask expression showcasing the best on offer here. Not all peat is created equal, and sometimes you crave that boggy mossy Islay style. Sometimes you crave the clinical and clean highland style. But sometimes you might crave the style such is distillery 138, so expect layers of thick black miso, umami, fermented soybeans and smoked olive oil. Insanely complex and rare, don’t snooze on this.

ALICE THROUGH THE TASTING GLASS

PEATED

CASK NO. 138.8

$260

REGION Taiwan

CASK TYPE 1st fill barrel #3 char level

AGE 6 years

DATE DISTILLED 15 January 2016

OUTTURN 208 bottles

ABV 55.8%

AUS ALLOCATION 42 bottles

We were surprised by the subtlety of this one. An initial nose with ethereal wafts of herbal smoke, then precise, sharp salinity and eventually sour cherries and balsamic vinegar. This evolved towards tarry rope, smoked sea salt and squid ink. Reduction brought more umami savoury vibes of black miso, soy sauce, cured game meats and pork scratchings flavour with five spice. The neat palate was initially all on sour red fruits, umami paste, fermenting soybeans, natural tar extracts, hessian and smoked olive oil. With water it became more delicate showing notes of smoked rosewater, peated gewürztraminer, dried seaweed, charred fennel, marmite and dark chocolate with sea salt.

Sometimes, the delay in receiving bottlings from the UK means we get bottlings well after they’ve picked up some of the biggest accolades overseas. Cask 53.389 Goodnight and joy picked up a whopping 94 points in the Ultimate Spirits Challenge just recently, so we’re doubly glad to have picked up a small allocation to share around with members this month. Aged for 30 years exclusively in refill sherry, this special Vaults Collection release showcases a blockbuster of a bouquet combining classic Islay notes of smoldering campfire, salt-crusted stony seashores, worn saddle leather, and preserved citrus with a comforting dollop of sweet cream and baked orchard fruits.

GOODNIGHT AND JOY COLLECTION

GOODNIGHT AND JOY

PEATED

CASK NO. 53.389

$1,395

REGION Islay

CASK TYPE Refill sherry butt

AGE 30 years

DATE DISTILLED 21 June 1991

OUTTURN 499 bottles

ABV 55.5%

AUS ALLOCATION 30 bottles

A haunting and evocative nose that brimmed with undulating and soft notes of seawater, green olives, red diesel, mercurochrome, Fisherman’s Friends, eucalyptus throat sweets, peppered mackerel, natural tar extracts and smoked German beers. The kind of aroma you could go on picking notes from for hours. Water brought the warmth of mustard seed, gorse, heather ales, dried wildflowers, smoky struck minerals, aged Geuze beers, salted almonds and steel wool. Beautifully complex and intricate. The neat palate unspooled like a morass of salted mead, herbal vinaigrette, smoked olive oil, hot smoked sardines, salted butter, chicory, fish sauce, petrol and fresh oysters smothered in lime juice. Reduction brought a hyper-fresh and pure, almost crystalline minerality. Salinity, petrol jelly, crushed aspirin, sun-dried seaweed, rock pools encrusted with fizzing barnacles and simmering pasta water.

Right time, right place, right sounds

Have you ever attended an exceptional bar or restaurant that ticked all the boxes, except one — the soundtrack? Scoring a venue is not as easy as it might sound and is an often-overlooked aspect. When it’s good, it can be easy to not consciously notice or think about it, but you know it’s elevating your experience. When it doesn’t suit, it can stick out like a sore thumb, though. Why is this so important, you might ask? Just like a good dram, a venue is the sum of several parts, and if one part is inadequate, the balance is tilted.

Water, barley, wood, time (maturation); service, quality, comfort, music. Whilst the key ingredients of whisky are pretty set in stone, those of a venue will vary based on personal preference (and the type of venue); I would comfortably argue the above four are pretty vital, however. As customers, it can be easy not to think about the effort and strategy behind what goes into a space’s soundtrack, and some of your favourite venues might put a lot more effort into it than is evident. I had a chat with

a few different bars and venues to see how they each approached scoring their space — as it turned out, there were a few similarities in tactics even though their main focuses differed.

The sound of silence

Have you ever tried having a conversation in a venue without music? It can feel a bit strange. Think of it this way: it’s kind of like having an extra person sitting with you that always knows what to say. Marek, one of the founders of Waxflower (a boutique vinyl listening bar in Melbourne), says that “Music can fill the space between words, and in those moments, it’s easy to relax and drink in the good vibes. We’re often surprised by how the music creates a social atmosphere that people feel comfortable in.”

This is a sneak peek of a feature article coming in April Unfiltered #80. Members can read the full article (plus other great pieces) from Wednesday, April 12, midday AEST, exclusively at smws.com.au/unfiltered-magazine.

UNFILTERED MAGAZINE #80

COMING WEDNESDAY APRIL 12