Timboon Distillery Smoky 1881 Single Malt Whisky
Like all Timboon whiskies, this has the exact distillation and bottling dates hand-written on the back label. It's nice when you spend money on a craft product to feel genuinely connected to the people who made it with little details like that. I wish more Australian whiskies would follow suit. This particular whisky was aged for shy of 6 years, a long time by Aussie standards, and includes a small amount of imported peated barley in the recipe to give it just a whiff of smokiness, a-la Highland Park or Oban single malts from Scotland, rather than the heavily peated beasts of Islay like Ardbeg and Laphroaig. The result is a wonderful nose of smoked apricot, slightly overcooked shortbread and toasted oats. It's like a bowl of Aussie muesli, perhaps. The large format cask (200L) has allowed the spirit to shine and not overpower it with fortified wine. The smoke is powerful through the palate but dissipates quickly, leaving a nice lingering grain sweetness and just a hint of wet cardboard. Still, this dram shows a lot of balance and is a pleasure to drink.
