Scotch whisky is wonderful, but great whisky is made worldwide as we all know. Australian whiskies are sometimes forgotten or not really available in Europe and the US, and they do not get enough PR. Most of you know Lark which is doing a great job, but Bakery Hill and others are sometimes obscure. I know I have not heard about this distillery until last year, when my good whisky friend David Ligoff (Owner of World Of Whisky shop in Sydney) came for a visit in the holy land. David, a former South African has family in Israel, and was kind enough to pop in for a few drams at Whisky Israel Towers. i know this happened nearly a year ago, but as you know it’s very busy down here in WI towers, and i did not get to write proper notes and thank David for his visit and everything.
David hard at work in his shop
David, whom I’ve met online on twitter and FB, brought with him two very interesting Aussie whiskies : This one and A cask strength Lark, I am going to review soon. We had a lovely evening, shared a few of those, and some from my bar,and spoke about whisky in general and Australian whisky. I did not hear about this shop, but what he told me was awesome, and as it appears his shop is just amazing, and also serves as the Ardbeg Embassy in Australia. I was very impressed, and promised I’d come for a visit one day, when i am down under.
About Bakery Hill
Bakery hill is a small distillery Situated in Bayswater, Victoria, established in 1999 by David Baker a former food scientist. The distillery uses 100% malt to produce its whisky, they also state they do not use any Caramel colouring in any of their whiskies. their wash is produced in 1000L batches which is then traditionally double-distilled in a copper pot still. initial wash distillation, which takes on average about 8 hrs., produces a low wine which is at about 26% ABV, then the low wines produced from a number of wash distillations is collected and then re-distilled carefully to produce , new make spirit which is set aside for subsequent barrelling at 65% ABV. Barrelling at Bakery Hill is done using select American Oak ex Bourbon barrels,French Oak casks are also used for the production of their classic double wood style.
Bakery Hill uses small casks (volumes of either 50L or 100L ) and due to the greater contact area for the new spirit in these barrels aging occurs faster.
Bakery Hill Peated Malt, NAS , 46% ABV, $109.00(AU)
Nose: Biscuity With earthy peat underneath. Sweet and malty. Creamy some Damp wood. Sweet dough and lemon.
Palate: Welcome to peat land! Lots of it.earthy with malty notes too. tobacco leaves, and lovely creamy feel to it.Not medicinal at all. No tar. No coastal stuff over here. Biscuity and Spicy with pepper and chilly. Lots of dough too. Fresh bread sprinkled with chilly. I really like this one.
Finish: Cocoa. Malt and earthy peat.
A very enjoyable dram, I really liked the nose and palate, very different, but very very good in any standard. It’s a great malt. Would love to try the CS version, Should be even better. Australian malt rocks. Looking forward to trying more of that.
Score: 88/100
Sincere thanks to David for bringing over this bottle from down under, and for a very enjoyable evening, too long ago.
Thanks for the review.
Just to clarify, the smaller casks make it mature sooner not age faster. If it has been in the cask two years it’s still only two years old.
yes quite so!