Review: First look at whiskies from Future Proof, Imbue Distillery, Wildflower + Poor Toms, Craft & Co and Noodledoof

Luke McCarthy -
Whisky Reviews
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On tasting: Imbue Distillery Angel’s Share Triple Wood and Sherry Cask, Craft & Co Distillery Solera Aged Whisky, Black Flank Single Malt Whisky, Noodledoof Koroit Single Malt Whisky and Wildflower + Poor Toms Whisky Release 2023

If, like me, you’ve been keeping an eye on the broader booze trade at the moment, you’d know that times are tough. The Australian wine industry is facing one of its most uncertain periods in decades, while in Australian beer land a brewery seems to be going under every other week, even established and well-loved brands like Melbourne’s Two Birds.

Some local brewers, seeing how competitive the local craft beer market was becoming, diversified their businesses a few years back and got into distilling. Many released gins to start, as you do. But now, several whiskies from Australian brewers have arrived.

The Craft & Co (Melbourne), Deeds Brewing/Future Proof Distilling (Melbourne), and Noodledoof Brewing & Distilling Co. (Koroit) fit this mould. The whiskies they’ve recently released, reviewed below, show serious care and attention to detail, and it will be fascinating to see how they’re received by the wider whisky and beer drinking public.

Also reviewed below are Imbue Distillery’s first single malt whiskies. The Melbourne-based distillers are well known for their award-winning gins and the inaugural Angel’s Share whiskies are the first in a program of releases. Distiller and co-founder Mick Sheard told me Imbue will eventually release a diverse range of single cask bottlings, including a wheated Bourbon-style whisky and some experimental mixed grain whiskies.

And then we have what is, for me, one of the most exciting whisky releases of the year. The Wildflower + Poor Toms collaboration whisky is one of the craziest and most enthralling Australian whisky releases I’ve come across. There is deep thinking and design to this project, and I can’t wait to taste future whisky releases from these two stars of the Sydney brewing and distilling scenes.

  • Imbue Distillery Angel's Share Sherry Cask Single Malt Whisky
    The Stats
    • ABV: 44%
    • Price Band: $ $ $ $ $
    • Style: Single malt whisky
    • Production Story: Distilled at Imbue Distillery through a small 175 litre pot from a mash of pale malt. Matured in an ex-fino sherry cask for 2.5 years and released May 2023. 160 bottles in total.
    • Location: Melbourne, VIC
    • Score: 83
    Nose
    Soft initially and a little funky. Cashews, butterscotch and palpable dry fino notes. It's not leaping out of the glass, but there's malt, there's bright spirit and there's nutty sherry.
    Palate
    Medium-bodied, buttery, nutty and the fino funk on the nose carries through here in spades. Salted caramel, dried raisins and a slightly odd new leather note. Dry and youthful as it progresses, but the interplay between cask and spirit is pretty cool.
    Finish
    Drying at the tail. Biscuits, more salted caramel and that leather note persists.
    Comments
    A lot to like here. Great cask choice, complements the spirit well while adding just enough funk and complexity. Still some some youth on show but not immature. No shortage of character to the spirit, and pretty quaffable all things considered. Price is on point, too ($145/700ml).
  • Imbue Distillery Angel's Share Triple Wood Single Malt Whisky
    The Stats
    • ABV: 49%
    • Price Band: $ $ $ $ $
    • Style: Single malt whisky
    • Production Story: As above, although this release was initially matured in an ex-Gospel Solera Rye whisky cask, transferred to ex-brandy casks and then finished in a pedro ximenez cask. Released May 2023. 256 bottles in total.
    • Location: Melbourne, VIC
    • Score: 79
    Nose
    A whole lotta raisins, grape must, burnt toffee and wood to contend with. Spicy, too - peppercorn, dill, nutmeg and musty leather. Less of the malt and spirit here, triple the wood influence.
    Palate
    Super rich and syrupy. Boozy fruitcake, stewed raspberries, semillon botrytis and a hint of spirit heat underneath it all.
    Finish
    That spirit heat persists. Plenty of rich gooiness to counter and the wood gets a little grippy.
    Comments
    A potent package. Fans of rich and gooey malts can definitely get around this. A little disjointed in parts, and some spirit heat that hasn't quite revolved yet, but very likeable.
  • Craft & Co Distillery Solera Aged Whisky
    The Stats
    • ABV: 56%
    • Price Band: $ $ $ $ $
    • Style: Single malt whisky
    • Production Story: Distilled at Craft & Co through a small pot still from a mash which includes lightly roasted malts. Matured in small oloroso sherry casks and vats coopered with cherry and acacia wood. Released February 2023. 500 bottles in total.
    • Location: Melbourne, VIC
    • Score: 73
    Nose
    A bit to get your head around. Caramel chews, toffee and cherries but then an astringent heat - varnish, black tea and wood shavings. I'm guessing some of that is the acacia and cherry wood influence. Can't say I'm a fan of it.
    Palate
    Huge caramel and nutty sherry upfront, clearly some quality oloroso casks at play. Then things start to go down hill. The astringency from the nose carries into texta, bitter cocoa nibs, fence posts and amaro. Burnt espresso, wood plastic. Difficult to find the malt and spirit through it all. Water helped to open up and settle things, slightly.
    Finish
    The acacia/cherry components start to really grip and bite. Carries on the abv, but it's tannic and very dry.
    Comments
    I've read that a lot of work went into this first release so I don't get any enjoyment out of saying this is has been overcooked. The cask treatment has completely smothered the spirit and there's a heat and astringency to this which is pretty unpleasant. You sense there was some intrigue in the spirit from the roasted malt components and the oloroso casks have chipped in some delightful caramel flavours. But overall, too much wood, bitterness and tannin involved.
  • Black Flank Single Malt Whisky
    The Stats
    • ABV: 42%
    • Price Band: $ $ $ $ $
    • Style: Single malt whisky
    • Production Story: Distilled at Alchemy Distillery from saison beer wash supplied by Deeds Brewing/Future Proof Distilling. The first batch is a combination of ex-Bourbon and ex-red wine casks aged for around three years that were married together. Released June 2023.
    • Location: Melbourne, VIC
    • Score: 85
    Nose
    Mellow and fruity opening. Red berries, banana and kiwi fruit mingle with the caramel and vanilla extracted from the Bourbon casks. Opens into a fragrant, forest floor character as the red wine cask components step up. Colour is notable here: it's got a pale sort of rosé tinge to it. Certainly less cask forward than others in this line-up.
    Palate
    Gentle entry, then spice and fruit as it develops. Fresh, crunchy malt characters, spirit and some youth but there's lovely cereal complexity here. Cask influence is restrained. You feel both cask types but neither dominates. Hint of funk from the yeast and malt profile.
    Finish
    Slightly drying. Fruitcake and tannin from the red wine casks.
    Comments
    Well balanced, well blended and I love the interplay of components. Cracking price ($99/700ml) and there are nods and references to malts like Starward with the use of wine casks and the fruit-forward spirit profile, but this is more distillate-driven. The malt and the ferment character have been given room to shine. A lot to like here. Worth a look.
  • Noodledoof Koroit Single Malt Whisky
    The Stats
    • ABV: 47.5%
    • Price Band: $ $ $ $ $
    • Style: Single malt whisky
    • Production Story: Distilled at Noodledoof Brewing through a customised small pot still using malts supplied by Voyager Craft Malt. Initially matured in a 300 litre French oak ex-shiraz cask and then finished in a smaller, heavily charred shiraz cask for a few months. Released November 2022. 200 bottles in total.
    • Location: Koroit, VIC
    • Score: 84
    Nose
    Burnt toffee and a surprising meaty note upfront. Wood smoke, pork ribs, sea salt and stewed berries as the shiraz cask influence comes on. Floral jasmine notes with time, then lollie teeth, banana bread and orange oil.
    Palate
    Not as meaty and rich here, more to the perfumed, confectionary and fruity elements in the nose. There's still a thread of subtle smoke and cured meat running through this, and the shiraz cask adds just enough richness and heft without becoming overtly winey.
    Finish
    Medium-bodied through the finish, with candy apple and dark berries. Great choice of bottling strength.
    Comments
    Now this is an interesting package. It veers between something floral, fruity, smoky and meaty, with the latter bringing to mind some youthful Karuizawa and Craigellachies. Intriguing spirit profile, the ferment really shines here, and the cask treatment adds just enough flavour and structure without becoming domineering. It's a pricey first offering ($250/500ml) but absolutely worth a bash if you come across it.
  • Wildflower + Poor Toms Whisky
    The Stats
    • ABV: 48%
    • Price Band: $ $ $ $ $
    • Style: Mixed grain whisky
    • Production Story: Distilled at Poor Toms Distillery through a hybrid pot-column still between 2018 and 2020 from barrel-aged ales made by Wildflower Brewing. The ales start with NSW heritage barley and wheat and are fermented with yeasts and bacteria foraged from native Australian flowers. This first 2023 release is a marriage of whiskies that were matured in American oak ex-muscat barrels that also once held Wildflower beer, 500 litre French oak puncheons and ex-Bourbon barrels. Released June 2023. 622 bottles in total.
    • Location: Sydney, NSW
    • Score: 88
    Nose
    Unlike any whisky I've nosed before. Incredibly aromatic. Immediately you're drawn to the floral notes from the hops and the ferment. There's wattleseed, white flowers, banana and lavender. Biscuity malt notes follow, and the gentle presence of the various casks used here chime in and out.
    Palate
    Refined, biscuity, fruity and floral. A pleasant puckering sourness and some grip and funk. There's a hint of youth but it's beautiful spirit. Buttery oak and musty muscat, but the cask influence here is only subtle. So different and unusual but the flavours will be familiar to anyone who's spent time in Australian bushland.
    Finish
    It doesn't quite carry through on the finish. Soft and restrained.
    Comments
    A complete original. This pushes the boundaries of what whisky is and what it can be. Never tasted anything like it before, but in saying that, a lot of the ideas at work here are very old and traditional. If you've tried hopped whiskies before or single malts matured in ex-IPA or other ale casks, of which there are many, then you might be hesitant about the success or otherwise of this project, as I was. But then taste this and you find something that's been so meticulously constructed and blended to ensure that no single element dominates or becomes too cloying. It won't be for everyone, but as an invocation of Australian place and flavour, this is a serious achievement.
How We Score
Luke McCarthy
Luke McCarthy is the editor and publisher of Oz Whisky Review. An independent writer, author and drinks columnist, Luke's written about whisky and spirits for numerous Australian and international publications and is a judge at the Australian Distilled Spirits Awards. His book, The Australian Spirits Guide, the first to tackle the history and resurgence of the Australian spirits industry, was published in 2016 by Hardie Grant Books.