Review: New peated and smoked Australian malts

Luke McCarthy -
Whisky Reviews
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On tasting: Archie Rose Red Gum Smoked, TIB The Peated Vatted Malt, Furneaux Flinders Island Peated Bourbon Cask, Corowa Peated Ex-Bourbon Cask #242, Highwayman Batch #3.0 Fires to Floods, Black Gate Bourbon Cask Peated BG095, Limeburners Darkest Winter #M484

The heaters are turning on, the chimneys are starting to smoke, Fèis Ìle’s about to take place, it’s time to get stuck into some peaty stuff.

This line-up was a treat. I tasted these whiskies over a few days and continued to find different nuances and thoughts on what’s possible in the Australian peated (smoked?) whisky realm.

We’ve been able to review and conduct side-by side tastings of a huge array of Australian peated whiskies over the last few years. I can’t recommend the experience highly enough. You really build a picture of how different processes and ideas affect the flavours being developed.

Every year, the category evolves and new questions are asked. For instance, the Archie Rose Red Gum Smoked is, I think, a fantastic progression of the conversation – there’s a deftness and drinkability to it that a number of whiskies using Australian native ingredients have struggled to achieve.

We’ll endeavour to review more recently released peated Aussie whiskies in the next few months. But in the meantime, get around some of these.

  • Archie Rose Red Gum Smoked Single Malt Whisky
    The Stats
    • ABV: 53%
    • Price Band: $ $ $ $ $
    • Style: Single malt whisky
    • Production Story: Distilled 19 November 2022 at Archie Rose's Rosebery site from a five malt mashbill where the pale malt was smoked with red gum wood by Voyager Craft Malt. Matured in ex-apera casks and bottled January 2022. 2005 bottles in total.
    • Location: Sydney, NSW
    • Score: 87
    Nose
    Light & Tangy chips and sweet earth. The red gum smoked malt juts out but it's well integrated. Some fragrant, musty perfumy notes, peach core, paprika-heavy cured sausage, eucalypt leaves, tobacco and ash. Brilliant nose, and surprisingly balanced considering the components involved.
    Palate
    Spicy and chocolatey. Less of the smoked red gum here. The apera is much louder across the palate and it gangs up with the roasted malts and things turn a little dry and cocoa-heavy, but there's still enough malt and richness to counter.
    Finish
    More dark chocolate and smoked meats, and some of the fruits from the nose come late.
    Comments
    This is impressive. In a strange sort of way, I find the malt profile here to be more together than some batches of the regular Archie single malt, where there's often a bit of a clash going on. Not sure the cask selection best exemplifies the complexity of the spirit - I wonder if a less active refill cask might've allowed that complexity to sing more clearly. But as a whisky with a genuine Australian native flavour to it (where drinkability has been a core issue), this is the best tasting expression around that idea I've tried so far.
  • TIB The Peated Vatted Malt Whisky
    The Stats
    • ABV: 48.2%
    • Price Band: $ $ $ $ $
    • Style: Blended malt whisky
    • Production Story: A vatting by TIB, where three casks, two ex-Bourbon and one peated second fill sherry, where married together. Bottled October 2021. 211 bottles in total.
    • Location: Hobart, TAS
    • Score: 88
    Nose
    Fleshy, tropical fruits, raisins and lemon pith. Tinned peaches on ice cream. The earthy, almost campfire smoke sits atop it all and turns herbal and a little saline.
    Palate
    Great texture and weight here, and less smoky than the nose suggests. The tropical fruit vanilla theme continues - kiwi fruit and guava. The peat remains subtle, nothing more than an undercurrent.
    Finish
    Fades a little here, but in a pleasant, restrained way.
    Comments
    This has a lightness of touch that you don't often associate with Tim Duckett's antics. Two high quality Bourbon casks are complemented brilliantly by hints of apera and a gentle smoke. Is the mad old Duckett finally mellowing? I must've said it before somewhere but it's worth repeating: for what's on offer, the TIB vatted malts are some of the best drinking value for money whiskies being produced in Australia right now.
  • Furneaux Distillery Flinders Island Peated Bourbon Cask
    The Stats
    • ABV: 48%
    • Price Band: $ $ $ $ $
    • Style: Single malt whisky
    • Production Story: Distilled 2019 at Furneaux Distilling from Tasmanian malted barley that was smoked using Flinders Island peat. Matured in ex-Heaven Hill Bourbon casks and bottled 19 March 2022. 400 bottles in total.
    • Location: Flinders Island, TAS
    • Score: 88
    Nose
    Big caramel and vanilla upfront, and then coastal scrub and sea salt. Paprika, burnt sage and macadamia.
    Palate
    Deliciously creamy and malty - casks have worked a treat here. Butterscotch and salted biscuits and hints of sea air, campfire and brine.
    Finish
    Great carry through. Earthy smoke lingering.
    Comments
    The next stage for Furneaux, where everything has been produced onsite at Flinders Island. I feel like this is a little more earthy and peat-forward than previous expressions I've tried, and there's a bit more of that Flinders Island flora here. Wonderful creamy richness on the palate, too. If you haven't tried any Furneaux yet, get on board.
  • Corowa Peated Ex-Bourbon Cask Single Malt Whisky (Cask #242) 
    The Stats
    • ABV: 55%
    • Price Band: $ $ $ $ $
    • Style: Single malt whisky
    • Production Story: Distilled at Corowa Distilling 15 November 2017 from a mash of peated Scottish malt and matured in a single first-fill ex-Jack Daniels cask. Bottled 17 June 2020. 394 bottles in total.
    • Location: Corowa, NSW
    • Score: 82
    Nose
    Spritely and grungy. Hay and fresh cut grass, tangerine and honey. Plenty of vanilla - good cask this one.
    Palate
    Slight kerosene (pleasant) and some youth and prickle upfront. There's a nice malt and peat hit across the mid-palate as it begins to find its way, bringing Lanoline, white bread and barbecue smoke.
    Finish
    Big and bold, and the abv really carries it, though a drop of water integrated some of the flavours for me.
    Comments
    A Corowa take on an Islay malt, and gives you a great look at the Corowa spirit profile. Possibly could've been held in cask a little longer because there's a few rough edges, although I kinda like that about it.
  • Highwayman Batch #3.0 Fires to Floods Single Malt Whisky
    The Stats
    • ABV: 53.9%
    • Price Band: $ $ $ $ $
    • Style: Single malt whisky
    • Production Story: A marriage of peated and unpeated (Scottish peated malt) casks distilled by Dan Woolley at Lord Byron Distillery. The whiskies range from 2 to 3.5 years old, with 17 different casks used, including PX sherry, tawny, red wine and Bourbon casks.
    • Location: Byron Bay, NSW
    • Score: 85
    Nose
    Cherries, plum sauce, raspberry jam and polished wood. That black tea, almost temples character I often get from Highwayman. As it opens up, there's a lot to unpack: strawberries, smoked meat, old library books and a hint of peat smoke underneath all the layers.
    Palate
    Concentrated and dense, as is Highwayman's way. Again the cherries, hinoki wood smoke and builds into a rich, slightly umami, very cask-led experience, landing somewhere between leather, burnt toffee and old cooperage. Like the abv, very drinkable for something so layered.
    Finish
    Fades nicely into dark chocolate and molasses, but gets a little dry on the tail.
    Comments
    A lot going on here, but also the softest in terms of peat in this line-up. It's an intricate balance of flavours, and a real achievement to bring together the different components into a cohesive whole. Some of those dense sherry cask Japanese malts that used to wow us before the prices went insane came to mind when trying this. Interested to see how the peat is brought forward in future releases.
  • Black Gate Bourbon Cask Peated Malt Whisky (BG095)
    The Stats
    • ABV: 57.8%
    • Price Band: $ $ $ $ $
    • Style: Single malt whisky
    • Production Story: Distilled April 2018 from a mash of Scottish peated malt and matured in an ex-Buffalo Trace Bourbon cask. Bottled June 2021. 355 bottles in total.
    • Location: Mendooran, NSW
    • Score: 90
    Nose
    Surprisingly sweet and malty. Plenty of vanilla, cut grass and lifted green fruits, and none of the grunge I was expecting. The peat eventually comes on with an earthy, petrichor, slightly salty edge.
    Palate
    Fudge and nougat, and brilliant integration between spirit and cask. Poached pear, brown sugar, sauternes and some lifted floral notes. So together, and pretty damn seamless. 57.8% abv - you're joking, right?
    Finish
    That nutty peanut brittle carries, with wafts of sweet peat.
    Comments
    A surprise package. Fragrant, fruity, malty and it's been given the right amount of time to integrate and hit its straps. Sprit-forward, restrained cask influence, and the peat has been so well integrated throughout the experience. Delicious.
  • Limeburners Darkest Winter Single Malt Whisky Cask #M484
    The Stats
    • ABV: 63.2%
    • Price Band: $ $ $ $ $
    • Style: Single malt whisky
    • Production Story: Distilled at Great Southern in Albany from West Australian barley which has been given an extended smoking (post-malt) with peat collected from a farm west of Albany, near the Valley of the Giants. Matured solely in an ex-Bourbon cask and bottled at natural cask strength. 212 bottles in total.
    • Location: Albany, WA
    • Score: 90
    Nose
    There's some heat from the abv for sure, but that blows off with time and the darkness lightens up. Flecks of resin, sea air, wet bush floor, and vanilla wafer from the cask. With the addition of water, cereal malt and hay.
    Palate
    Starts creamy and malty, and then that piney, earthy smoke rises up. The peat takes you all sorts of places, from pepperberry to finger lime to a sweet eucalyptus. With water, yep, it's probably a better drinking experience, that malty creaminess comes to the fore and some of the peat smoke becomes more discernible. But I really it like it neat, too.
    Finish
    Huge finish - citrus, vanilla and smoked Australian wood.
    Comments
    The biggest and boldest of this line-up. Neat, it's a boisterous smoke bomb, and as with most peated Limeburners expressions, this tastes like where it's from, which is a real achievement. The peat flavours can take some getting used to, but this is a properly Australian peated whisky. When Limeburners peated malts are on, like this one, they're really on.
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.