Review: The latest in peated and smoked Australian whiskies

Julian White -
Whisky Reviews
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On tasting: Starward Peated Finish, Iniquity Flustercluck Too, Hobart Whisky Laphroaig Cask Finished, 78 Degrees Triple Smoke Whiskey, Morris Smoked Muscat and Country to Coast Collab Black Gate and Fleurieu Blended Malt

Another year, another line-up of intriguing Australian peaters and smokers. Experimentation in this space is bounding ahead at speed, with distillers trying out new flavours and ideas and everyone aiming for consistency and integration.

In a way, we’ve got the best of both worlds with the whiskies below. We’ve got the traditional Scottish method, where Australian distillers have imported Scottish peated malt to add classic peat smoke flavours to their whiskies. See the Country to Coast bottling for an expression of that style – the collaboration blended malt which has taken out nearly every award going this year.

To achieve a similar affect, Australian distillers are now finishing their whiskies in casks that previously contained heavily peated Scottish malts (Laphroaig, Lagavulin, etc).

With very little in the way of commercial maltings in Australia to smoke grain in the traditional way, this is one of the latest methods distillers have been turning to. Success has been a little varied, but Hobart Whisky’s recent Laphroaig Cask Finished offering, reviewed below, is one of the best examples of the style I’ve tasted so far (Killara Distillery have also released a cracker in the same vein).

And then, we’ve got the left field methods: smoking grain with different woods and source materials to add completely unique flavours. See the 78 Degrees Triple Smoke Whiskey below for a wild take on that approach.

With the latter, the flavours can take some getting used to, especially if we’re comparing them to Scottish peated whiskies. Bear in mind that the Scottish industry have been trialling, researching and honing their craft for a couple of centuries now, so there’s still a lot to be learned about mastering these techniques in Australia. But, as you’ll see below, there’s already some promising whiskies to get around.

  • Starward Peated Finish Single Malt Whisky
    The Stats
    • ABV: 48%
    • Price Band: $ $ $ $ $
    • Style: Single malt whisky
    • Production Story: Distilled in 2017 at New World Whisky Distillery and initially matured in red wine casks before undergoing a finish for 18 months in casks that previously matured heavily peated Islay whiskies (Lagavulin, apparently). Bottled August 2022.
    • Location: Melbourne, VIC
    • Score: 88
    Nose
    Fantales, vanilla essence and citrus flowers. Fruit mince and only faint hints of peat.
    Palate
    Savoury. Not immediately peaty, either. Excellent body and drinkability as it progresses. Terry’s Chocolate Orange and subtle biscuity oak. There’s a spiciness and dryness which really balances out the decadent sweetness on the nose as well.
    Finish
    The dried fruit and wine character tapers to a hint of fresh fruits. A gentle smokiness hums along.
    Comments
    The Lagavulin casks that were responsible for the 18 month finish of this whisky have really lent more in the way of nuance than they have peat. The finish is Starward through and through, although it's been dressed up by the Bonnie Prince Charlie.
  • Iniquity Anomaly Series Flustercluck Too Single Malt Whisky
    The Stats
    • ABV: 50%
    • Price Band: $ $ $ $ $
    • Style: Single malt whisky
    • Production Story: Distilled at Tin Shed Distilling Co. from malt that was smoked with South Australian Parawa peat. Matured for three years in two 100 litre American oak port (tawny) casks and then married into a second-fill ex-Bourbon cask for a further finishing period. Some four year old French oak tawny matured whisky from Iniquity's World Whisky Day bottling 2022 was also blended into the final batch. Released July 2022.
    • Location: Adelaide, SA
    • Score: 86
    Nose
    Fresh green oak and pencil cases upfront. Pleasant smokiness that sits nicely behind the sweetness of the grain, just poking its head out for a look. The smoke is almost Scottish peat in style but there’s a herbal mintiness to it as well.
    Palate
    Quite soft and delicate, and the sweetness from the malt and the cask hits nice and early. There’s a pause before the smoke plods in, bringing BBQ briquettes and more of an industrial smokiness than the nose suggests. Goes a little missing on the mid-palate, but it's then rescued by dusted vanilla sugar and straw bales on the back of an old vintage truck in the field.
    Finish
    That early malt sweetness dries out here. Turns to olives and anchovies on burnt toast.
    Comments
    This has a lovely malt base to it. Generous in its sweetness from malt and cask, and while it's a composed and gentle experience, the smoke flavour feels a bit disjointed at points.
  • Hobart Whisky Bourbon Matured Laphroaig Cask Finished
    The Stats
    • ABV: 58.8%
    • Price Band: $ $ $ $ $
    • Style: Single malt whisky
    • Production Story: Distilled at Hobart Whisky and matured for five years in a combination of ex-Bourbon casks from Hillrock Distillery, Maker’s Mark and Dark Horse. These casks were vatted together and finished in a pair of Laphroaig quarter casks for around four months. Released August 2022.
    • Location: Hobart, TAS
    • Score: 92
    Nose
    Old Gold rum ’n' raisin chocolate with sultanas, hard toffees and bubble gum. Only very subtle on the peat smoke here.
    Palate
    Thick, oily mouthfeel, moreish and slightly sweet - a Hobart Whisky trademark. The smokiness doesn’t dominate, but just adds a subtle Laphroaig character to the backbone of the malt. Sort of like when your regular Tonkotsu ramen is dialled up a notch to black.
    Finish
    The influence of the Laphroaig cask slowly increases here but never overrides this delicious dram.
    Comments
    Solid initial maturation in a more orthodox cask has given a fantastic base to this whisky. It's only been gently seasoned by the Laphroaig cask, but the good work of the Scots has further enhanced an already great dram.
  • 78 Degrees Triple Smoke Whiskey
    The Stats
    • ABV: 44%
    • Price Band: $ $ $ $ $
    • Style: Smoked whisky
    • Production Story: A collaboration between 78 Degrees and Corsair Distillery in the United States. 78 Degrees took single paddock unmalted barley and smoked it with Australian red gum, while Corsair smoked the same barley with American cherrywood. A portion of Scottish peated malt was then added to these smoked malts, mashed, fermented, distilled at 78 Degrees Distillery and matured in a 200 litre American oak ex-wine cask and a 200 litre ex-Bourbon cask.
    • Location: Hay Valley, SA
    • Score: 83
    Nose
    Potpouri in a hessian sack. Tan bark playgrounds next to a garden of rose bushes. Dove soap and roasted vegetables. So much going on it’s hard to know where to look. Behind all the genuinely interesting smoky traits, there's a nice grain character, too.
    Palate
    Starts very light and clearly brought down to a more amenable bottling strength. There’s a reasonable level of grain sweetness, but it has a parsnip and fenugreek note to it which isn't bad, just quite bizarre. For a triple smoke whisky with elements from all over the world, they’re pretty hard to separate.
    Finish
    A mixture of smoke characters clash for attention like clues in a crime novel.
    Comments
    So much work has gone into the making of this whisky, and its bold experimentation deserves and warrants attention. However, identifying the different elements might prove challenging for most, and let’s not talk about the food miles here.
  • Country to Coast Collab Black Gate and Fleurieu Blended Malt Whisky Batch 3
    The Stats
    • ABV: 50%
    • Price Band: $ $ $ $ $
    • Style: Blended malt whisky
    • Production Story: A blend of two malt whisky casks: a peated apera cask from Black Gate Distillery, and a peated tawny cask from Fleurieu Distillery. Released August 2022. 300 bottles in total.
    • Location: Goolwa, SA / Mendooran, NSW
    • Score: 93
    Nose
    White sugar cubes and flat lemonade. The peat is just so familiar it’s like catching up with an old mate. Eating fish and chips on a wooden jetty. Crushed oyster shells and milk bottle lollies.
    Palate
    Immediately sweet, like the lemonade from the nose. Then waves of peat roll across the palate in a very Scottish fashion. Beyond the peat, there's pears, white grapes and marshmallows, and the ashiness continues for a really long time, like a peat fire that refuses to fizzle out.
    Finish
    Keeps burning away in the background. The savoury elements of the coastal nose hang on as well.
    Comments
    Lots to think about here given all the different origins of the spirit. Scottish peat, some distilled in NSW, some distilled in SA. The collision of these two malts has been carefully done - nothing is out of place. It’s a seamless journey through sweet malt, fruity body and a peaty finish. Some critics might ask, why not just buy a Scottish whisky? Consider this next to a three or four year old Scottish peated malt - there's almost none of those around, anyway. This whisky captures the fruity sweetness of a youthful malt while also displaying a maturity which not many, if any, Scottish malt could match.
  • Morris Smoked Muscat Single Malt Whisky
    The Stats
    • ABV: 48.3%
    • Price Band: $ $ $ $ $
    • Style: Single malt whisky
    • Production Story: Distilled at Copper & Grain Distilling Co and initially matured in a blend of French and American oak ex-wine barrels sourced from wineries in the Barossa and Coonawarra. Finished in casks that have undergone a heavy char method developed by the Copper & Grain Distilling coopers. Released July 2022.
    • Location: Rutherglen, VIC
    • Score: 88
    Nose
    Immediately Australian, like the red wood furniture at the Eumundi market. Smoked brisket doused in Chinese plum sauce and rosehip oil. The fortified element on the nose is gorgeously rich and clearly well integrated with the timber itself.
    Palate
    A bit like meeting someone new who you’ve known for a long time and have a lot in common with. Then when it comes time to meet them, you’re bowled over by how different they are to what you expected. There’s so many familiar things about the flavours, but I’m just not quite sure I like it. Super duper sweetness and tonnes of juicy grape character in there with the smoke. But maybe it's just too much of a good thing.
    Finish
    There’s more of that damper and red wine next to a camp fire scenario to finish. The biggest difference here is that it doesn’t have an earthy element like a lot of other smoky whiskies. The balance of smoke and sweet has found its harmony, but it's harmony at full volume.
    Comments
    A fantastic program to sustainably bring local influence into a whisky in a way that’s not been done in volume before. A polarising dram from the perspective that we just haven’t tasted anything quite like this before. You’ve known all the elements forever, smelt them on their own, tasted them individually. But putting all that personality in the one room together is a little overwhelming.
How We Score
Julian White
Julian White is the co-owner of Melbourne’s Whisky & Alement and the driving force behind its importing arm the Independent Whisky Company. When he’s not scouring the planet for old and obscure bottlings, and creating daring whisky and beer projects for Australia’s curious drinkers, he’s a panel chair at the Australian Distilled Spirits Awards and a presenter, whisky educator and consultant.