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Shene Distillery has introduced their redesigned whisky range, offering five new single malts, some triple distilled, some double distilled, and all matured in ex-fortified wine casks.
The release follows three years of expansion and production increases at the heritage listed estate, which has seen the distillery morph into one of Tasmania’s largest whisky producers.
Shene Mackey Enigma – Supplied
David Kernke, estate owner and head distiller at Shene, told Oz Whisky Review that the team were excited by what they’ve achieved with the range, especially given the difficulties wrought by COVID-19 last year.
‘We have a panel doing constant tasting and experimentation, and we’re pretty happy with what we’ve achieve with the range,’ Kernke told us.
The five new single malts include:
- Shene Mackey Enigma: a triple distilled single malt initially matured in 20 litre ex-apera and tawny casks and finished in ex-sherry casks
- Shene Mackey Trinity: triple distilled single malt matured in three different cask types: ex-tawny, ex-sherry and finally finished in ex-port pipes.
- Shene Solera Cask: double distilled single malt initially matured in ex-apera and tawny casks and then finished in Shene’s solera barrel system.
- Shene Elixir of Life: double distilled single malt initially matured in 20 litre apera casks and then finished in ex-sherry casks.
- Shene Cognac Release: a marriage of triple distilled and double distilled whisky that was initially matured in 20 litre ex-apera and tawny casks and then finished in ex-cognac casks.
Shene Cognac Release – Supplied
Kernke says the whiskies and gins produced at the site now fall under the Shene brand, and a suite of different whisky expressions will follow these first five releases.
‘The Shene Distillery has a number of different expressions, from our Poltergeist gin to our Shene single malt and our Mackey whiskies, so they’re all a part of the family.’
Maturation in fortified wine casks is central to the whiskies released by Shene, and an extensive program of cask sourcing and coopering is undertaken by the team.
Oz Whisky Review
‘For whisky maturation, our DNA is fortified wine casks,’ says Kernke. ‘We have a relationship with two cooperages in Spain and one in Portugal, so they make barrels for us and we buy new barrels as well as fortified wine from them to ensure they remain moist on their way out to Australia.’
‘We’re also sourcing fortified wine barrels from Australian wineries like McWilliams. They’re the ones we’re re-coopering, toasting and charring at our onsite cooperage.’
Shene Estate & Distillery – Supplied
Kernke says the entire program will culminate in a huge increase in volume for the distillery that will significantly increase their presence in Australia and hopefully internationally, pending COVID-19 restrictions.
‘To date, we’ve only released around 3250 bottles under the old ‘R’ label whisky series. Moving forward, we’ll have a couple hundred thousand bottles released to market.’
All whiskies in the new range are priced at $189 (700ml) and are currently available through the Shene Distillery website.