Whisky review: Corowa Distilling Co. – from core range to cask strength

Luke McCarthy -
Whisky Reviews
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On tasting: Corowa Distilling Co. Bosque Verde (46%), Quick’s Courage, Private Notes, Mad Dog Morgan and two single casks – Red Wine Cask Single Barrel No. 194 and Peated Port Cask Single Barrel No. 247

What a ride. The Corowa Distilling Co. range takes you all sorts of places.

You get an enthralling look at how top quality Rutherglen and South Australian fortified wine casks marry up with a big NSW malt. You see that malt thrive in ex-Bourbon barrels and how well it takes to proper Spanish sherry casks, too.

And then there’s the red wine cask bottlings (see here for the flagship Corowa Characters), which have so much texture and richness to them.

The Corowa single cask offerings are among the most intensely-flavoured Australian whiskies I’ve come across (that peated single cask No.247 is a stunner). They’re great fun, if a bit unbalanced, and you can see the team are still finding their way in terms of managing the level of oak and tannin that’s extracted from cask.

I’m curious about Corowa’s filling strength here, with spirit going into cask at almost 70% ABV – quite a bit higher than the majority of the Australian and Scottish industry. Fascinating to see what the team discovers with that, particularly in the Corowa climate.

But when you taste through the range, there’s so much to like, and I can’t wait to get back to the distillery to see what else they’ve got hiding away in the old mill.

  • Corowa Distilling Co. Bosque Verde Single Malt Whisky
    The Stats
    • ABV: 46%
    • Price Band: $ $ $ $ $
    • Style: Single malt whisky
    • Production Story: Distillled at Corowa Distilling Co. on the 15th of July 2016 and matured in 100 litre American oak tawny barrels from the Barossa Valley. Bottled 21st of August 2018.
    • Location: Corowa, NSW
    • Score: 85
    Nose
    Fruitcake and then a musty caramel note. Sort of wheat biscuits, red grapes and I swear that's licorice.
    Palate
    Nice cereal maltiness. Again the caramel and grapey oak character. A little more savoury than the nose suggests, not quite as 'port' and oak-driven as some Aussie malts, which is great to see.
    Finish
    Long tail, tawny and oak persisting, and I can't shake the sweet licorice.
    Comments
    A cracking core range offering. There are serious fortified casks at work here, and they've added plenty of good stuff, and none of the plaguing tannin. Very solid. Excited to see this with a bit more age.
  • Corowa Distilling Co. Quick’s Courage Single Malt Whisky
    The Stats
    • ABV: 46%
    • Price Band: $ $ $ $ $
    • Style: Single malt whisky
    • Production Story: Distilled 7th of October 2016 and initially matured in an ex-Bourbon cask for two years before being finished in a Spanish pedro ximenez cask. Bottled January 2019. 600 bottles in total.
    • Location: Corowa, NSW
    • Score: 86
    Nose
    Sweet, sticky sherry upfront. Burnt toffee, beeswax, and that slightly musty, toffee, almost grapefruit character again.
    Palate
    Vanilla and cherries - big American oak - then the pedro kicks in, and boy it brings on some funky, winey grunge - juicy plums and a nutty, almost peanut brittle mid-palate. Rich and decadent.
    Finish
    The pedro lingers with dark fruit cake and dried fruits, but it also gets a little dry and tannic at the back.
    Comments
    Packed with flavour. You really taste the influence of the two casks, and the PX has added some proper sherry notes. Not sure it's fully together, but pretty delicious.
  • Corowa Distilling Co. 'Private Notes' Sherry Cask Single Malt Whisky
    The Stats
    • ABV: 46%
    • Price Band: $ $ $ $ $
    • Production Story: Distilled 22nd of July 2016, matured solely in an apera cask, and bottled May 2019. 600 bottles in total.
    • Location: Corowa, NSW
    • Score: 81
    Nose
    Spice and creme caramel. More subtle here than other Corowa whiskies - apera maturation does that. Dried figs, apricots and baked custard. I could nose this all day.
    Palate
    Starts wonderfully, the caramel and baked custard again, but then the cask digs in and turns everything dry and tannic. Still great flavours, but too much oak.
    Finish
    Big finish. Lots of wood.
    Comments
    The nose on this is spectacular. The cask was clearly top notch, but it's just added too much dryness and tannin on the mid-to-back palate. Delightful otherwise.
  • Corowa Distilling Co. Mad Dog Morgan Single Malt Whisky
    The Stats
    • ABV: 50%
    • Price Band: $ $ $ $ $
    • Style: Single malt whisky
    • Production Story: Distilled 19th of April 2016 and matured solely in ex-muscat casks from Rutherglen winery. Bottled December 2018. 130 bottles in total.
    • Location: Corowa, NSW
    • Score: 83
    Nose
    Juicy. Bitter orange - sort of an amaro vibe, then some youth and prickle, chocolate coated sultanas, marmalade and orange rind.
    Palate
    Palate follows the nose. Geez you can taste the muscat on this - it's like eating fruit cake drizzled with Rutherglen's finest. Cinnamon and nutmeg, mulled wine and just a hint of spirit.
    Finish
    Keeps going. Last hour of the Christmas party.
    Comments
    A tricky one. So much tasty, old school muscat here, which collides with the spirit to create an explosion of wine and malt. Very cask driven, which is fine if that's what you're into. But there's still some new make here as well, and once the whole package is more balanced, this will be a hell of a whisky.
  • Corowa Distilling Co. Red Wine Cask – Single Barrel No. 194
    The Stats
    • ABV: 69.1%
    • Price Band: $ $ $ $ $
    • Style: Single malt whisky
    • Production Story: Distilled 13th of July 2017 and matured in a single American oak shiraz cask from the Barossa. Bottled 14th of February 2020 at natural cask strength. 160 bottles in total.
    • Location: Corowa, NSW
    • Score: 76
    Nose
    So much wine and booze! Like a Barossa shiraz on steroids. Some elite oak tannins leap out of the glass, and then all the red berries and cinnamon. Hot jam donuts!
    Palate
    Christ! Crazy big. Too big. Even with time in glass, it's just booze, wood, wine and not much else. Takes a lot of water to settle it down, but even when you get the balance right, there's still too much oak.
    Finish
    Licking barrels.
    Comments
    A bit crazy this one. The bottling strength does nothing for the whisky, and when you do bring it down to a drinkable ABV, you find something that's unbalanced and dominated by oak. Seemed like a cracking cask, and you get hints of what this could become, but it's out of whack.
  • Corowa Distilling Co. Peated Port Cask – Single Barrel No. 247
    The Stats
    • ABV: 61%
    • Price Band: $ $ $ $ $
    • Style: Single malt whisky
    • Production Story: Corowa's first heavily peated whisky release, using a mash of peated Scottish malt. Distilled 25th of November 2017 and matured in a single French oak tawny cask. Bottled 14th of February 2020. 140 bottles in total.
    • Location: Corowa, NSW
    • Score: 89
    Nose
    Brylcreem and earthy peat. You could easily mistake this for an Islay malt on the nose. Sort of sweet and dank. Again the jam and raspberry, then campfire and moss (mmm... Kilchoman Sanaig).
    Palate
    Big musty French oak tannins. Gasolene, peat fire and jam drops. Water brings on some drier spice, cloves and garam masala, but there's also a fair amount of oak, it's almost tipped over. Almost.
    Finish
    Does not stop. But this is where the oak starts to interfere with the brilliance.
    Comments
    Clearly an excellent cask, and some truly awesome flavour has been extracted from that peated malt. There's maybe a little too much oak and grip for me, but I can forgive that here, cause this is a beast. Super enjoyable.
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.