Whisky review: Limeburners single malt – a fiery rendezvous

Luke McCarthy -
Whisky Reviews
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On tasting: seven Limeburners single malt whiskies

I’ve had a long and complicated affair with Limeburners single malts. It’s happened in all sorts of settings: from serving them at tastings and behind the bar, to judging them blind in competitions, to mixing them in Rob Roys, even drizzling them over oysters.

The good times have been great. But there have been down times, too. Times when the whiskies have been erratic and standoffish, and left you puzzled about what’s going on behind the scenes.

At their best, some of the Limeburners single casks are simply among the finest Australian single malts I’ve tasted. The Heavy Peat M221 reviewed below will tell you everything you need to know about that.

But consistency hasn’t been their strong suit. Like many Australian whiskies, there’s often variation from batch to batch – the Limeburners team have even promoted that fact over the years.

There is, however, a difference between variety batch to batch and inconsistency. And now that Limeburners is quite mature in the Australian context, it’d be great to see the hit rate across their entire offering improve.

To put that in perspective, though – the range is bloody vast. There’s the core range port, sherry, American oak and peated expressions. There’s the Infinity Solera exclusive to Dan’s and the Genesis bottling for Vintage Cellars. There’s the Heavy Peat and Darkest Winter offerings, cask strength bottlings and the directors cuts. And then there’s a whole other range of cracking American-style whiskies coming out of the distillery at Porongurup!

I don’t know how anyone could consistency nail that many different whiskies, and that’s probably one of the reasons Limeburners has struggled to really capture the attention it deserves. Sure, there’s other factors: the location and the lack of a strong, clear presence on the east coast hasn’t helped.

But I wholeheartedly recommend tasting through the range. It’s not well understood out in the whisky ether that Limeburners is a properly coastal malt. That savoury, saline, beeswax quality runs right through their whiskies. They genuinely exhibit place and the unique botanical make-up of their region (peated malts), and that’s something a lot of Australian single malt producers have struggled to achieve, particularly in Tassie.

Check out that place if you ever get a chance. It’s a stunning part of the world. Can’t wait to get down there again and rekindle the flame.

  • Limeburners Single Malt Whisky Port Cask
    The Stats
    • ABV: 43%
    • Price Band: $ $ $ $ $
    • Style: Single malt whisky
    • Production Story: Distilled at Great Southern in Albany from Western Australian barley. Initially matured in second fill ex-Bourbon casks before being finished in smaller ex-tawny casks.
    • Location: Albany, WA
    • Score: 86
    Nose
    Wood shavings, nougat, beeswax and a slight salty, meaty note. Grass clippings and flint. With time, creamy fruits and strawberries.
    Palate
    Mouth coating. Praline and butterscotch, waft of smoke, and a nice hit of tawny and matchsticks.
    Finish
    Long, malty, fruitcake and tawny.
    Comments
    One of Limeburners' flagship malts. I've had quite the journey with this whisky. There was a two year period where I was tasting this every week for an introductory tasting I presented. It could be erratic, to say the least. But it's now vastly improved, and this batch really shows how complex and balanced it's become.
  • Limeburners Single Malt Whisky Peated
    The Stats
    • ABV: 48%
    • Price Band: $ $ $ $ $
    • Style: Single malt whisky
    • Production Story: Distilled at Great Southern in Albany from Western Australian barley which has been smoked (post-malt) with peat collected from a farm west of Albany, near the Valley of the Giants. Matured solely in ex-Bourbon casks.
    • Location: Albany, WA
    • Score: 81
    Nose
    Diesel and vanillla. Very floral and herbal, dill, lime, melon, hint of cardboard, sea spray and oyster shells.
    Palate
    A little prickly, lemonade and whizz fizz, and then the peat comes on with a savory, sooty rush on the mid-palate. Cask(s) hasn't contributed much here, quite flat.
    Finish
    Herbal, with American oak and grassy peat. Not the longest.
    Comments
    Palate didn't quite follow the promise of the nose here. I've often found the core range Limeburners peated expression lacks the roundness and texture of their top peated malt casks.
  • Limeburners Single Malt Whisky Sherry Cask Strength (M266)
    The Stats
    • ABV: 61%
    • Price Band: $ $ $ $ $
    • Style: Single malt whisky
    • Production Story: Distilled at Great Southern in Albany from Western Australian barley. Initially matured in second fill ex-Bourbon casks before being finished in an ex-apera cask.
    • Location: Albany
    • Score: 78
    Nose
    Strangely floral, sort of a pleasant soapy note. Again the beeswax, seaweed and a pecuilar, almost laundrette note. The fruit (apricots) and more delicate florals open up with water.
    Palate
    Savoury and dry, oat biscuits, lavender and green apple. And woah, launches on the mid-palate into something quite odd: fabric, camphor and lemon pith.
    Finish
    Floral, dry and slightly puckering,
    Comments
    Quite the ride. Nose is fascinating, but really unsure about that wacky, almost fabric-like note on the mid-palate. A bit unbalanced.
  • Limeburners Single Malt Whisky Port Cask Strength (M511)
    The Stats
    • ABV: 61%
    • Price Band: $ $ $ $ $
    • Style: Single malt whisky
    • Production Story: Distilled at Great Southern in Albany from Western Australian barley. Initially matured in second fill ex-Bourbon casks before being finished in an ex-tawny cask.
    • Location: Albany, WA
    • Score: 89
    Nose
    Amontillado, nutty and caramel fudge, wafer, pomegranate, cardamon, marshmallow and gingerbread man.
    Palate
    Yum. Thick and luscious. Dark cocoa, biscotti, cloves and then a rush of manuka honey, salted caramel and passionfruit.
    Finish
    Lingering spice, with a slightly salty, burnt caramel tail.
    Comments
    This is the goods. It's just got a bit of everything: savoury, salty, fruity and sweet. Super complex.
  • Limeburners Single Malt Whisky Directors Cut (M326)
    The Stats
    • ABV: 61%
    • Price Band: $ $ $ $ $
    • Production Story: Distilled at Great Southern in Albany from West Aussie barley which has been smoked (post-malt) with peat collected from a farm west of Albany, near the Valley of the Giants. Matured in an ex-Bourbon cask and then finished in an ex-apera cask.
    • Location: Albany, WA
    • Score: 90
    Nose
    Bonfire, moss and charred red capsicum. Big, earthy smoke, like walking through the bush: wet eucalpyts, lanolin and wattleseed, and there's some cherries, dried fruits and black forrest cake under the smoke.
    Palate
    Hugely textural. Ash, charred wood, raspberry jam, figs and fruitcake - taken just the right amount of fruit and oak from the cask.
    Finish
    Long and earthy, vanilla and camphor.
    Comments
    A complex, sweet/savory beast. So distinctive, you really taste the country the peat has been dug up from here, and the apera finish helps to balance the grungy, herbal smoke.
  • Limeburners Single Malt Whisky Darkest Winter (M486)
    The Stats
    • ABV: 63.8%
    • Price Band: $ $ $ $ $
    • Style: Single malt whisky
    • Production Story: Distilled at Great Southern in Albany from West Aussie 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.
    • Location: Albany, WA
    • Score: 87
    Nose
    Pine cones, hay and macadamias. Quite nutty and the peat here gives a flinty, charcoal character. Burnt rubber and kerosene.
    Palate
    Big grassy peat, and plenty of vanilla ice cream from the cask. Peat adds resin and soot. Bushfire, buttermenthol, almonds and lemon slice.
    Finish
    Not as long as expected, piney and vanillin.
    Comments
    Great cask this one. Booming smoke and grunge but not quite as together as some of Limeburners' finest peat monsters.
  • Limeburners Single Malt Whisky Heavy Peat (M221)
    The Stats
    • ABV: 61%
    • Price Band: $ $ $ $ $
    • Style: Single malt whisky
    • Production Story: Virtually identical to Darkest Winter. 205 bottles in total.
    • Location: Albany
    • Score: 94
    Nose
    Hay, shortbread, linseed and prosciutto. Much fruitier than other peated Limeburners - lemons and pears - and the peat's softer here, too, more petrichor and white flowers.
    Palate
    Wow. Creamy and thick, soft smoke, peaches and toffee, and goddamn this is silky and crisp for 61%. Almond cake, banoffie pie and a hint of jamon.
    Finish
    I want more.
    Comments
    What a cask. This is a masterclass in balance, and it's that balance, along with the utter distinctiveness of the West Aussie peat, that puts this ahead of a lot of other top Australian malts. The spirit plays the lead here, and the cask has subtracted and added all the right notes - that's what makes this such a successful whisky. Yeah, the price is a pity. Hardly anyone has actually tried this, which is a real shame, because every Australian whisky fan should taste this. (Thanks to Craig and Liam for the sample).
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.