Morris: Muscat Barrels (Australia Single Malt Whisky : 46% abv)
Visual:Slightly darkened bronzed gold body. Fast thick streaks come from the spirit.
Nose: Thick and sticky. Hot caramel. Cinnamon. Vanilla toffee. Milky coffee. Fresh crumpets. Slight sulfur. Water makes cleaner. Raisins. Slight soot.
Body: Strawberries. Sticky. Slightly tarry. Dessert wine. Crème brûlée. Sweet red wine. Jammy – strawberry jam. Oily. Water adds nut oils, nuts with sugar coatings and crumpets.
Finish: Sticky. Tarry. Port. Sultanas. Apricot. Red grapes. Oily. Nut oils. Strawberry jelly and strawberry jam. Water makes for more red grapes and brings out cane sugar.
Conclusion: This is probably the most unusual of the night’s drams so far at this whisky tasting, which is always something that interests me at the very least. This is initially sticky, oily and heavy with a touch of sulfur – Very much a show of something aged in warmer climes. From this I was expecting something sticky but closed, tasty, chewy not not easy to get subtleties from.
Slowly over time it starts to get sweeter, with jammy and cane sugar notes coming out of the still thick and slightly oily body. There is a mix of more savoury notes there as well – a lovely solid bready crumpet character for one, and a gentle grounding from milky coffee that really lets the brighter notes shine.
This gives a lovely mix of warming covering from the thick, oily body, a solid bready backing to give weight and then it really lets loose with magnificent wine barrel influences that shine with spirity and vinous notes.
Very unusual, very high quality, though quite obviously not a session dram, as you probably have already guessed from the notes it is far too heavy for that. Take as one to have occasionally and take your time with to appreciated and peal back that layers it has and it is lovely.
Background: The fourth whisky of the Single Malts Of The World tasting at Independent Spirit, but only my third I was doing notes on as I had encountered one of the whiskies before. This is from an Australian distillery I had not heard of before. Morris make their own fortified wine, so they took advantage of that – they aged this in French and American ex wine barrels, then finished it in their own Morris Muscat fortified wine barrels. Another warm clime for ageing, this tasting was fascinating for seeing how the different heats and humidities can massively change how the spirit ages.
