Adnams: The Spirit of Broadside

I was lucky enough to go on the Adnams brewery tour a few weeks ago here in the UK.

Adnams make some of my favourite bitters. A drink that I'm happy to be reacquainted after a long dry spell in Oz. Australia has some great beers (including those made by members of the DTWC), but one thing Aussie don't seem to make, is a decent English style bitter. Red Oak had the only English bitter that I was able to find in Sydney and being served at only one pub limited my ability to enjoy a glass all that often.

The Admans brewery is located in the heart of the small village of Southwold. The layout is incredible with modern stills squeezed into old buildings. Pipes run under the road between fermentation tanks and the kegs are filled behind what looks like a row of terraced houses.

As part of the tour we got to taste the different malted grains that they use and smell all of the hop varieties. There was a lot more differentiation than I was expecting between the hops, with each having a very distinctive nose.

A few years ago Adnams introduced some small copper stills at the brewery to start making spirits. They are currently selling gin, vodka, absinthe and 'The Spirit of Broadside'. Distiller John McCarthy has also created a whisky which is due to go on sale early next year.

Unfortunately there were no tastings of the whisky on offer during the tour. I asked our guide if they were following a similar strategy to Grant's Ale Cask of maturing the whisky in beer barrels. I was surprised to hear that Adnams aren't going to be following the same strategy. Being a fan of the Ale Cask I can't help but think they've missed a great opportunity.

The 'Spirit of Broadside' offers a preview of what their whisky will be like as they advertise that it "is distilled in a similar manner to our whisky" and matured in the same "heavily toasted Russian oak casks". 

It had never occurred to me to distill beer into whisky, but apparently bierbrand or Eau de vie de bier is a tradition of doing just that in small breweries and monasteries across Europe. Adnams are distilling their most popular beer 'Broadside' to make whisky.

How does 'The Spirit of Broadside' taste?

Colour: The colour is quite dark for a one year old spirit. I haven't been able to find out if any caramel has been added. Could that be a natural colour after just one year in oak?

Nose: Christmas cake, lots of Christmas cake. Fruity, spicy and rich aromas.

Palate: The Christmas cake continues to come through on the palate. There is an initial spice from the oak and then the flavour develops with more of the fruit coming through.

Finish: Short

Overall it was an enjoyable spirit and has certainly piqued my interest to try their whisky when it is available.

Always Read The Label - Sullivans Cove French Oak Cask Matured

Sullivans Cove French Oak Cask Matured

Recently I was somewhat excited to see the Sullivans Cove Single Cask Malt whisky appear in Dan Murphy's. After my grumbling about the price of Australian whisky, how it is cheaper to buy it from the UK and ship it back than it is to buy in your own backyard, for $120 AU I did not tin twice about grabbing this from the shelf and handing over some hard earned cash. Well my over eagerness did the damage and I should have 'looked' twice. THIS IS NOT the whisky we had for a tasting at a whisky club in 2010 and THIS IS NOT the whisky I had and praised at Whisky Fair 2011 last year.

To cut a long story shortish, Sullivans Cove have deliberately re-used old packing form the Sullivans Cove French Oak Port Cask Matured Single Malt Whisky and stuck a few strategic stickers to change the name. OK so maybe the visual deception was not deliberate and more so thrifty on their part but I was still caught out and rightly disappointed when I opened the bottle. Lesson in marketing, don't make all your products look exactly the same right down to the name and label. To be a stickler on the issue even if you go to the Sullivans Cove website where they have the prices the image shown clearly is not the product being sold. Even the documentation that came in the package still only spoke about the 3 single cask expressions. Lazy ass slackers!

So moving on and passed the mixed up I actually am not too fond of this expression because I have tasted the original French Oak Port Cask, Cask Strength and adored it.

Sullivans Cove French Oak Single Cask Malt Whisky
Location/Region: Tasmania, Australia
Alcohol: 47.5%
Barrel No.: HH0513
Bottle No.: 072 of 524
Barrel date: 10/10/2000
Bottled date: 10/06/2011

The nose has all the nuances of caramelised sultanas and fruit cake. Rich and luxurious in scent finishing with dried apricots and dark chocolate.

To taste smooth over the tongue with lot's of cinnamon, baked fruits, vanilla and caramelised sultanas. Spices burn in the back of the throat and the alcohol becomes much more in the forefront while everything else feels a little stretched. There is also a mild chew in the pallet I have found familiar with all the Sullivans Cove expressions.

The finish is certainly long but the spices reappear in the throat for sometime after.

Overall the balance I feel a little off as the sweetness is overtaken quickly by the spice burn which lingers longer than wanted. A little disappointing.

My expectations where high and I thought I was buying the French Oak Port Cask, Cask Strength so I do find it hard to look past it. By far this expression has nothing on what has made Sullivans Cove famous back in 2010 by Jim Murray's Whisky Bible awards. At $120AU a bottle I think it is way over priced.

Overall if I was to give a dram than it would be a 5 1/2 out of 7. Personally Sullivans Cove, in my books, still make the best Australian Whisky but this expression falls short of the mark. Once you have tasted the nectar of the gods it is hard to go back to water. Seriously though if you have not tried a Sullivans Cove then do so regardless of what I have said here because even this is good.

I look forward to trying some new expressions in the future but will be wary of buy this one again if I can get my hands on the original Port Cask (I hope they still make it).

As a side note I took this bottle to the snow recently and drunk 3/4 of it in 48hrs. That is not so bad eh?