Black Gate BG077 Australian Peated Single Malt

Nose: There’s a spirity nip on the nose when neat with aromas of sweet citrus-tinged smoke in the background. Stone-fruits and raisins, a mild wine character but it’s not highly cask-led. The peat-smoke is more noticed after the first sip. Adding just a drop of water rounds-off the nip and makes the nose perfect. Palate: Peat smoke is much more apparent on the palate than the nose, right from the entry. The smoke develops in the mid-palate but never moves beyond a mild citrus-character. This is not a peat-bomb at all, it’s more like a fruity-style highland single malt with smoky overtones. Finish: Medium/Long. Fruity, sweet smoke that gently fades. This is a delightful Australian smoky single malt that I believe was made using imported peated malt from Scotland (someone please correct me if I’m wrong). Because there is no maltster in Australia that makes true peated malt most Australian smoky whiskies are made by smoking malt that has already been kilned. It’s an approach that does work but it results in a smoke quality that fades quickly and most of the character is lost during distillation. Brian often creates single-cask whiskies that have very high alcohol content but with this expression he has gone for a more subtle, sweet and approachable product, and for me it’s an unqualified success (as is almost every thing I have tasted from Black Gate distillery). I don’t know how he consistently produces such subtle but complex whisky or how he is able to control maturation in the extreme temperature environment of Mendooran, but that’s the sort of things that genius does, isn’t it? Highly Recommended “Very Good” : 85/100 (4 stars)