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Hellyers Road Tasting Flight – Original, Slightly Peated & Peated Single Malt Whiskies. Tasmania, Australia. ABV: 46.20%. Tasted at home, $99 (3 x 250mL bottles).
Three expressions from Tasmania’s Hellyers Road…what a great excuse to have a tasting flight to compare the three of them side by side.
Colour: They’re all pretty much identical – golden straw yellow.
Nose: Original: earthy aromas, think freshly snapped branches if a tree when you’re walking through a forest. Slightly Peated: Peated: like a smokey campfire.
Palate: Original: quite fruity pineapple, lemons, a hint of sweetness but not too much. Slightly Peated: banana, hay-like scents. Lots of hazelnut and chocolate. Peated: herbaceous, salty, smokey…like smoking something you…ahem…really shouldn’t be.
Finish: Original: tingly oily mouthfeel. Sweet straw notes. Slightly Peated: drier mouthfeel than the Original, nutty chocolate in the fade. Peated: Somewhat sweet peaty tingle at the front of the mouth, not a massive mouthful of smoke though. It really does leave the taste in your mouth like you’ve just smoked a joint. Well at least that’s how a friend of mine once described it to me…
Comments: The Slightly Peated is probably the pick for me. I found the Original was way too fruity for my tastes, whereas the Peated expression is great but I couldn’t quite get past the pot flavour. Overall, the Hellyers Road expressions here weren’t as complex or as enjoyable as other Tasmanian whiskies I’ve tried so far. Not bad, but not brilliant.
Hellyers Road Distillery Original Pinot Noir Finish Single Malt. Tasmania, Australia. ABV: 46.20%. Tasted at Luxe Bar, $15.
