Loaded Barrel Single Malt Australian Whisky (500ml)

Conceived in 2018 in Rowville, South East Melbourne, Loaded Barrel started as a passion project of Bob Wilhelma's with a goal to create a family legacy, but more importantly, damn good whisky and gin. In his own words, "the stuff you dream of drinking as you watch your clock slowly tick down to 5pm on a weekday." Their spirits are distilled in a sleek custom-made pot-still with a tall tapered neck and an inclined lyne arm allowing a large amount of passive reflux resulting in a light, fruity, easy-to-drink distillate. The single malt is described as "...a new-classic: a whisky that uses customised virgin American oak barrels for that vanilla & toffee sweetness, finished in ex-sherry casks for an ending of plum and dark berry that lingers on the tongue." High resonance Solfeggio frequencies, mostly 528Hz are played to help with the mellowing process (they concede that might be wasting their time). If the flavours aren't seamlessly integrated just yet, they're not far off. The palate is rich and malty with a fruitiness like dried apricots or fruit cake picked up from the sherry casks; beneath that, virgin oak kicks in an undercurrent of vanilla and light caramels. At 43% it's mouth-filling, plus there's a poise and ease of drinkability rarely found in young Aussie whisky. So much character now, with time and further tweaking this distillery is only going to get better. At the asking price it's already one of the country's best values.