St. Agnes Camborne Tawny Cask Batch No.001 Single Malt Australian Whisky (700ml)

First edition single malts from an historic Australian distiller.

Owned and run by the fifth generation of the Angoves family, St Agnes is Australia’s oldest family-owned continuously operating distillery. They first started laying down casks of new make whisky in 2015, produced via their historic brandy pot stills. Winemaker, Richard Angove instigated the new project with Ben Horley, St Agnes head distiller, also an experienced blender having spent a ten-year apprenticeship under John Norman, his predecessor of four decades. It's a formula that echoes a similar South Australian whisky venture, Yalumba's Smith's Angaston, which also made use of an old brandy still.

The name Camborne references the history of St Agnes and honours the founder of the business, Dr William Thomas Angove. In 1886, he left his home of Camborne, Cornwall, set off for South Australia and founded Angove Family Winemakers. William’s son Carl then built a distillery in Renmark in 1911 to produce grape spirit for the fortification of popular ports and sherries. But Carl saw an opportunity to produce a high quality brandy, too. He travelled to Cognac in 1925 to learn from the best, and made some significant changes to production at Renmark when he returned. It led to critical acclaim and a slew of award winning brandies. That tradition continues with Richard Angove.

Just like Yalumba (also family owned), key to Angove's success will be a vast array of casks on hand that have previously contained brandy, apera, rare fortifieds and premium wines. Four beautifully presented first edition single cask expressions are now on offer and the quality is sure to be high. Each is diluted to an optimal ABV: Tawny Cask (51.8%), Sherry Cask (47.6%), XO Brandy Cask (46.3%) and Shiraz Wine Cask (46.2%). Further releases featuring different casks are also in the pipeline and Angove says the team are aiming to release older expressions. For the time being, Richard concludes, "We think these casks have hit a good spot and we’re really happy with them... The whiskies are classically South Australian – rich, full, stylish, smooth, and long."

Notes from the producers... Colour: Medium amber. Entry: Abundant rancio flavours – Golden raisin fruit cake, maple syrup, almond praline. Subtle notes of cocoa and dusty oak close out the nose. Finish: Juicy muscatels, caramel malt, milk chocolate, almond praline. Maturation in Grand and Rare Tawny casks have given a rich silky finish. 51.8% Alc. Vol.