Limeburners @ QLD Whisky Expo 2018 - Brisbane
To those who haven’t been fortunate enough to attend any of the Queensland Malt Whisky Society Annual annual ‘QLD Whisky Expo’s there are typically close to 100 premium spirits ranging from local Australian Single Malts to Sour Mash Bourbons, Rums, Gins and even Tequilas this year available to sample and purchase on the day. In addition to this, you get the opportunity to talk to people in the industry and discuss the makeup and history behind the brands and spirits to gain more profound knowledge and appreciation for them.
The day is a shining gem on many whisky lovers calendars each year, for a good reason. Everyone I’ve ever encountered at these events is friendly, warm and full of eagerness to learn and share their experience with these beautiful spirits. Being behind the table and serving for the first time allowed me to unabashedly talk to a vast range of people about some fabulous drams for hours on end. Being able to add knowledge and share tasting notes with individuals both young and old, novices and veterans, was a great privilege.
I was super flattered to be asked to present the fantastic range of whisk(e)ys from Limeburners, the original Western Australian Single Malt distillery. Limeburners make some world class drams and have been winning awards with the entire range for many years now. The parent company, Great Southern Distilling Company, was founded in 2004 and started production in 2005 with the Limeburners label produced for the first time in 2008.
The range we had available on the day included the original Tigersnake Small Batch and Tigersnake Rye of the Tiger, both American styles with the former being low corn take on a traditional Sour Mash and the later being a high Rye and Barley finished spice fest. In addition to this, I was able to showcase four examples from the core of Limeburners range, the American Oak 1st Fill, Sherry Cask, Port Cask & the exceptional Peated expression.
The original and main distillery is situated in the maritime town of Albany, which offers an ideal climate, abundant local agriculture to provide malts and grains as well as a fantastic limestone filtered water supply. The first Limeburners labelled whisky was released in 2008, winning Bronze at the International Wine & Spirits Competition in London. The accolades and a strong cult following across the entire range have seen production double to date and still being vastly outweighed by demand. The distillery has been awarded a wealth of bronze, silver and gold awards for the trophy cabinet over the years with Australian’s Champion Whisky in 2015 and 2016 for its Heavily Peated Single Malt Whisky and being named Champion Australian Distiller at the Australian Distilled Spirits Awards in 2016. They have also won many Golds, Double Golds and Best in Class at various American & International awards as well as several nods in the Liquid Gold category from Jim Murray, a full list of their accolades to date can be found here.
Over the day I explored all these expressions with the ever-rotating stream of whisky lovers present at the QLD Whisky Expo, focusing on building and playing off the flavours of the previous dram to highlight the next. Being the lightest and most delicate expression on the table, I recommended people to start with the original Tiger Snake Australian Sour Mash Whiskey. Limeburners takes influence from the great Bourbons of Tennessee and Kentucky with a reasonably typical grain bill of corn, rye and malted barley to give vanilla, honey and nut front that gives way to well-balanced oak and subtle hints of chocolate and malt. The finish on this was clean and crisp.
From here we made a leap across the Rye of the Tiger, returning there later after the core range, started by the seductively savoury Limeburners Single Malt American Oak. With its copper still and first fill ex-American barrels it presents upfront spice, waves of complex and enticing oaky vanilla, honey splashed and buttered bread with a citrus backdrop. A substantial presence on the palate with a remarkable mouth coating consistency harnesses and steers the initial notes into a medium to long finish. The citrus peel, fruit and the vanilla from the American procured barrels are joined by a playful sweetness and continuation of oak.
The Sherry Cask of the core range continues these notes but builds on them in many ways with an additional maturation in Australian Sherry casks. The spice and fruit are compounded with the other notes gained from this time, citrus giving way to dark and dried fruits with hints of quince and vague wafts of smoke with water helping open up the floral and sweet notes with a smooth, shorter but delicious finish.
With the palate perfectly primed from here, we dove into the poised Port Cask. With the darker fruits being more abundant in this bottle given the fortified wine barrel maturation, throwing plums, cherries and oranges together with more robust clove & cinnamon driven spices with a fresh sweetness pushing it along balancing out all the flavours. Having the moreish savoury character of the oak balanced with the additional sweetness and spices with the heat of the alcohol helping to cut through on the palate with a sticky lingering mouthfeel settling into poached pear and creme caramel makes this an utterly captivating dram.
From this sweet and spicy dark fruit high, I then would jump back down the table and introduce the Tiger Snake Rye of the Tiger, a 110 proof Rye driven beast waiting in the grass with a solid back of barley to round out the bill. The extra alcohol strength helped cut back down the sweetness of the Pork Cask as the heavy baked gingerbread crust spice notes from the Rye rolled through with plenty of buttery, vanilla oak and malty strikes that gave way to subtle fresh herbs and a bittersweet finish that flashed and lingered. For a dram named after a snake, this delicious spirit has legs.
For those inclined, awaiting at the end of the table was something near and dear to my heart an Australian Peated Single Malt. I’m an absolute lover of all things peat and am thrilled to know that more of these are making their way into the wash of the industry. Limeburners have their source in a peat bog near the distillery in the Valley of the Giants, home of the vast Giant Tingle Trees. Limeburners use pre-malted barley in the peat firing process and then aged in ex-American barrels, by using multiple layers of the bog Limeburners can hone and craft the peat into profoundly characterful and delicious smokey and typical slightly medicinal flavours. However, the nose on this dram hides it well. Initial wafts hit you with a familiar note of candied citrus peel from the rest of the range, this time studded with peppercorns, aniseed and pomegranate with wisps of smoke from a freshly lit fireplace. On the palate the subtle yet rich and complex peat layers roll into town riding fresh root beer blended with liquorice and wrapped in fresh coffee crema, straw and grass suspended in honey. These notes give way to a great lemon marmalade mouth coating paired with rich chocolate, and more of those logs from the fire returning with a dose of peat added this time. The slightly higher alcohol count at 96 proof helps carry this exciting and utterly captivating dram along and extends out the tail nicely warming you to the very core as an excellent peaty dram should.
All in all the day was a fabulous experience and had many groups come back to the table for order forms and to finish the day with our range, especially the Peated expression after trying others in the room. If you haven’t been to one before or would like to get more involved in the community, in general, I’d recommend following the QLD Whisky Expo Facebook page to get notifications for future upcoming events.
All of these drams are available at great liquor stores or online at The Whisky Company, who also have a great range of other Australian and international spirits.