Heartwood Lost Convict HH0543 LD407 Port

Description

Seems like Tim Duckett is on a roll at the moment as we have had another new release from his Heartwood range come into the warehouse last week.

After tasting 7 or 8 work in progress drams with Tim and Chris from Larks we finally arrived at the new Lost Convict. The spirits was sourced from both Larks and Sullivans Cove, but the wood treatment this time comes from old port barrels. Nosing it was a surprise: it appeared to be balanced but subdued.

Controversy No 1… Lots of soft sweet malt, creame caramels and subtle dried fruit flavours. And then to the palate: It’s explosive. So back to normal. The spirit is bright and lively, the palate, as usual; is magnificently long, but the explosiveness slowly peters out. And the prime flavours? A unique combination of lusciously sweet maltiness with tangy Chinese five spice. But there is something else in there that I can’t quite put my finger on. But it just lingers and lingers.

So to controversy No 2… The audience we showed it to at a tasting in that time was split 50:50.

Some absolutely loving it, like me, others just turned their noses up, and that’s putting it mildly.