McLaren Vale Distillery Mr Riggs French Oak Shiraz Muscat Cask South Australia Single Malt

Description

“It’s almost a case of… “Out of the Ashes…”

As is so typical with new start up enterprises, especially in the beverage industry, businesses can fall apart in quite dramatic, heartbreaking and rapid ways. But Jock Harvey, owner of McLaren Vale Distillers, is made of harder stuff and decided to forge ahead with the venture…by himself.

So, for this first release, Mr Harvey has not only released the now mandatory, single cask, cask strength malt but also an entry level multi-cask malt that is not only very tasty, but so very well priced for an Aussie craft producer.

In my humble opinion, “Yep, it’s the typical Aussie style, full, very rich and flavoursome. And in this case the muscat certainly shine though. The nose is a soft and gentle mix of malt and muscat dried fruit flavours while underneath this, the kitchen spice and fresh vanilla of the oak adds a layer of intrigue.

And the taste? It’s almost an intense explosion of sweet, rich fruitiness and lively spirit, which is need to keep the oak in check. And it just hangs around. And did I mention the texture? It’s like a layer of glycerol. Bravo Mr H”.

In Mr Harvey’s words, “Aged in five individual French Oak Shiraz casks and finished in fortified Muscat barrels. A rich, ruby colour, it has complex and subtle layers of Christmas pudding spice, butterscotch and raisins with hints of marmalady, citrus peel”.

And as an added bonus: see if you can resolve the codes associated with the casks filling dates.