There’s a lot of noise and activity in the Australian whisky scene at the moment – most of it to do with new distilleries being established or newer distilleries releasing their first matured spirit. Or, frequently, you’ll hear about some Aussie whisky collecting an award at an international spirits competition. Meanwhile, some distilleries are simply getting on with making good whisky. Bakery Hill is one such distillery. Not the most vocal brand on social media, Bakery Hill is happy to let its whiskies do the talking. And talk, they do.
The irony of course is that Bakery Hill is one of Australia’s “older” distilleries from amongst the current crop, having been established in 1999. Few would appreciate that it’s actually the oldest Australian distillery on the mainland! Its first whiskies were publicly launched at the 2003 Australian Malt Whisky Convention in Canberra at the tender age of three years old, and whilst everyone acknowledged the whiskies were a little on the youthful side at the time, the quality and pedigree was undoubtedly there. It was evident to all that the formula was right and that they’d shine with a few more years under their belt – as indeed they subsequently proved down the track. It’s an oft-forgotten or simply overlooked fact that Jim Murray’s 2005 Whisky Bible declared one of Bakery Hill’s products the “Best Small Distillery Whisky in the World”!
The distillery was founded by David Baker, and its name is both a reference to his surname, and also the site of Australia’s early gold-rush fever and the subsequent civic uprising of the Eureka Stockade. The distillery is located on the eastern fringe of Melbourne’s metropolitan area, on the edge of the Dandenongs, although plans are afoot to re-locate shortly. The distillery was founded in response to a vibe that was being quietly voiced in some circles at the time – that great single malt whiskies could only come out of Scotland. Baker took this as a personal challenge, and set about changing perceptions…
Right from the outset, Baker showed a mind for long-term planning and product development. Not content to have just one release or style, David had three different products ready to go at the time of launching: The Classic Malt, the Double Wood, and the Peated Malt.
Fast forward 16 years from that launch, and Bakery Hill still has its core range of the Double Wood, the Classic Malt, and the Peated Malt (all bottled at 46%, with the latter two also available in cask-strength 60% expressions). There have also been special, limited edition releases over the years, one of which is the current “Sovereign Smoke – Defiantly Peated” release.
One of the reasons Bakery Hill stands out from the pack – certainly flavour-wise – is that it has chiefly shunned the current trend by most Australian distilleries to fill into ex-wine casks from the Australian wine industry. In the opinion of this writer, too many Australian whiskies are dry and overly tannic, due mostly to an unhealthy reliance on port, shiraz, and pinot casks, not to mention short maturation times in smaller casks. The resulting whiskies are wine-dominant and wood-driven, rather than spirit-driven, and many Aussie whiskies can leave you struggling to detect that the whisky was actually made from barley. In contrast to this, Bakery Hill primarily fills into American oak ex-bourbon casks and matures its whiskies for longer durations, resulting in a cleaner, sweeter spirit that has less volatiles and is inherently more complex and allows the malt to shine through.
Bakery Hill produces its whiskies in small batch, single cask releases, and the whiskies are all non-chillfiltered. Courtesy of David Baker, Whisky & Wisdom recently received the Bakery Hill miniature pack – a fantastic package featuring the five core-range releases. The full-range miniature pack (pictured above) is available online from the Bakery Hill website for just $85. A mini of the limited edition Sovereign Smoke was also sent across, and so W&W sat down recently with the bottlings and put them through their paces. Our thoughts were as follows:
Classic Single Malt (46% ABV)
Nose: Vanilla sponge and caramel fudge. Hay bales and a stroll around the barley field.
Palate: Sweet, with a beautiful maltiness. A hint of sherbert and fruit tingles.
Finish: Still sweet, and with just the tiniest (and perfect) hint of drying oak.
Comments: Delicious and more-ish. It’s a lighter style of whisky, more spirit-driven than wood-driven, but the spirit is clean, flawless, sweet, malty, and with gentle traits of spice, fruits, and cereal. I’m not sure the production team will appreciate me making the comparison, but I could help drink this and be reminded of a high-quality Glenlivet or Glenfiddich.
Double Wood (46% ABV, matured in American oak before being finished in European French oak).
Nose: Compared to the Classic Malt, there’s now a notable spike of oak on the nose, but the general aroma characteristics here are very similar to its Classic Malt stablemate.
Palate: Slightly drier as the spirit hits the palate, there’s now hints of popcorn, toffee, almond cake, and perhaps also some marzipan.
Finish: The ABV is still the same as the Classic Malt, but this comes across as a bit more robust, powerful, and assertive – all in a very pleasant way.
Comments: Not a HUGE departure from the Classic Malt, the two obviously share common DNA and many traits, but the Double Wood does display a little extra dimension in places.
Classic Single Malt Cask Strength (60% ABV)
Nose: Now THIS has got the olfactory nerves stimulated! Reminiscent of a particularly perfumed new-make, it’s extremely malty (barley cereal, obviously), but slickly wrapped in vanilla, melting butter, and molasses. Wafer cream biscuits, too.
Palate: Despite the big leap in alcohol, the spirit is not at all aggressive, and delightfully light yet vibrant on the palate. It is, again, clean and flawless. Some might argue it’s a little too clean, whilst those with a good palate will detect subtle complexities in the underlying bed of barley, white chocolate, white toast, and several variations on vanilla.
Finish: The finish is medium to long, and holds its line without trailing into bitter or oaky directions.
Comments: The nose on this is gorgeous, and will keep those with a keen sense of smell entertained for some time. The whisky is tasty and incredibly drinkable, but it will definitely appeal more to those who enjoy a cleaner, lighter style of whisky that is not dominated by oak or wine.
Peated Malt (46% ABV)
Nose: The presence of the word “peated” on the label might prompt some to go looking for smoke, but the first initial hit on the nose is a deliciously sweet, dessert-like confectionery note. With time, the peat reveals itself, but it’s the family of earthy, forest-floor phenols that are present. There’s actually not much in the way of smoke, and it’s not the medicinal/TCP aromas you’d associate with, say, a typical Islay malt. (For the real whisky nerds, the phenols I picked up here are chiefly cresols and xylenols).
Palate: This is outrageously good spirit. It’s refined, sophisticated, complex, and multi-faceted. The flavours are primarily sweet and in the confectionery camp (boiled lollies, cola jubes, and milk bottles, etc), but they’re all coated in this wonderful, earthy peatiness that lends a wider, darker dimension over the whisky.
Finish: Long and sweet. It’s actually very satisfying, and you can sit and ponder a sip for a long time before feeling obliged to go back for more. The finish is perhaps also where the peat leaves its deepest footprint.
Comments: I first referenced this product in an article I wrote back in 2006 declaring Bakery Hill Peated Malt as the best Australian whisky. I’m not sure it holds that trophy just now, but it is certainly the best peated Australian whisky. Delicious and wonderfully drinkable. However, readers beware! This is not a smoky whisky. Go looking for smoke or anything that resembles an Islay whisky and you’ll be disappointed. This is the other side of peat, and this whisky is a wonderful exponent of it.
Peated Malt Cask Strength (60% ABV)
Comments: In the interests of keeping the word count down, I’ll summarise this by saying that it simply comes across as the Peated Malt with the volume, quality, complexity and enjoyment factor all dialled up a few notches. The finish, it must be said, stands out for being particularly malty and leaving that earthy peatiness firmly branded on your tongue.
Sovereign Smoke – Defiantly Peated (50% ABV, limited edition. The whisky was made using Belgian peated barley, peated to a higher phenol level than the regular Peated expression.)
Nose: Same territory as the Peated Malt, although notably more complex on the nose – there’s a touch of eucalyptus, some lemon meringue, and Robinson’s Barley Water. That earthy, forest floor note emerges with time in the glass, perhaps even hinting at truffles. With a few drops of water, the dram becomes more savoury with hints of gravy, vegemite, and roast drippings.
Palate: Wow! The palate takes a sudden twist, introducing a tropical fruit note. Guava? Peated guava juice? It throws a beguiling sense of sweetness on what is otherwise a fairly savoury palate. With water, there’s a salted caramel, perhaps even a peated caramel note that’s pretty tasty.
Finish: Soft, sweet, silky, clean, peaty, and l o n g….
Comments: A fascinating dram, one probably has to try the regular Peated Malt edition first to appreciate how and where the Sovereign Smoke introduces some new and appealing shades. David Baker suggests adding a few drops of water to this. Be sparing if you do, but the water certainly adds a few new dimensions to what is already a fairly complex whisky.
So if you’ve not experienced Bakery Hill yet and you’re not sure where to start, a Miniature Pack is a great way to explore the distillery for a very modest outlay. A 3-pack with the 46% range whiskies is $48, whilst the 5-pack which also adds the two 60% offerings is $85.
The distillery offers tours and tastings on scheduled days, typically twice a month, which you book in advance online via the distillery’s website. David and son, Andrew, are also frequently out and about hosting and presenting masterclasses and whisky education evenings around the place, so keep an eye online for an event near you.
Cheers,
AD
PS…you might also like our story on review on Bakery Hill’s The Blunderbuss release.
