Water of Life – Bakery Hill MMXXIII
If you happen to even remotely follow this series, you could not be blamed for finding the sheer range of activity within the confines of the Australian distillery landscape overwhelming, especially given the large number of new entities popping up on the radar on a regular basis and the exponential increase in international accolades being bestowed on them.
While there is merit in innovation and the creation of new products along with the inevitable declamatory noise via social media channels, there are distilleries that just seem to have gotten it right from the start. Focussing their efforts on finetuning their craft centred around the creation of meticulously distilled drops, they let their liquid emissions speak for themselves.
One of those distilleries is Bakery Hill.
Having incarnated twenty-three years ago and thereby being one of the oldest distilleries on the mainland that is terra australis, what was originally founded by David Baker in the Eastern part of Melbourne has established itself as a widely esteemed, veritable heavyweight internationally based on the father / son duo’s long-term vision, product development and trust in the process.
My first exposure to Bakery Hill was via their core expression, i.e. the Classic Single Malt.
Clocking in at 46% ABV, I vividly remember how immensely more-ish I found what tasted like a lighter style of a malt centred expression, with delicate nuances of drying oak and spices enriching the finish.
Needless to say, being a hopeless Islay head, I fell head over heels for Bakery Hill’s defiantly peated Sovereign Smoke expression, which as the telling name suggests, rules supreme in the realm of deliciously phenolic and bonfire goodness.
What I found interesting about Bakery Hill’s approach, apart from them doing their own milling, was their focus on American oak ex-bourbon casks instead of an over reliance on wine casks and longer maturation periods compared to other Australian contemporaries, which results in cleaner, undiluted from overly tannic flavour profiles with the limelight set on the malt.
Having perfectioned its core portfolio, Bakery Hill’s special releases are never not a special treat and it took until 2023 that I finally got a hold of the much fabled about Blunderbuss 2022 expression.
If you follow our “Thus Let Us Drink Beer” series, you would be familiar with Hop Nation’s Imperial Stout beer that goes under the moniker of The Kalash, the flavour profile of which is informed by having spent significant time in Bakery Hill barrels.
Now that the barrels have been returned, Bakery Hill in turn refilled them with their six year old Bakery Hill Classic whisky.
With a powerful ABV of 58%, this little number proves to be an example par excellence for a dense complex tour de force: Aromas of dark chocolate and coffee with highlights of orange peel tickle the nostrils, before honeyed stout flavours flanked by a natural ocean taste materialize on the top of the mouth.
The finish is an elongated affair, meandering between savoury and sweet terrains, eliciting a Pavlovian reaction.
Beautiful.
Given all of the aforementioned, it would be highly concerning if I did not love Bakery Hill’s vibrant Peated Double Wood expression: Having undergone a maturation period of five years in American oak before seeking further refinement in fifty litre French Oak barrels, earthy peat aromas lure one in.
On the palate, smoky peat serves as the foundation on which tobacco and floral citrus notes dance against a backdrop of oaked sweetness. The long and elegant finish rounds things out with spirit driven reverberations.
Things get interesting with the High Seas expression as it is the result of what commenced twelve years ago when a barrel of Scottish whisky was sent across to the Southern hemisphere to be decanted and filled with Bakery Hill’s peated single malt.
The amber coloured drop brims with maritime aromas and flavour-wise navigates around chocolate milky caramel territory, candy and clove flavour notes reminiscent of honey and rum. The finish culminates in the delicate and balanced marriage of peat and vanilla without either constituent overpowering the other.
Finally, I was lucky enough to sample a dram of one of Bakery Hill’s future releases, i.e., Muscat Cask, which as the name suggests, after maturation in the American oak ex-bourbon casks spent a year in ex-Yarra Valley Muscat Casks before being returned to American oak again.
The result does not disappoint: With vanilla, cinnamon and apples prominent on the nose, a multi-layered tapestry of rich dark fruits and cocoa is unveiled to culminate in a crescendo of rich, oaky spicy highlights.
Despite being pronounced on the flavour front, I like the subtle sweetness and lingering hints of muscat of the finish. Another winner that will hopefully see the light of day sooner than later.
