Amber Lane Apera Cask #087 Australian Single Malt Whisky

This exquisite single Apera cask #087, brimming with traditional sherry cask notes, won a double gold medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Awards 2023. A rare accolade for spirits unanimously judged as a gold medal standard, and “one of the finest products in the world”, by every judge.

Apera denotes a fortified wine style made in Australia in the style of traditional sherry. The cask used for this release was an ex-McWilliams 225L French Oak cask. Prior to holding sherry, the cask was used to age white wine and then red wine, with all of these elements contributing to this truly complex whisky.

Beautiful whisky requires the balancing of numerous elements - the new make, maturation conditions, and finding the right natural strength of the whisky. In this case, Amber Lane has followed the Cognac tradition of adding small amounts of water to the spirit as it is ageing in the cask, to bring down the ABV of the spirit slowly. This has allowed the spirit to draw up different characters from the barrel as the ABV changes. The end result is a delicate and complex whisky.

Bottled at 54.5% ABV and with a surprising lightness of touch, this whisky is best enjoyed neat. It is a rare and divine representation of what Australian distilleries are capable of producing when working with the best materials, with care and skill during the maturation process.

• Nose: raisins, cinnamon, brown sugar and rose water.
• Taste: luscious honeycomb, raisins, cardamom and demarera sugar. Dark chocolate and cinnamon donuts.
• Finish: long, spicey and moreish.