Boutique-y Riverbourne 3-Year-Old Batch 1

The batch one release from Australia's Riverbourne distillery, bottled by Scotland's That Boutique-y Whisky Company.

This Batch 1 is part of the independent bottler's inaugural Australia series, which features eight whiskies from downunder distilleries, released in April 2021.

This was matured in a re-charred ex-Australian wine cask. 

132 bottles in the release, approximately half of that allocated to Australia. 

TBWC's take on this Riverbourne: 

"Matured in a re-charred ex-Australian wine cask this Riverbourne single malt is clean, complex and carefully balanced. Riverbourne favour ‘less active’ casks, aiming to encourage the development of complex, carefully balanced flavour profiles. Their whiskies are steadily growing in popularity across Australia. "The distillery is run by Australia’s oldest distiller, Martin Pye, a third generation pharmacist. Martin utlises a wide range of yeast strains, and matures in carefully managed, re-charred ex-wine casks which let the spirit speak."

Nose: Preserved lemon, honey, gunpowder tea and tobacco.

Palate: A hot (cold?) toddy with black tea. Shifts into a spicy, herbal finish. Long.

Oak Barrel comments from a preview tasting of the series: 

Shaved oak and pencil shavings on the nose, quite a gritty and pungent nose with a hint of smoke. Wine comes through on the palate, but oak is king on this expression.

TBWC on the label:

"There’s a ‘whack-a-mole’ feel to this label, but instead of moles, its wombats. 

"The distillery is surrounded by holes dug by burrowing wombats, they’ve even managed to dig into one of the sheds used for maturation.

"Our Wombats all look very much like movie villains. They’ve been busy pilfering the distillery equipment too.

"It’s Whack-a-Wombat time at Riverbourne, and one has just been clobbered. He’s seeing stars!"

One of Scotland’s most prolific independent bottlers, Boutique-y share an ethos with The Oak Barrel that whisky is meant to be drunk, whisky is meant to be fun. Known for their bright labels and excellent juice, they have bottled most distilleries in Scotland and are increasingly expanding to include whiskies from around the world – which is where this series of Australian whiskies fits in.

Their limited-edition labels are designed by Emily Chappell and reference interesting elements (or in-jokes) about the distillery. Their batches, which can be single casks or married from a number of casks, are bottled at the strength they deem the whisky is most enjoyable at.