Black Gate Cask #16 Cask Strength Australian Single Malt Whisky Oak Barrel Exclusive

From the archive, a very special single cask single malt whisky from Black Gate distillery, bottled exclusively for The Oak Barrel in 2016.

Cask #16 comes from the same pedigree as the legendary Black Gate 520s release; it is the sixth 20L 1st-fill sherry cask that distiller, Brian Hollingworth, ever filled. It was distilled in 2014 from Franklin barley that Brian brought back to the Mendooran distillery from Hobart. It was matured for just over 2 years and 2 months, before being bottled in 2016. The cask yielded just 32 bottles at 66%. Up for sale is bottle number 1 of 32. 

Notes, courtesy of WhiskNick:

Nose: The nose is full of sticky molasses and toffee treacle. There is a gum tree note that develops into premium aged tea leaves. A thick dose of Chinese herbal medicine boiling in the background with just a hint of dirty diesel that has grown synonymous with the distillery. Five spices, peppercorn and cloves, everything with this whisky feels big, like revving your modified V8 engine on a country dirt road. With time, the herbal note settles slightly, just enough to reveal a floral musk.

Palate: Oh so syrupy on the palate, everything one might expect from seeing how saucy this whisky is. Incredibly rich in dark toffee syrup, it’s extraordinarily sweet.

Finish: Eventually there  comes the old fashioned soaked orange peels with a creamy café au lait note that help diluting the thickness, lifting the heaviness gradually to reveal a lighter floral note as the molten brown sugar and golden honey notes slowly evaporate. 

Conclusion: The sauciest Black Gate ever bottled yet; to say this whisky is unlike everything else is quite possibly an understatement.