Old Kempton The Coachhouse Single Malt Whisky (500ml)

The Coachhouse is the pinnacle of the Old Kempton range, blended to represent the house style, from casks especially chosen as having richer flavours and a more robust back palate. It is also bottled at cask strength for intensity and body.

Old Kempton’s wash is 100% Tasmanian-grown and malted barley, made a short drive away at Cambridge. Distiller Rob Tyson works very closely with the brewer from the outset to ensure the quality and style it is made to measure. Like all the Whiskies at this distillery, the wash was then double-distilled in squat Knapp Lewer copper pot stills (made in Hobart). The spirit was then aged for five to six years before blending and bottling (a fastidious selection of 100L casks from across the Old Kempton range, which for this first bottling included one Pinot Noir cask, three Sherry, two Port and a small proportion of Tokay).

The signature Old Kempton notes of raisin and prune meet marzipan and spice, this time layered with deeper toast elements of coffee and cocoa. The palate throws off pastry and oatmeal as well as the full-bodied butterscotch flavours that are trademarks of this producer. The sweetness tapers nicely and the finish is dry, with tobacco giving way to mellow oak, mixed spices and orange peel. Diluted with water, white stone fruit flavours come to the fore.