Hi everyone,
The Malt Vault in Utrecht is a highly recommended whisky bar in The Netherlands, in which I had a tasting booked. I also happened to taste some whiskies while I was there too, resulting in these reviews.
These first ones were a rapid-fire collection of whisky from Tasmania, Australia. A first for me because I’d never had Australian whisky before. The Hellyers Road distillery was founded in 1999.
Hellyers Road Roaring Forty 40%
Colour: Gold
Body: Medium
Nose: Pastry and dough, an off note like burnt rubber, herbal.
Taste: Soft, lacking mouthfeel, vanilla, creamy, almost that rubber creeping in.
Finish: Medium length. Dough and pastry, creamy.
Not particularly my style of whisky. If you enjoy Jura, you’ll probably enjoy this.
60/100
Hellyers Road Original 10 46.2%
Colour: Gold
Body: Medium
Nose: Much cleaner than the 40. Same style but with some oak, quite dry and subtle.
Taste: Clean, malt, nice fresh citrus and earthy malt, then a little too spicy but tones down into the finish.
Finish: Long length. Spicy but good with malt, vanilla and dry oak.
My favourite of these four. A nice clean and sippable whisky.
68/100
Hellyers Road Pinot Noir 46.2%
Colour: Light Amber
Body: Medium
Nose: The burnt rubber returns with more fruit and sweetness, cherry stones, better as it opens up with butter.
Taste: Soft and light, red berries, creamy, vanilla, dry oak, a little rubber again.
Finish: Medium length. Red berries, a little bitterness coming in, dry oak.
Not so much my thing, although others have thought good things.
64/100
Hellyers Road Lightly Peated 46.2%
Colour: Light Gold
Body: Medium
Nose: Nice light smoke, some dough, subtle citrus note, lemon and watermelon.
Taste: Soft and creamy, vanilla, very light smoke, some orange peel, oak.
Finish: Medium length. Some spice comes in, malt and a little chocolate.
The light citrus and subtle smoke reminds me of the Penderyn Peated but the dough reminds me of Jura.
67/100
Distillery: Hellyers Road
Average Score: 68.8
Distillery Ranking: 53rd/ 62 places
Up/Down: N/a
Thanks for reading!
Australian Reviews #1-#4
Whisky Network Reviews #732-#735
Network Average: 74.9
Best Score: 94
Worst Score: 12
0-49 Terrible
50-59 Bad
60-64 Just About OK
65-69 Ok to Good
70-74 Good
75-79 Very Good
80-84 Excellent
85-89 Superb
90+ Magnificent
Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.
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