Goodradigbee Ironbark Red

Nose: Ethanol with woody undertones. Faint scents of apple, cinnamon, and something sweet (perhaps honey?) but it's incredibly subtle. Palate: Sharp yet neutral initial taste of alcohol and tannin, or some other wood chemical. It's reserved and unmemorable. Finish: Brief. A touch of tannin. I hadn't heard of this until yesterday when I saw it at a pop-up stall at our local liquor store. It was the third product from this distillery I tasted, and the best thing I can say is that it wasn't as bad as their terrible Ironbark Yellow. It has a raw alcohol character and is clearly very young, thin, and lacking in character, with no indication of the complexity or integration found in properly aged spirits. This distillery isn't using oak casks to age their spirit for the required 2 years to be called whisky. Instead, they are using Australian hardwood boxes and maturing for only a few months. They claim this "innovative" system provides more surface area for maturation. However, putting spirit into a small box to age for a few months clearly achieves very little. I suspect they are simply avoiding the expense of buying oak casks and the cost of cooperage. This isn't a rapid maturation system like pressure-treatment with oak blocks or chips, which can achieve some resemblance of maturation (if you're fortunate). It's simply a failed experiment. There's no way I could endorse this product. It retails for AUD$88, and you would have to be certifiably insane to choose this over anything else in the same price range. "Poor": 63/100 (1.25 stars)