Tasmanian Independent Bottlers - The Rum Cask (500ml)
Matured in a single, eighty-year-old ex-Bundaberg rum cask, this first-of-its-kind single malt was created exclusively for the Club by Heartwood’s own Louis Duckett.
AustraliaColour Light gold
Nose Fresh banana bread, creamed honey on crumpets, lemon sherbet, vanilla and light spice.
Palate Buttered popcorn, french vanilla slice, cinnamon, pineapple and butterscotch, caramelised oak with a hint of minerality.
Overview
From the bondstores of Tassie’s famed Heartwood comes a rum cask banger you’ll not soon forget.
Crafted exclusively for the Club by Heartwood’s own Louis Duckett, it’s dripping with delectable rum-casky goodness.
Fully matured in a single, carefully re-coopered eighty-year-old ex-Bundaberg rum cask, this is Tasmanian Independent Bottlers (Heartwood’s non-cask strength division) showing every ounce of their whiskymaking craftiness and guile to make something utterly delicious.
After six years in cask (having been filled at the usual 63.4% ABV), Louis wasn’t happy with how the whisky was looking: the ABV had moved up to about 66% and it wasn’t drinking well. So, like any right-thinking Duckett, he set about fixing it, breaking it down to 57% while it was still in the cask – a lower ABV pulls different notes from the oak, particularly the sweet, rich white-sugary notes he wanted to balance the whisky.
It worked like a charm. Within a few weeks the profile had changed hugely, and after a few more months it was ready to decant. We tasted it at a bunch of different strengths, before landing on the sweet-spot for bottling: a highly sippable 44.5% ABV.
The low-ABV maturation has syruped the rummy notes right up, giving heaps of lemon sherbet, buttered popcorn, French vanilla slice and pineapple. This is a doozy. The single cask only yielded 180 bottles, so act fast to avoid missing out – our last dram from the house of Heartwood sold out in minutes.
And if you’re not a Member of the Club yet, join today – Membership is free!
THE SPECS
Price: $165.00
Age: 6 Years Old
ABV: 44.5%
Maturation: Bundaberg rum cask
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Heartwood Malt Whisky's History
If you haven’t heard of Heartwood, you’ve been missing out. And if you haven’t tasted Heartwood, you’ve really been missing out.
Heartwood was founded in by Tasmanian Tim Duckett (or ‘Mr H’) in the late nineties, when he – at that point just a lover of single cask whisky – started buying casks directly from distilleries in Tassie’s then-nascent industry.
He was the first person to buy a cask from Sullivans Cove when it was still called Tasmania Distillery, picking up cask number HH007 before they became a global household name. Speaking of household names, he also picked up the first cask Bill and Lyn Lark ever sold, as they’d already become good friends through their day jobs and a shared love of a good dram.
In 2011, realising he had way too much whisky for one person to drink, Tim bottled his first ever Heartwood: the Mt Wellington Release, which had, in keeping with the close-knit nature of the industry, been distilled by Bill Lark at Tasmania Distillery. This cask strength ex-Bourbon cask paved the way for what’s become Heartwood’s calling card: unrepentantly full-throated cask strength whiskies, released when they’re ready, and not a moment before.
With no commercial drivers or shareholders to appease, Heartwood has been able to explore all sorts of things an independent bottler might not otherwise be able to: vatted malts from multiple award-winning distilleries, non-traditional cask types, aggressive and experimental maturations, solera-style iterative whiskies, and even an ongoing ‘Dregs’ series which is drawn from samples and portions of every malt Tim’s ever released.
Heartwood has always been a family and community affair, and as the warehouse has grown, Tim’s son Louis has been called on to step up as a whiskymaker, blending and vatting his own releases as well as those under the Heartwood label (including Heartwood’s very first collaboration with The Whisky Club!).
So there’s the history of Heartwood, all that’s left for you to do is sip some – just make sure you’re ready, it’s not for the faint of heart.
Distillery Facts
Region: Tasmania
Origin: 3/2 Ascot Drive, Huntingfield, TAS 7055
Founded: 1999
Ready to enjoy a world-class whisky collection?
Your free Club Membership gives access to exclusive single malts from Scotland, Australia and the rest of the world’s best distilleries. Enjoy the unrivalled buying power of Australia's biggest whisky club.