Batch No. 013 and other interesting plans!

Batch No. 013 will be bottled and ready to go by the end of October, and cask #58, the sister barrel to cask #57 that became gold batch 003, will be released either just before or just after Christmas. We have filled a number of ex-wine barrels this year and several of them are showing exceptional promise. We particularly have our eyes on some spirit that started out in sherry and port casks, but has now been married in a French Oak Chardonay cask. It is different and delightful and might make it into a bottle next year.

Here at The Shed we have never been fans of Bourbon casks, but a couple of years back we did fill a few when we couldn't get our hands on our usual barrels. This forced experiment has opened our eyes to the potential of Bourbon casks and we intend to fill a series of them in the coming months. So far the indications are for classic Bourbon Cask flavours enriched by our typical oily malt character, like a speyside on steroids!

We also have three different types of peat plus our famous Mallee Root smoke with which to fascinate the palate when used in conjunction with some second and third fill barrels. It has been our experience that first fill barrels just gobble up any peat or smoky chacterisitcs in the new make, so we save the smoky spirit for second and third fill barrels now.