“You know, some days a bit of luck comes your way – that’s why this one’s called Wildcard” said distiller Nathan Williams. Baker Williams Distillery will this week launch their brand new spirit ‘Wildcard’ a mix of both malt spirit and wine spirit.
What started out a bit of an experiment combined with a healthy dose of serendipity has resulted in a unique spirit – malt undertones & brandy sweetness with lovely caramel and vanilla from the virgin Bourbon cask it’s been aging in.
The spirits composition is quite unusual in that it blends two types of spirit – one normally destined for whiskey – malt spirit; and the other usually destined to be brandy. “We’d actually made a bit of a blunder in mixing the two different types of spirit – it sat around in a holding vessel for about twelve months at which point I was going to strip this batch to a neutral liqueur base but on a bit of a whim we thought we’d try running it like a whiskey. From the moment we’d finished the distillation, I was convinced it was going down into barrel” said Mr Williams.
The craft distilling industry has embodied a sense of adventure and relative freedom that has allowed craft producers to take different directions with respect to product and the Mudgee based distillers are keen for this to continue.
“Our industry isn’t shackled to pre-existing ideas, or rigid dogma -tradition remains important, but innovation and a desire to explore is evident – it’s a great time to be a distiller as well as a consumer. Importantly it’s not just innovation for innovations sake – we’re searching for new flavours, new processes, new ingredients that enrich and broaden the beverage market”.
A genuine limited release - only 99 cask strength bottles (a whopping 63.5%) are available and 288 at 50% abv– each bottle signed and numbered by the distiller.
KEY FACTS:
Product: Wildcard A unique mix of Barley, Wheat & Rye Malts + wine spirit aged in a Virgin Bourbon Barrel for 18months. (To our knowledge there is nothing else like this in the marketplace). All spirit drawn from a single barrel.
Wildcard is Baker Williams Distillery’s very first aged release and will be followed in quarter 1 calendar 2018 with their first edition Whiskey.
Flavour profile: Unique whiskey/brandy hybrid characters – sweetness from wheat & wine, with underlying malt and rich oak notes.
Variations:
a) Cask Strength 63.5% ABV – 99 Bottles b) 50%ABV - 288 Bottles
Distilled by Baker Williams Distillery, Distiller Nathan Williams on their custom 400 litre pot still and aged on-site.
All bottles are hand crafted - hand bottled, hand waxed, hand labelled, signed and numbered
Target audience: Whiskey; Brandy & Bourbon lovers.
Wildcard is available at the Baker Williams Distillery Cellar Door at 194 Henry Lawson Drive, Mudgee NSW 2850; online at store.bakerwilliams.com.au and at select liquor stores and bars.
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