Worst Whisky Ever - And It's Australian

[Renato1]

I usually try do the right thing and support local products, by at least giving them a try. So recently, when in a bottle shop I saw a bottle of,
"Blend 73
Premium Whisky
A fine Australian Spirit blended from selected mature whiskies to produce a smooth mellow finish",
I thought I'd give it a go.

Up till now, the worst whiskies I'd ever tasted was one called Tayside that they used to sell in Liquorland many years ago, and more recently one I bought in the Lidl chain in Italy for 5 Euros a bottle. These two weren't bad or undrinkable, just at the lowest end - and would pass if mixed with Coke.

And then I tried Blend 73. It makes the previous two seem like masterpieces of the blending craft.

If I had to describe it, it would be caramel and lots of vanilla added to something similar to furniture polish. I can't drink it straight or mixed. And I worry that whatever it is may kill me.

Has anybody else tried this stuff?
Regards,
Renato

[el_draco]

Nope. However, if you want to try a decent Whiskey, by something from Lark Distillery in Tassie. Lark whiskey is recognised as a world champion, even by the Scotts. :D

[Hagar]

Don't forget the old Aussie staples. Vat69 and Corio. No wonder they are not made any more.

[Greenswale]

My dad knew Corio as COR 10, after a brand of petrol. Spelling is sort of the same, and it was good for lighting fires.

[Andy01]

Hellyers Road from Tassie won "Best new world Whisky" and it's super yummy. I get it at Dan Murphys. http://www.hellyersroaddistillery.com.au/

[LewisM]

Worst Whiskey ever? Bourbon - ANY Bourbon.

Just call it diesel with a hint of caramel and be done with it.

I like Irish Whiskeys or OLD Scotch (my grandfather left me some VERY old Scotch, and not one has disappointed)

[el_draco]

oooh, new gold! Thanks for the link; gonna do the tour I suspect!! :thanx::thanx::thanx:. No, I am not an alcoholic; Whiskey is just the "unmentioned" food group !!

[Renato1]

Thanks Guys,
I must admit to being negligent in not having tried a Tasmanian one yet. But I will rectify that shortly.
Regards,
Renato

[Renato1]

Vat 69 and Corio and even Bond 7 are gems compared to Blend 73.
Cheers,
Renato

[Renato1]

Hi Lewis,
I have to disagree - though I sort of understand where you may be coming from. I never drink it straight, but like it mixed - unless the bourbon is one of the cherry or honey infused ones which I like straight. And where would we be without Southern Comfort?

Personally though, I don't think much of Jack Daniels, and I find all the more expensive versions of Jim Beam not as good as the original. The only real difference I can detect between cheaper and more expensive bourbons is smoothness. My favourite of the last 25 years is still the El- Cheapo Kentucky Gold, that I get from Liquorland.
Cheers,
Renato

[Weird1]

I like Irish whisky, but am partial to a wee dram of any of the finest. Came across Timboon Whisky a couple of years ago and have to say it's really good for the price and made (distilled in Victoria not too far from Colac). Check out the web site or even take a drive and a taste test.
http://www.timboondistillery.com.au/
Clear skies to you all Keith

[Renato1]

Oh - I forgot to relay part of the story of Blend 73.

Having tasted it and determined it was horrible, I tried mixing it with Pepsi Max. After drinking half the glass and pouring the rest of it down the sink, I rinsed the glass with water, and refilled it with Pepsi Max straight, to try wash away the terrible taste.

Believe it or not, the glass still smelled strongly of the vanilla from the Blend 73, which considerably reduced my enjoyment of the Pepsi Max.

I had to use lemon liquid soap to clean the glass properly.

Regards,
Renato

[Renato1]

The pictures of the bottles look so good, I want to buy it.
Cheers,
Renato

[Eratosthenes]

Renato1

Pity you had a bad experience with an Australian whisky - there are some excellent blends and single malts coming out of Australian distilleries (Tassie especially), but are generally expensive. In the same price bracket most of the Australian whisky products just don't compare with anything coming out of Scotland - they do ok against some US whiskies though)

About 2 years ago I was lucky enough to taste a few whiskies at Bakery Hill Distilleries in outer Melbourne (Bayswater somewhere - although David (owner) was talking about a move to the Dandenong mountains). Bakery Hill Distilleries make a few products which includes a Gin. The bottle I bought was their standard aged (>7 years) Single Malt Whiskey for $110. This was a smaller 500 mL bottle so it was quite expensive if you compare it to the 700 mL standard bottle. He also had a single Malt Cask Strength bottle (~ 62% alcohol) for $135 which also sold in a 500 mL bottle. I tasted the cask strength whisky with a few drops of water added to release the flavours and smell, and it was superb.

Fantastic whisky, but realistically, you can buy Scottish Single Malt whiskies that are similar in quality for as low as $90 per bottle (and that's for a 700 mL bottle)

http://www.planetwhiskies.com/images/distilleries/bakeryhill.jpg

I think the Australian Whisky industry suffers from its inherent small commercial scale as compared to the larger more experienced whiskey industry in Scotland.

But if you wish to support the Australian whisky distilling sector, then you may need to fork out about $30 to $50 extra per bottle to obtain a similar quality as imported Scottish products.

(unless of course you can smell or taste something unique in an Australian distilled and aged whiskey and wish to pay extra for it. In fact that would be my advice to the Australian whisky distilling industry - make something uniquely Australian, in flavour, taste and smell and market it domestically and internationally otherwise why would customers pay the extra dollars?)

[Renato1]

Thanks Peter,
So far Australian and particularly Tasmanian whisky appears to be a niche market for connoisseurs who, as you say are willing to fork out the extra $30 to $50 for a bottle for something very good and a bit different. And single malt whisky is actually more a connoisseur item, compared to blended whisky which the general public prefer buying to the single malts.

Given the excellence now being accorded to fine Aussie whiskies, it appears that few of them have bothered trying making a decent blended whisky from their single malts - which would translate to an extra $10 to $20 premium per bottle from lack of economies of scale, but which would be on par with imported premium blended scotch whiskies. Or if they have, they may have had problems with distribution and shelf space in liquor stores.

Or it could be that the Australians just do not have the blending skills that the Scots have - who have huge teams working on their blends, and who jealously guard their blending recipes.

The only relatively big selling Australian blended whisky I know of is Bond 7, and I've only ever seen it sold at IGA liquor outlets. Though when my firends ran a pub 20 years ago, they explained that when people asked for Whisky and Coke they got Australian whisky (Corio, I think) and when they asked for Scotch and Coke, they paid 10 cents more and got a cheap Scotch whisky instead. So that back then Australians in pubs mainly drank Australian blended whisky.

Anyhow - I can guarantee that Blend 73 will never make it into pubs or anywhere else.
Cheers,
Renato

[Eratosthenes]

Renato,

Its interesting what is classed as a single malt. There are technically some blends which are sold as single malt whiskies, because the criteria used for single malts is simply whisky distilled from the SAME distillery. Personally there are some great blends and some ordinary single malts. The aging process and the grains used etc are what matters - the process.

I like trying different whiskies although recently I have been diving into Rums.

Have you tried Zacapa Rum from Guatemala? Sensational. The XO is very pricey. A friend got me a bottle packaged in a nice box, duty free for about $139 (worth about $185 retail here). Havent opened it yet. But I have the tried the Zacapa 23 which is fantastic at about $90 per bottle.

https://cocktailgroupie.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/zacapa.jpg

The Zacapa XO is so well packaged and in a unique bottle, that I am saving it. Also want to drink a couple of more Rums, to compare.

[Renato1]

Hi Peter,
That is quite a coincidence, after my single malt binge this year, I've been drinking lots of rum lately too - though only the inexpensive dark stuff. I did try and be innovative and bought a spiced Rum which seem to be all the rage. I was extremely disappointed - just seemed like vanilla and rum to me.

I mainly drink spirits mixed with Pepsi Max, and only very occasionally straight, so I haven't given much consideration to the expensive rums.

As for blends, there are three aspects or types of usage of the word. The first is that which means blending single malt whisky or whiskeys with neutral grain whisky to tone it down to the most typical type of Scotch whisky sold in the shops.

Then there is the art of blending the various single malts themselves to come up with the most important component of blended Scotch whisky. And the quality of either the single malts or blended Scotch whiskey depends, as you say, the aging process, grains used, peat used and the process.

And finally, there are the blended single malt whiskies which one sees a few bottles of in most bottle shops. From the few I've bought, I formed the opinion that they got lousy single malts and mixed them, hoping for the best. Had they been any good, they'd have sold them as single bottle single malts.

I'm pretty sure that most Bourbon and Irish whiskies qualify as effectively being single malts. I've only ever seen one blended bourbon, and it's the cheapest one they sell in BWS. As it costs $2 less than the real thing, I haven't bothered testing it yet.
Cheers,
Renato

[Wavytone]

Someone once gave me a bottle of scotch that tasted like boot polish dissolved in pure ethanol - followed by a splitting headache 10 minutes later. Poured the rest down the drain. Strongly suspected it was a chemical concoction or metho.

It was I think a scotch brand but not one you see often thankfully, for good reason.

[PeterEde]

I recently purchased single malt from Vom Fass. 21 yrs for $26 per 100ml.

[Renato1]

I think your one has just been repackaged into my one.
Regards,
Renato

[Renato1]

Must be good at that price - correct?
Cheers,
Renato

[narky]

I concur. Pound for pound Irish Whiskey is far tastier than Scotch.

As for an Aussie variety you might like to try I'd recommend http://www.limeburners.com.au/the-distillery/albany.html (Bit too pricey for me, but apparently I'm getting a free bottle in the near future).

:D

I'll try some of this awful whisky. I assume its cheap.
Worst I've had was distilled in Surry Hills (can't remember the name), but pretty sure it was either made in a prison toilet or at best a rusty bathtub.