Overeem Sherry Matured (43%, OB, -/+2022)
Colour: gold. Nose: many breads such as pumpernickel and fresh brown toast. Also toasted seeds and this rather weighty feeling of pumpkinseed oil. Feels pretty fat and punchy even at 43%. There's a leafy and earthy note coming from the sherry that retains a lovely freshness too. Mouth: very much on breads and cupboard spices still, but here the wood is a little more assertive, perhaps too much for my taste, but the whole remains very clean and still nicely punchy even at this ABV. Some milk chocolate and sultana from the sherry fuses well with these breadier flavours. Finish: slightly on the short side, but clean and back to these leafy and earthy sherry qualities. Comments: feels pretty modern and well made, the wood is a tad spicy for me, but I rather enjoy its playfulness and the balance of power and freshness it achieves at this lower ABV.
SGP: 461 - 81 points.

Overeem Floc Shots 'Batch 3' (43%, OB)
Floc Shots is essentially a bottling of all the oily thick stuff that gets separated by our reduction and filtration normally. Colour: orangey gold. Nose: very different, much more on stewed fruits and fruit syrups, there's also flower nectars and a lovely hint of beeswax with these tangy notes of sweet muscat wine behind that. Mouth: funny, a rather tangy and sweet muddle of fruity and floral things. Orange jelly and orange juice, pumpernickel bread, sour fruit beers, mineral oil, putty and crushed flower stems. Quite a muddle of 'stuff' this one, but it also shares this quality of being impressively 'fat' at only 43%. Finish: medium, on breads, peach stone, crushed flowers, tangerine and rapeseed oil. Comments: quite a lot of fun, even if it feels a little scattershot at times. I enjoy the textural and mouthfeel aspects of these Overeems.
SGP: 641 - 83 points.

Hobart PX Solera (46.1%, OB 'Batch 2')
From ex-PX casks maturing in a fashion designed to mimic a traditional Sherry solera, although not sure PX sherry actually uses a solar system? Colour: pale amber. Nose: it's not a cloying style of PX up front, rather softer on breads, beers, wet leaves and touches of walnut oil and putty. I also find a wee salted almond or two, along with some boot polish and liquorice. Mouth: bigger, sweeter, stickier and much spicier. The wood feels a lot more here, but it is sort of just about balanced by the sweetness of the sherry. All on raisins and sultanas with hints of fruit molasses and date syrup. Another one where the relatively low ABV feels much bigger. I am not supposed to like stuff like this but I find it rather enjoyable. Finish: medium, getting a bit sappy and astringent in the aftertaste, but with more of these syrupy dark fruit notes. Comments: I can envisage this being gently nurtured from a tumbler during one of those famously long, cold and blustery winter nights they have in Tasmania. A tad extreme for me, but good fun.
SGP: 571 - 83 points.

Lark 'Parra 1992' (46.5%, OB)
Finished in casks that held 1992 Para Australian port wine. Colour: bright amber. Nose: straight away this reveals its 'porty-ness' with these rather bright and shiny red fruits and a strong suggestion of sweetness. Red liquorice, juniper, plasticine and some more classical aromas of sticky dark fruit cake. Mouth: personally, I find this too cloying and going almost towards an actual mix of whisky and port in a glass. It begins to exhibit these rather astringent qualities of sticky red fruits along with snapped green twigs and pink peppercorns. Not for me I'm afraid. Finish: rather long, but extremely cloying and sticky and sugary. Comments: It's perfectly clean, but I am checking the glass for port sediment. I find it just too jammy and sticky and cloying for my tastes, but sugar fiends may lap it up or pour it over ice.
SGP: 731 - 73 points.

Amber Lane 'Liquid Amber' (48%, OB, -/+ 2022)
Predominantly aged in 250 litre sherry casks, with a small component of ex-bourbon stock mixed in. Colour: orangey gold. Nose: Oh, hello! This appears to be a very elegant, fruity and leafy old school sherry aroma at first. Putty, walnuts, soft waxes, orange marmalade and a hint of marzipan. All with a wee pang of earthiness underneath. Extremely charming nose. Mouth: the mouth doesn't quite measure up as here it feels a tad more modern and wood-dominated with the usual sharper spicy and peppery tones, but this is still nicely mouth-filling and displaying rich notes of dark grained breads, bitter chocolate and hints of umami sauces, leather and tobaccos. Finish: good length, on roasted chestnuts, some mushroom powder and bitter herbal notes. Comments: a lovely wee surprise, I find the palate ever slightly too spicy, but the whole is very impressive and nose is superb. What casks are being used here I wonder?
SGP: 551 - 85 points.

Sullivan's Cove Refill American Oak (48%, OB, cask #TD0084, refill bourbon, 403 bottles)
Colour: bright straw. Nose: just lovely. A very gentle medley of green and yellow fruits with this nice feeling of slight overripeness and gooeyness that I love to find in any whisky. There's also flower nectars and a rising exotic side that makes you think of star fruits and papaya. Add to that some runny honey and this nose is starting to become really impressive. Mouth: acacia honey, watermelon, mashed banana, warm grist, flambeed pineapple and fruit salad juices with traces of mango pulp. Brilliant distillate, cooked at a higher temperature in bog standard American oak - I absolutely love it! Finish: long, fat, gloopy fruit salad vibes in abundance. Some more peppery notes from the wood but it never dominated the inherent fruitiness that seems to be at the core if this whisky. Comments: what a gorgeous and charming little fruit bomb. This slightly grippy note from the oak prevents me going higher, but there's no shortage of things to love here.
SGP: 651 - 88 points.

Nant 'Fed by the fuels of malcontent & disillusionment' (58.5%, Heartwood, two sherry casks with a tawny port finish, 250 bottles)
The story of Nant distillery appears to be rather controversial over in Australia, and apparently involves another of these rather stinky whisky investment wild goose chases. This, however, would be an Australian indy bottling, which I think is something new to me. Colour: amber. Nose: dark grained breads, fudge and leaf mulch. Also some nice hints of cough medicine and treacle. A sense of red fruitiness, probably from the port, but it feels pretty well integrated. With water: some nice notes of milk chocolate, date molasses and more treacle notes, also an impression of cherry cough syrup. Mouth: sweet and juicy with a feeling of young Calvados, fir wood resins, medicinal herbal toothpaste, red fruit jams and wild strawberry. I think this rather boisterous combination of sherry and port just about works. It's quite a sticky and thick palate but retains enough balance from the spicier wood components. With water: spicy, juicy and rather thick and full in texture. Lots of prickly wood spices, fig syrup and cough medicines. Finish: long, jammy, spicy and full of red and dark fruit syrups. Comments: The age seems to be unknown here, but it feels like it has a few years on it. Something of a beast and you have to be in the mood for some pretty fast and loose sweet red fruits, but overall it's impressive and good fun.
SGP: 662 - 85 points.

Spring Bay 3.5 Years Old (58%, OB for The Whisky List, refill French oak, 100 bottles)
Apparently from an ex-Sullivan's Cove whisky cask. Colour: deep gold. Nose: it has this similar concentrated fruitiness you can find on the Sullivan's Cove bourbon actually, a sense of green and yellow and exotic fruits with a little overripeness going on. Then some scented wood spices and brown bread. With water: evolves nicely with some earthy black tea leaves, camphor and olive oil. Mouth: quite darkly grained with a slightly leathery and gamey richness along with more of these wood spices. Clear French oak influence but the fact it's a refill is clearly helping maintain a nice balance with the fruitier components of the distillate. With water: hints of juniper gravy, lemon oil and bergamot, becoming increasingly herbal and slightly medicinal too. Finish: long, spicy and quite syrupy with some crystallised citrus fruits. Comments: another rather powerful dram, but it's also impressively complex too. The thing I am starting to enjoy about all these Tasmanian whiskies is the sense of concentration and texture about the mouth that they often seem to share.
SGP: 562 - 86 points.

Overeem 12 yo (60%, OB, cask #OHD-063, ex-Heaven Hill barrel)
Colour: pale gold. Nose: sweet green and orchard fruits with flower nectars and golden syrup. A dangerous profile that's impossible to be against. Becomes even more aromatic with time showing more floral notes along with some young dessert wine impressions. With water: sandalwood, old ointments, lanolin and heather honey. Very lovely! Mouth: sweet and spicy with touches of caraway and various ales and breads. Also tea tree oil and wintergreen. With water: peppery and juicy with some white stone fruits, yellow flowers and touches of gooseberry and lime. Finish: long, still quite spicy, lots of citrus fruits and some herbal teas. Comments: very good, a big but balanced spice profile and with a slightly different fruit profile, but still well within my favourite style of Australian whisky. Same level as the Sullivan's Cove in my view.
SGP: 651 - 88 points.