Well Chris got lucky hosting this session… his boy’s took pity on him and donated a bevy of fine beverages for the event. # 1 brought some tasty treats from Down Under & Tas and # 2 pitched in with an excellent birthday present … # 1 insisted on staying for the tasting to ensure that the Nosers behaved themselves while enjoying the spirits. # 2 had more sense and stayed home.
The big winners were the Nosers as the boys did not realize there was a price range on the joyful nectar and they love their father…. Just sayin….
Round 1: Nant Single Cask Sherry Wood
| Cost: $225 CDN | Region: Tasmania |
Fun Facts:
- Ok… this is just TOO good a story, stay with us. Credit to Mark P. at Malt Review (https://malt-review.com/)…. here we go…
The Nant Distillery was founded in 2008 in Bothwell, Tasmania, by husband-and-wife pair Keith Batt and Margaret Letizia. In 2013, Nant launched an investment program whereby everyday investors could pay up to $14,000 for a barrel of whisky filled and stored by Nant at their bonded warehouse. Around 900 investors joined the scheme. Let’s do that math… $12.6 million.
Investors were promised annual returns of 9.55% on their barrels, and – after 4 years – Nant guaranteed to buy the barrels back off the investors with the compounded interest. It was presumed that, at that point in time, Nant would disgorge those barrels and make a tidy sum themselves selling the bottles in their distillery shop, online, to bars or bottle shops.
The investor hoped to make a tidy sum. One investor interviewed purchased 10 barrels for $116,000 with the expectation of a return of $170,000 (others may have been planning to just keep their barrels for their own purposes). Meanwhile, Nant would be funding their new distillery costs and have an established foot in the market.
Sounds like a win-win, right? Well… wrong.
Trouble started to emerge a few years into the scheme, with reports in the media that Nant was in financial strife. At face value, Nant appeared to be riding so high that they’d opened Nant branded whisky bars in Hobart, Melbourne and Brisbane. However, Keith Batt declared bankruptcy in late 2016 due to debts from another business. Though their barrels had, in theory, matured, investors found themselves unable to redeem anything from Nant.
In October 2016, the publicly listed private equity group Australian Whisky Holdings (AWH) announced their intent to take over Nant. In early 2017, Nant was placed in receivership. As part of the takeover attempt, AWH undertook an audit of the barrels in the Nant warehouse and found that around 700 had never been filled or had been bottled without the investors’ knowledge. Hmmm, that’s not going to end well.
Put simply: Nant sold barrels to investors they never had the capacity or resources to fill. When exactly they knew this, we’ll never know.
After the full extent of Nant’s debts and malfeasance was discovered, AWH abandoned the takeover and only purchased the distilling equipment and the brand. Investors – from the top end of town to genuine mum and dad types – lost millions of dollars, with no recourse to recover the money.
That would have been the end of the tale of Nant, other than one late twist: whereas the fall of Nant was a very public, newsworthy affair, the latest kerfuffle has been largely confined to the hardcore whisky crowd.
With the Nant brand thoroughly and irreparably tarnished, AWH had to find a way to make their investment worthwhile. Attempting to sell bottles of Nant branded whisky would have been a fool’s errand. In early 2020, AWH rebadged as Lark Distilling Co (LDC). AWH had acquired majority ownership of Tasmania’s legendary Lark distillery in 2018 and rebranded to LDC to acquire a name that better represents their ownership of multiple spirit brands.
In mid-2020 LDC put out two new releases clearly containing Nant spirit but with questionable labelling. The first was a blend of Lark and Nant (and possibly other) spirit they labelled Lark Tasmanian Symphony No.1. In small writing at the bottom of the label, it reads “the first blended malt from the House of Lark.”
The second release, known as the Lark Wolf Release, is solely Nant spirit. At the bottom of the label, it reads “from our Bothwell Distillery.”
It is this Wolf Release labelling which is most misleading; in big letters on the label you can see the words “Lark” and “Single Malt Whisky.” For the uninformed consumer, without the geographical knowledge of precisely which distillery stands in Bothwell, you’d be reasonably expecting to be opening a bottle from the revered Lark distillery.
A few thoughts on this: first, it’s clearly a marketing “misdirect” from LDC and would not stand up to Scotch Whisky regulations, which Australian producers have no obligation to follow. LDC do have an obligation to follow Australian consumer laws with regard to misleading labelling, but I’d hope LDC have followed due process in that regard.
NSC Comments:
- Colour: Amber is the main consensus with some dark tones
- Nose: Chocolate to several, even caramel, vanilla, with a sweetness and fruit to it
- Palate: Creamy for virtually everyone, smooth, oily mention, fruity to one
- Finish: Long for everyone
- Ages in the glass to be extremely smooth and creamy
- Very tasty, sweet dessert smooth
- Great legs, rich and liquorish
- Strong off the first sip, mellows on its own immediately
- Very, very pleasant
- Drinkability: 7.0,8.0,6.0,5.0,7.7,6.0,8.5
Round 2: Lark Classic Cask
| Cost: $182 CDN | Region: Tasmania |
Fun Facts:
- Ya might wanna review the previous story about Nant to figure this one out.
NSC Comments:
- Colour: Dark Oak or Mahogany to Copper
- Nose: Spicy for the majority, some Chocolate, Coffee, Sweetness
- Palate: Spicy or pepper in there, bit of oil and creamy, hints of fruit, some power to it
- Finish: Powerful, long
- Some bite to it, water opens it up beautifully, expands the taste to it
- Water is great for it, completely smooths it
- Drinkability: 5.5,7.0,7.5,5.5,5.1,7.0,7.5
Bonus Round: Dailuaine 2007 First Edition
| Cost: $144 CDN | Region: Speyside |
Fun Facts:
- Dailuaine used to have its own steam locomotive, which is now preserved on the Strathspey Railway at Aviemore.
NSC Comments:
- Colour: Copper to almost everyone
- Nose: Light spice, some caramel, touch of smoke, hint of Sulphur
- Palate: Sulphur to most, some chocolate, dry, light peat, smooth
- Finish: Short, Long, Sharp Drop – nobody seems to know
- Bitey until water turns it creamy
- Stronger in taste than it noses
- Drinkability: 7.0,6.0,6.5,5.5,6.0,6.5,7.5