Why Choose Lark Whisky? – Lark Distillery Sunday
Why choose Lark whisky?
Granted, it may not be a ‘well known’ brand and certainly it costs as much as other ‘established’ Scottish single malts and Heaven forbid -it comes from a non-traditional whisky making country…
Consider this; worldwide whisky production is in the midst of a growing revolution. Courageous consumers and enlightened distilleries are increasingly turning away from mainstream volume driven whisky and discovering the pleasures of rare micro-distilled international single malts.
Make no mistake, the Scots realise this as well, recently appointing Bill Lark as technical advisor to the Kingsbarns Distillery venture near St. Andrews, Scotland. Acknowledging his unique expertise, the managing directors are keen to adapt (essentially re-learning) this style of small batch distillation -right down to importing our stills.
Simply put; Lark whisky is at the forefront of this revolution in New World Whiskies.
Lark is Tasmanian whisky, proudly unique in character and style. Our whisky is neither Scotch, nor is it Bourbon. And while it’s been said we’ve captured the best of both worlds, the similarity ends there.
Entirely made by hand, without the benefit of modern machinery or up-to-the-minute labour saving techniques, Lark consistently distils some of the world’s most prized whisky – no more than 100 litres at a time.
Crafted exclusively from Tasmanian ingredients, distilled in our unique 600lt copper pot still, aged in custom made quarter cask premium port barrels, individually hand bottled & labelled –Artisan Whisky is necessarily time consuming and labour intensive -with our expenditures nearly three times that of conventional factory methods.
Like any rare and desirable creation our exclusive whisky comes at a price. Is it worth it? We honestly believe one taste will convince you -it’s worth every cent. That’s our opinion, here’s what the international experts have recently said…
World Whisky Awards London 2009 Best ‘other’ Single Malt Whisky. “This year’s competition saw more than 150 international iconic whiskies put through their paces during three rounds of tastings to win the coveted title of Best in the World”.
Malt Whisky Society of Australia 2009 Trophy -Best Australian Single Malt Whisky “Congratulations on an exceptional Whisky” -Craig Daniels, Chairperson, Malt Whisky Society of Australia.
International Malt Maniacs Competition 2008 Gold Thumbs Up Award (Premium Class) Most exciting new release -$100-$300 Lark Single Malt outscores over 100 Scottish & International icon single malt whiskies…
“It seems that Scotland now has SERIOUS competition abroad…Hearty congrats on winning one of the coveted awards…keep up the very good work…” -Johannes van den Heuvel, editor, Malt Madness / International Malt Maniacs competition.
International Wine and Spirit Competition, London2007 Silver Medal ‘Best in Class’ Silver Medal, Bronze Medal
Peter Wood from Luvians (http://www.luvians.com) tasting notes on Lark
Tea to Chinese, Coals to Newcastle, Steel to Sheffield… These are just some of the phrases that, I am sure, Doug Clement is hearing now that he has imported a pallet of Bill Lark’s Tasmanian whisky into Scotland. But why not? Suntory have been importing their whisky from Japan for over ten years now (ok, it helps that they also own Bowmore and Auchentoshan, but we will forget that for a bit) and Amrut have been selling Indian whisky here for over five years.
Add in Penderyn and The English Whisky Company and we can see quite easily that there are many countries trying to sell their version of the Scottish drink to the Celts. And that is without even considering the Irish and American whiskies!
I first came across Bill Lark when he paid me a visit in my shop whilst he was visiting Scotland, consulting on the new Kingsbarns Distillery, near St Andrews. He informed me of his microdistillery back in Tasmania, and that he uses small 50 and 100 litre barrels to mature his Malt Whisky, allowing the liquid to mature quicker, but what amazed me was his passion for Scottish whisky. Sure, he could have started promoting his company if he has wanted, but the reality was he wanted to talk to me about whisky – and that endeared Bill Lark to me. I later asked him to take part in my “6 Questions with…” column, and without a hesitation, he agreed, and then a few months later, our paths crossed again, when he was on a motorbiking whisky holiday with a few mates around Scotland. Again, never once trying to promote or sell his product, he (and his pals) just stood in my shop trying whiskies with me and then bought a few to take with them.
So it was with great relief that now that I’ve finally got to try his whiskies, I found that I really liked them. Always bottling single casks, the two malts I tried were lightly peated and distinguished from each other by their alcohol strength.
Lark 43% Single Malt Whisky
Light pear drops on the nose, with some cereal and just a touch of sweet smoke. A little chemical element, but with some minty aromas and a bundle of dried apricots and raisins. The palate is lovely and spicy, very creamy but with a lot of power. The alcohol is noticeable, but is calmed by white chocolate and a berry element. Gingerbread appears on the palate with some Parkin and dark toffee. It is a really tasty bottle of whisky. 8/10
Lark 58% Single Malt Whisky (cask LD119)
Everything you taste in the 43% whisky is here, just amplified! Having said that though, this whisky has an exceptionally creamy texture, a lot more mint and with a sugared almond flavour. It also integrates the higher alcohol level much much more than the lower strength malt, and has a herbaceous finish that I like a lot. Adding a little water opens out the Parkin and berry elements a bit more in this malt and actually reveals a much more honeyed flavour. 8.5/10
There is only one problem with these whiskies though. And it is the price, which at over £90 per bottle (and the 58% is a 500ml) is a BIG ask. They are better malts than some £90 whiskies I have tried, but as is the sad case with a lot of whiskies, the contents of the bottle are not always the determining factor that drives someone to buy a particular brand. A shame, as these are cracking Malt Whiskies.