Thomson New Zealand Single Malt Whisky - South Island Peat

Volume: 0.7 litres | Alcohol content: 46% | Chill filtration: No | Colouring: No

Special Features:

Peat from New Zealand’s South Island shapes this single malt from the malt preparation stage. Thomson uses only malted barley grown in New Zealand, smokes it over South Island Peat and then distils it in copper pot stills. Iodine, smoke and vanilla sweetness give the whisky its distinctive character, combining peat with a maritime impression.

South Island Peat carries the designation Progress Report on its label. It is bottled at 46% without chill filtration or added colouring. In 2016, the whisky won a gold medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition.

Tasting Notes:

• Nose: On the nose, earthy peat smoke and garden herbs mingle with sweet vanilla and milk chocolate.
• Palate: The palate reveals tart fruit sweets, mineral notes and sea salt. Rye bread, freshly baked bread and herbal notes round out the flavours.
• Finish: Garden herbs, sea salt, iodine and spicy notes linger on the finish.

Distillery/Bottler:

Mathew and Rachael Thomson run the New Zealand company Thomson Whisky. Its story began in 2009 with the selection and independent bottling of older whisky stocks from the closed Willowbank Distillery in Dunedin. Their own distillery followed in 2014 in Riverhead, northwest of Auckland, on the grounds of Hallertau Brewery. The bottling venture thus developed into a whisky producer.

For its single malts, the distillery uses barley from the Canterbury Plains on the South Island and locally collected rainwater. Distillation takes place in copper pot stills. Cask work is also carried out on site: Thomson works on its casks in its own cooperage. Former bourbon barrels and New Zealand wine casks account for a large proportion of the distillery’s overall maturation stock. Alongside South Island peat, the distillery also uses Mānuka wood to smoke the malt for other bottlings.

Facts: