Goalong STR Wine Cask
Is the Goalong STR Wine cask any good?
Recently I reviewed an addition to the Goalong whiskey range and told you it won prizes. But what if I told you that there is a Chinese whiskey that won even more awards than the Goalong Brandy Cask?
Yes, there is a Chinese whiskey that won 3 (Three) golden awards at the World Whiskies Awards in 2024. Category winner, Gold and Chinese Single Malt. And at the International Spirits Challenge 2024, it won a silver medal!
And just to share a fun fact: It is again a whiskey by Goalong!
I'm talking about the Goalong STR Wine cask.
Next to the brandy cask, the Goalong Distillery was kind enough to send me a sample of their STR Wine cask, single cask and high proof whiskey.
Since I received a sample, that beautiful decanter bottle is not in my cabinet of whiskies and I had to borrow the photo of another website, but it gives you some idea at what range this whiskey is placed: Luxury.
This whiskey was aged for 3 years on Napa Valley wine casks and bottled at 56% Vol. It has no colouring and is un-chillfiltered. Now, I do know that it is a single cask whiskey. But I do not know for sure if it is cask strength. At 56% it might be, but for a 3 year old whiskey I suspect some dilution. It is, however, 10% higher than what I'm used of from Goalong whiskies. At a second glance, it might have something to do with the local climate, since the angels share is between 4-6%.
The color is amber-yellow and a small dance in my glass leaves an light oily coating on the inside.
The nose is very rich on fruits. Both fresh and dried. I get fresh apricots and mandarins versus dried plums and raisins. My first sniff ends with some chocolate and oak. A second sniff reminds me of strawberry ice-cream with warm fudge. It misses the darker chocolate notes this time, turning into some heavy vanilla.
On the palate the fruitiness remains, warm apples, some cake and fresh figs. It has the sweetness of molasses mixed with a handfull of spices. Rich citrus pops up in the middle, reminding me of oranges with cloves. In the end a slight heat of the spirit. So I decided on a drop of water. More vanilla pops up and the dram gets a creamy feeling in the mouth.
The finish is long and mixes the oranges with butterscotch chocolate.
This is by far my favourite dram that I tasted of the Goalong distillery!
