The island of Tasmania has a history of whisky making yet there was a 150 year gap because of old 19th century laws that went unchallenged until Bill Lark founded Lark Distillery in 1992. Since then, Lark has been producing whisky and liqueurs. The distillery was the first in Australia to become carbon neutral in 2021 and while originally started in the Tasmanian capital, Hobart, production has recently moved to a new distillery in nearby Pontville. Before their portfolio expanded, the American market would only receive limited single barrel expressions, such as this Lark Single Malt bottled at 86 proof. Other expressions are different individual barrels at slightly differing proofages but remain the same base spirit. This particular barrel was aged in a small cask that formerly held Australian port.
OOLA Smoked Whiskey
OOLA was founded in 2010, making it one of the oldest distilleries in Seattle. Since then, owner Kirby Kallas-Lewis and team have crafted a portfolio of gins, vodkas and whiskies. Eager to tap into the creative juices – and lax regulations – around whiskey production, one of the early series to feature whiskies is OOLA’s Whiskey Discourse. This series is about using creative combinations or influences to encourage drinkers to enter into discussion of what’s in their glass. The OOLA Smoked Whiskey is the second release in the series. Starting with a mash bill similar to the distillery’s bourbon, comprised of corn, rye, malted barley (which is smoked with apple wood and cherry wood) and wheat, combined with an unnamed Highland scotch.
Abasolo Ancestral Corn
Abasolo Distillery was built in 2019 in the town of Jilotepec de Abasolo. Why this place, situated at 7,800 feet, for the first whisky distillery in Mexico, a country more popularly known for tequila and mezcal? Because the town is known as the birthplace of corn (also known as maize), and corn is what this whisky is all about. Abasolo uses 100% cacahuazintle, a Mexican heritage corn, through an ancient cooking technique called nixtamalization, which is often used in food preparation for corn in Mexico but has not been used before in the distilling process. The Abasolo Ancestral Corn is the inaugural offering.