The Casual Dram:13 - Sunday 27 October, 2.30pm, Mean Doses Taproom

Level 1, 66 Tory St (above Mabel’s), Te Aro, Wellington | $50pp

It’s time for another Casual Dram - and this time you’ll have Labour day to recover - whoop whoop!

Young single malts aren't a new thing, but they’re certainly becoming more and more commonplace. One thinks back to the early Ardbeg releases when the distillery got back on its feet in the early 2000s - ‘Ardbeg very young’, ‘still young’ and ‘almost there’ seemed to coin a new take on whisky releases and captured people's enthusiasm to taste new! With the surge in new distilleries of late, the trend has continued, and big flavoured, young whiskies are now the norm.

In this vein - at the next tasting we’ll take a look at some ‘young guns’ aged from 5 to 8 years old. They are all cask strength, all sherry cask matured, all independently bottled and span an exciting array of distilleries. Will distillery style shine through? Will the sherry ‘finished’ whisky stand out like a sore thumb against the three other thoroughbred single cask matured beauties - and will the old-timer 8 year old offer more complexity than the oh-so-dark 5 year old? There’s only one way to find out…

Here’s the lineup

• Ben Nevis 'Adelphi' - 5YO 2015-2020 58.9% - 1st Fill Oloroso

• Tullibardine 'The Single Cask'  6YO Sherry Cask Aged Whisky 65.5% - 1st Fill Sherry Hogshead

• Ardnamurchan 'SMWS' 149.7 'A coal scuttle of jam and treacle' 7YO 61.7% - 1st Fill Ex-Oloroso Butt

• Glen Garioch 'North Star' 2014/2023 - 8YO 53.3% - Oloroso Sherry finish

Join John Shearlock from Regional Wines and Drinks Creative for some single malt magic and a decent dose of whisky banter at the Mean Doses bar!