Possibly The World’s first 100-year old cask finish
Tasmania’s Lark Distilling Co. has released the latest and highly anticipated single malt whisky in its Rare Cask Series, Rare Cask: PARA100.
Lark managed to acquire two finishing casks, which each held the final maturation stage of Seppeltsfield's 100-year old Para Vintage Tawny. These two casks have been used to finish Lark’s PARA100 single malt whisky, leaving behind exciting notes of Tawny’s past lives.
Part of its Centennial Collection, Seppeltsfield’s Para Vintage Tawny is believed to be the world’s only unbroken lineage of single vintage wines — every vintage all the way back to 1878. The 100-year-old Para Vintage Tawny is the only Australian wine to have ever scored 100/100 by the renowned critic, James Halliday. Every vintage released since 1907 has been reviewed, and each was awarded a perfect score.
Before being introduced to the special Seppeltsfield Para Vintage Tawny casks for finishing, the spirit spent approximately five years in a combination of ex-Port, ex-Sherry and ex-Bourbon casks. These were married together to create a rich single malt with some sweetness and depths, designed to pick up the complexity in the oak of the Para Vintage Tawny casks.
With only 450 bottles available, this exclusive single malt is rich and sticky on the nose, with hints of treacle pudding with brandied custard and wood-fired raisin bread. The unmistakable age of the oak that once held the 100-year-old Seppeltsfield Para Vintage Tawny creates delightful chapters of mouthwatering complexity that speak of both elegance and intrigue.
“The release of this long-anticipated single malt is a milestone for both us at Lark Distilling and the whisky industry as a whole. PARA100 is the world’s first-ever 100-year-old cask finish and the fact that there will be only 450 bottles available makes it even more special. The PARA Tawny casks were complex but very intense, so to avoid dominating the carefully-curated spirit we slowly finished the whisky in two casks over four batches — a very delicate balancing act that put our team to the test. The result is almost impossibly long and luxurious, perfect for those intimate fireside chats with friends that extend well into the early hours of the morning.” said Bill Lark.
