Originally founded in Dunedin in 1974, the Willowbank distillery closed in 2000. When it was bought by the New Zealand Whisky Company, the few remaining casks were moved to a warehouse in Oamuru for storage, some 60 miles away.
With a remarkably fresh expression, this venerable bottling is at once powerful, firm, intensely fruity and spicy, all while flirting with peat and smoke on the finish.
Fine, complex. Acacia, clove, pear.