Oh hey, welcome back. After a 3 week travel absence and one week of recovery, I’m back here posting again! The three weeks I spent in Australia were fantastic. This was my second time, and I forgot how much I loved Sydney. Granted this time around it was as an adult and not as a 14 year old, but still. The return trip back to the East coast was predictably rough, especially with two kids in tow. 13 hour flight to LA, plus a 5 hour layover, plus another 6 hour flight home made for a rough few days, hence the need for the recovery week. Of course I was able to bring back some awesome things. Vegemite of course, a Great Northern Brewing Company pint glass that fell into my suitcase somehow, some Tim Tams, and of course some booze! Mrs. Sharkbait took home some alcoholic ginger beer, which was excellent. That needs to become a thing here. I’m not sure why it isn’t already. I brought home some whisky! Specifically, the Coastal Stone Nor’easter single malt whisky. I sampled some before I left at the store and knew that is what I wanted to bring back. So, in lieu of an actual cocktail this week, we’re doing a review of the whisky instead!

Its aroma is nice, and very reminiscent of other single malts I’ve had before. If I had to compare it to one, maybe it’s closest comparison is the Macallan. I can’t tell which one(s), but I do get some fruit notes in there too.

As mentioned before this is excellent. It’s also fantastically smooth, way smoother than I would have thought. It’s spicy like a good single malt is, but isn’t aggressive when it comes to that whiskey “burn”. The more I taste the more I think I can pick out some of the fruit I started to pick up in its smell. But I still can’t really nail down what I get/ I think some peach is in there perhaps? Either way, it’s delicious. The finish is more of the same, light fruit notes with the overall whiskey flavor. It does leave a little bit of residual aftertaste, but I certainly can move with that, since I’m a huge fan of single malts. I’ll sure as hell be rationing this as this is an excellent whiskey and I don’t think I can get my hands on it with going back down under. Of which I will attempt to do at some point.

(Banner image courtesy Matthew Tetrault Photography)