Coastal Stone Salvaged Ale Whisky
About the drink
Coastal Stone is a signature whisky series from Manly Spirits, and this particular whisky has a unique backstory. During the Covid lockdown period, Four Pines Brewery, situated next door were preparing to discard a batch of kolsch ale. On seeing the batch preparing to be dumped, the Manly Spirits team asked to take the beer in and distill it into whiskey. What came out a few years later was a unique whiskey that retains a lot of the flavour of the original beer, combined with the remnants of prior fills. The description provided on the bottle is “From COVID venue lockdows we salvaged our brewery neighbour’s kegged kolsch beer and funnelled it into our whisky stills. The result? An adventurous, hop-inspired whisky worth every drop of the experiment”, and notes on the back “Delicate and floral with cherry aromatics, offering a tropical fruity sweetness on the mid-palate with a light smooth finish”
Notes
Given the kolsch is a very malty beer, with and IBU of only 22 there isn’t a strong hoppiness to the whisky. The smell is very light, slightly sweet and has a delicate flavour to it with a lot of subtlety across the flavours. It feels like more of a ‘summer whisky’, without the heaviness or strong flavours that can accompany other whiskeys it give a sense of a nice sipping whisky for a summer’s evening. Despite the ice in the glass, this is definitely a whisky better enjoyed neat, adding ice seems to mute rather than bring out the flavours.
Worth It?
My partner and I were split on this when we first tried it at a Manly Spirits tasting event. I thought it was one of the highlights of the night but she was less convinced. Not that she thought it was bad, just that there were others she preferred. This bottle came from an end-of-year sale from Manly Spirit’s, at around the $70.00 - $80.00 mark for a 500ml bottle. It was a noteworthy enough whisky that I remembered it and immediately bought it, and I think if nothing else it shows a testament to the uniqueness of the flavour and the story behind it. Certainly nice to have and to try, but I think the subtleties of the favours would diminish if having it regularly. Something as an occasional change of pace perhaps.