Side by side : Cardrona from New Zealand

Cardrona Distillery anyone? No I'd never heard of it either. I first tried their whisky at the Kendal Whisky Festival in December '21

Cardrona Distillery was founded in 2013 by Desiree Reid-Whitaker, a New Zealand farmer. Spirit flowed for the first time on 23 October 2015 and the first cask filled on 5 November.

Set in the beautiful New Zealand Alps, the distillery mills and mashes local barley and well drawn water in a Forsyth built lauter mash tun and adds yeast for a 70 hour fermentation.

The Wash is distilled in a pair of Forsyth copper pot stills, a 2,000 litre wash still and 1,300 litre spirit still.

The distillery also has a custom made 600litre gin still and a 7.5metre high German made Jacob Carl column stills for vodka.

The spirit is filled into seasoned oak casks, ex-Oloroso sherry butts from Jerez in the south of Spain, ex-Bourbon barrels from Kentucky, in the US, and ex-Pinot noir barriques from Central Otago, New Zealand.

At Kendal I was able to try the 3yo Just Hatched and 5yo Growing Wings as well as three single casks. I was also able to get samples for the first two for a more in-depth review.

All of Cardrona's whiskies are presented in 350ml bottles at cask strength - all well over 60% ABV. let's see what they are like!

Dram	Just Hatched	Growing Wings
Characteristics	3yo 64.4% ABV	5yo 65.6% ABV
Distillery notes	“Just Hatched” is a special natural cask strength bottling marking the momentous occasion of reaching three years old. A marriage of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks, this “Just Hatched” Whisky reveals Cardrona’s underlying character of borage flower honey, vanilla, spice, with weighted spirit on the tongue.	`Growing Wings` is a natural, cask strength celebration of five years in oak. A marriage of select ex-Oloroso Sherry butts and ex-bourbon barrels, boasting a nose and palate of pecan pie, treacle and vanilla bean clotted cream.
My thoughts:
Appearance
	Light gold in the glass, swirls cling as a  thin beaded line which falls as slow thin legs.	Mid gold in the glass, swirls cling as a  thin beaded line which falls as slow thin legs.
Nose	Hot buttered toast, dried fruit, icing sugar, vanilla. The high ABV takes some getting past but it has a hugely complex nose for a young whisky. A little time and air offers orange segments, malt and honey.	Dried fruit, strawberry jam, honey, toffee. Again a high ABV, but this time patience rewards with marzipan, syrup and red berries.
Palate	Thick spicy arrival - very sweet and immediately drying. The ABV makes itself known and you reach for the water! Chewy caramel, honey, orange and a little vanilla.  With water: I added about 25% more volume using water so calculating the ABV to be around 51.5% much more approachable. The mouthfeel is much better, still thick but full of orchard fruit, berries and a little dried fruit. The sweetness has been ramped up - honey and a little icing sugar. It's not as dry now. Still loads of orange notes. Nice!	Again thick and spicy, this one actually sends shivers down your spine, the ABV is just too high. A few more sips offer thick berry jam, brown sugar and treacle. With water: c52.5% again much more approachable - quite similar now to the Just Hatched - orange segments lead the way with a plums, little honey, icing sugar and ginger spice.
Finish	Lingering orange and peppery spice	Lingering orange and ginger spice
Overall	Two really nice drams, but both need a significant amount of water to tame the ABV and really begs the question just why is it so high? I'm guessing a filling strength at 63.5% and the local climate evaporates the water increasing the ABV?  Georgia got back to me saying "We go into cask at 66%. We have cold winters in the Cardrona valley and very hot summers so we have found the angels have taken very little from this equilibrium. In some of the more recent 5 year releases we have seen an increase in ABV." I don't normally mention price in my reviews but these are around £75 for 375ml bottles - not cheap - again why not dilute a little and reduce the price? So ignoring both the ABV and the price, once we've diluted to a reasonable level, these are really good drams - I also tried 3 single casks at the Kendal Festival - two bourbon and a wine cask - also very good. You may not of come across Cardrona yet - but they are well worth hunting out!

Steven McConnachie manning the Cardrona stand at Kendal Whisky festival