Side by side: Willowbank from New Zealand

 A chance to try four 20+ yo drams from a long closed distillery is always good!

These were a little different as they were from New Zealand!

Willowbank was found in 1969 as a farm distillery by the Baker family, near Oamaru in Dunedin on New Zealand's South Island. At the time this made it the most southerly distillery in the world.

Formally production began in 1974 and the whisky was released under their Baker family’s Wilson’s brand name. In 1981 the Seagram’s acquired the distillery, replaced the stainless steel stills for traditional copper stills and released their Whisky as Lammerlaw the name being both a nearby mountain range, and the source of water for Whisky production.

The distillery was mothballed in 1997 when Seagram’s sold the distillery to Foster’s. The site was dismantled, the two copper stills and the four column grain still being sold to Fiji for rum distillation.

The remaining stock, of 443 barrels, is now owned by The New Zealand Whisky Company and stored it in a seaside warehouse in Oamaru. It's being released gradually sometimes under the Milford Brand. The NZWC have also built their own distillery inside Speight’s Brewery in Dunedin and have been producing spirit since early 2021.

Dram	1989 22yo Single Cask #58	1988 23yo Single Cask #72	1989 24yo Single Cask #58 (Same cask as the 22yo?)	1988 25yo Single Cask #64
Characteristics	52.8% ABV D: '89, B: Oct '12	56.4% ABV D: '88, B: Oct '12	54.5% ABV D: '89, B: Mar '13	55.1% ABV D: '88, B: Mar '13
Distillery notes	None
My thoughts:
Appearance
	Mid gold in the glass, swirls cling as a very thin line in the glass, bead up slowly and fall as slow thin legs.	Mid gold in the glass, swirls cling as a very thin line in the glass, bead up slowly and fall as slow thin legs.	Mid gold in the glass, swirls cling as a very thin line in the glass, bead up slowly and fall as slow thin legs.	Mid gold in the glass, swirls cling as a very thin line in the glass, bead up slowly and fall as slow thin legs.
Nose	Orchard fruit to start: apples, pears peaches; which develops into tropical fruit with pineapple, bananas, kiwi and mango. There's a citrus note, lots of vanilla and a hint of washing up liquid.	This one misses the orchard fruit and goes straight to the tropical: dried pineapple, banana, kiwi etc there's more sweetness here - with honey and brown sugar hints.	I'm assuming this is the 22yo with an extra two years in the cask - noting really seems to have changed on the nose: orchard fruit, tropical fruit and citrus. If anything this one points to a dry note coming on the palate.	Again this one misses out the orchard fruit and goes straight to the tropical. There's a lot more vanilla on this one, some citrus and again a suggestion of dryness - a little ash even?
Palate	Thick sweet arrival, honey and brown sugar coating the mouth, a big bite of sour citrus and a little salinity before it goes all dry as the liquid disappears. A few more sips and the high ABV makes itself know. Vanilla ice cream, tropical fruit notes and some herbal hints follow.	Another thick sweet arrival this time golden syrup coats the mouth. The sour citrus is here but doesn't have as much of a bite. The vanilla ice cream is here along with some peppery spice, a dry ashy note and some alcohol burn. A few drops of water opens this up: a little more ashy smoke on the nose and more defined tropical fruit and citrus notes.	This one isn't as thick but is still as sweet- golden syrup again - maybe a little too sweet? The salted grapefruit notes from the first two are here along with the tropical fruit and a big scoop of vanilla ice cream. Again dry and ashy as the liquid disappears with a little hint of orange zest. Nice!	Another thick sweet arrival, golden syrup again and a bite of alcohol burn. The salted grapefruit is back as is the tropical fruit and vanilla. This one seems to have a little more peppery spice. This one isn't as dry as the previous three  but still has that cask char ashy note.
Finish	Long dry and sweet with a citrus fizz and peppery spice.	Long dry and sweet with a citrus fizz and peppery spice.	Long dry and sweet vanilla, with a citrus fizz.	Long and sweet with vanilla, citrus and peppery spice.
Overall	Old drams from a closed distillery are supposed to be good aren't they? well these were but to be honest they didn't stand out - nice I think was my best comment - just about ordinary. They could easily have been from Speyside or the Highlands or just as easily single grains maybe? I wasn't expected these four to be very different and to be honest they weren't - all shared the basic sweet orchard and tropical fruit notes with citrus and spice from the same kind of cask maturation. The age added spice and vanilla notes as we went along. The only one which was really different was the 24yo, I'm assuming it's the same cask (#58) as the 22yo so had 2 years with a bit more air in it. If you come across any, at a reasonable price, take a punt but it's more for the history than the taste.

Thanks to @whiskypianist for the bottle split! Read his thoughts here.