Price:
82.33 – $70 AUD
82.42 – Can’t remember
Purchased From:
82.33 – SMWS Australia
82.42 – SMWS Vaults
ABV:
82.33 – 62.8%
82.42 – 59.8%
Occasionally when I have two of the same codes from SMWS I enjoy doing a side by side. Enter distillery 82 – one of my favourite distilleries both in official and independent releases. This side by side is a bit unique in that both of these were distilled on the same day – March 16, 2011. I actually picked 82.42 up from the SMWS Vaults when I was visiting, but sadly I can’t remember what I paid for it. It wasn’t until I got home to Australia that I realised it was distilled the same day as 82.33.
82.33 is a 9-year-old matured in a 2nd-fill ex-Bourbon barrel with a total of 249 bottles.
82.42 is a 10-year-old matured in a 1st-fill ex-Bourbon barrel with a total of 222 bottles.
Nose
82.33 – Lemon, apples, green tea.
82.42 – Vanilla, cinnamon, honey.
Taste
82.33 – Zesty and slightly sour. The nose matches the palate with a bit of orange peel and pineapple coming through also.
82.42 – Sweet but not overpowering. Vanilla, golden syrup, apple pie, almonds and a slight ginger note.
Conclusion
Both completely different drams, a prime example of how a cask can influence the spirit. To me the 9-year-old is slightly underdone, likely due to being a 2nd-fill and bottled a year earlier; I just found it a bit one-dimensional. The clear winner here is the 10-year-old.