Supremacy Edition 7, 'The Raven' is a great peated whisky from Riverbourne Distilery. It's initial sweetness, followed by dry peat and smoky finish, makes it mouth watering. This also leads a change in labelling from Riverbourne Distillery, with a focus on naming each release, hence the Raven naming for release 7.

It is 4 x 50L Barrels, making it the largest vatting of peated whisky from Riverbourne. The barrels are French Oak Barrels which previously had Red Wine from the Napa Valley, California. They have been scraped, re-charred and re-coopered. Then Virgin American Oak ends are used on the heads. These combination casks allows no dominant factor of the timber to overcome the delicious flavour of the spirit. 

The deep peat flavour comes from the imported peated barely from Inverness,  Scotland. With equal amounts of brush and vegetation in the peat, it gives a drier peat flavour which is defined in the palate and finish.

Tasting Notes

Colour: Burnished Gold

Nose: At first a spiritous nose which is overtaken by smoke and subtle vanilla.

Palate: Dry Peat grows with some maple syrup. Mild spice of peppercorns remains an undertone, with some dark chocolate. 

Finish: Robust medium finish with Peat and spice dropping off.

Riverbourne Distillery

Established in 2015 and located 50 minutes to the South East of Canberra. This remains the local distillery of Canberra and fondly Riverbourne's water is sourced from the same river which feeds Canberra's Lake Burley Griffin. Martin Pye founded the Distillery and leveraging from his background as a Chemist (4th Generation) he embarked on a journey to follow his passion. His craft began distilling Rum and this led to perfecting his Whisky.

At a height of 1060 metres, this makes Riverbourne one of the highest distilleries in Australia and adds to its unique maturation. Fresh spring water is used in the production and Riverbourne remains one of the few distilleries in Australia which hand mashes their Barley. When it comes to the fermentation, Martin's deep knowledge of ester profiles and fermentation really shines above the rest. He uses a single 900 Litre Traditional Pot Still which is steam driven and jacketed. This bring a softer style of spirit by allowing balanced and uniformed heat in the boiler.

A variety of imported and local barley are used, along with a noteworthy cask selection for maturation. While nestled around the Talaganda State Forrest and Deua National Park, it feeds fresh air for maturation. However the real beauty comes in the afternoon when the sea breeze is feed up the Clyde Mountain giving a much cooler climate which optimises the maturation of Riverbourne spirit. 

With an annual production of 5,000 litres, it allows Riverbourne's artisan spirit, to remain crafted by hand and passion.