Hot on the heels of Lark’s revelation about a proprietary filtration technique comes another production twist claimed as an industry first by an ASX distilling colleague.
Top Shelf International raised a few eyebrows with its reference to “barrel harvesting over oak” in a recent NED Whisky press release, so Drinks Adventures reached out for clarification.
A TSI spokesperson said the terminology refers to a novel technique for enhancing flavour when barrels are disgorged.
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“Our proprietary Melbourne Process was created by [NED distillers] Dean Leslie and Sebastian Reaburn (pictured) to boost oak lactones and oak vanillin in our whisky,” she explained.
She said the process was inspired by coffee pour-over techniques, whereby perfect temperature water is poured over and through fresh coffee.
“Our Melbourne Process occurs during the barrel harvest, where a select premium cut of tasted and assessed American Oak barrels of Ned Sour Mash whisky are harvested over toasted oak blocks,” she said.
While the technique appears somewhat inspired by the Lincoln County Process – which differentiates Tennessee Whiskey from bourbon – the spokesperson said the motivations are different.
“The toasted blocks do not filter or remove flavour, but accentuate and boost oak lactones and vanillin,” she said.
“After harvest, multiple barrels are vatted together and rested to allow the flavours to mingle and merge.”
She said the technique was first trialled with the creation of Ned Wanted Ingenuity in 2021.
“It is a proprietary process that we created and we don’t think anyone else uses anything like it,” she said.
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