Nose: Sweet and spicy. Loads of red berries with hints of herbs and pepper. Just a touch of nougat and red wine jelly. The nose comes out of the bottle hitting you like a sledgehammer.
Palate: If the nose was sweet and spicy, the palate is spicy and sweet – loads of herbs and pepper, a touch of chilli, and some liquorice. Then comes the fruit – loads of raspberries, cherries, and blackberries, with a sweet malt and brown sugar note hanging in there somewhere too.
Mouthfeel: Thick and oily.
Finish: This finish is quite long, and full of flavour. Oak spices, dark caramels, some cocoa and nutmeg notes. Very warming.
Rage has been fully aged in a 100L heavily charred French oak Pinot Noir cask for 2.5 years, and bottled with no chill-filtration and no added colouring at a whopping 59.8% ABV. 220 bottles were released.
Rage is an Australian single malt whisky distilled at an “undisclosed Sydney distillery that has yet to release their own whisky” (as of late 2019) and independently bottled by Craft Works. It is the 4th IB release from Craft Works, after Blak Soul Beast, Laga Cat, and Just Derek.
Rage is the first Pinot Noir casked whisky released by Craft Works, and was one of three casks filled at the same time.
Craft Works is a one-and-a-half man band distillery and independent bottler that is located behind the Royal Hotel in Capertee in New South Wales (Australia) – with Craig “Crafty” Fields being the owner, distiller, brewer, blender, and everything-else operator, along with his apprentice and side-kick; Todd.
This is a very good whisky – full of character, and quite unlike any other whisky I’ve tried – and if you find a store with a bottle left, I’d highly recommend grabbing that bottle.
Would I Drink It Again?
Total Score
Definitely. It's intriguing well past the last drop in the glass.