Water of Life – Bakery Hill MMXXIII

If you happen to even remotely follow this series, you could not be blamed for finding the sheer range of activity within the confines of the Australian distillery landscape overwhelming, especially given the large number of new entities popping up on the radar on a regular basis and the exponential increase in international accolades being bestowed on them.

While there is merit in innovation and the creation of new products along with the inevitable declamatory noise via social media channels, there are distilleries that just seem to have gotten it right from the start.  Focussing their efforts on finetuning their craft centred around the creation of meticulously distilled drops, they let their liquid emissions speak for themselves.

One of those distilleries is Bakery Hill.

Having incarnated twenty-three years ago and thereby being one of the oldest distilleries on the mainland that is terra australis, what was originally founded by David Baker in the Eastern part of Melbourne has established itself as a widely esteemed, veritable heavyweight internationally based on the father / son duo’s long-term vision, product development and trust in the process.

My first exposure to Bakery Hill was via their core expression, i.e. the Classic Single Malt. 

Clocking in at 46% ABV, I vividly remember how immensely more-ish I found what tasted like a lighter style of a malt centred expression, with delicate nuances of drying oak and spices enriching the finish.

Needless to say, being a hopeless Islay head, I fell head over heels for Bakery Hill’s defiantly peated Sovereign Smoke expression, which as the telling name suggests, rules supreme in the realm of deliciously phenolic and bonfire goodness.

What I found interesting about Bakery Hill’s approach, apart from them doing their own milling, was their focus on American oak ex-bourbon casks instead of an over reliance on wine casks and longer maturation periods compared to other Australian contemporaries, which results in cleaner, undiluted from overly tannic flavour profiles with the limelight set on the malt.

Having perfectioned its core portfolio, Bakery Hill’s special releases are never not a special treat and it took until 2023 that I finally got a hold of the much fabled about Blunderbuss 2022 expression.

If you follow our “Thus Let Us Drink Beer” series, you would be familiar with Hop Nation’s Imperial Stout beer that goes under the moniker of The Kalash, the flavour profile of which is informed by having spent significant time in Bakery Hill barrels. 

Now that the barrels have been returned, Bakery Hill in turn refilled them with their six year old Bakery Hill Classic whisky. 

With a powerful ABV of 58%, this little number proves to be an example par excellence for a dense complex tour de force: Aromas of dark chocolate and coffee with highlights of orange peel tickle the nostrils, before honeyed stout flavours flanked by a natural ocean taste materialize on the top of the mouth. 

The finish is an elongated affair, meandering between savoury and sweet terrains, eliciting a Pavlovian reaction.

Beautiful.

Given all of the aforementioned, it would be highly concerning if I did not love Bakery Hill’s vibrant Peated Double Wood expression: Having undergone a maturation period of five years in American oak before seeking further refinement in fifty litre French Oak barrels, earthy peat aromas lure one in.

On the palate, smoky peat serves as the foundation on which tobacco and floral citrus notes dance against a backdrop of oaked sweetness. The long and elegant finish rounds things out with spirit driven reverberations.

Things get interesting with the High Seas expression as it is the result of what commenced twelve years ago when a barrel of Scottish whisky was sent across to the Southern hemisphere to be decanted and filled with Bakery Hill’s peated single malt.

The amber coloured drop brims with maritime aromas and flavour-wise navigates around chocolate milky caramel territory, candy and clove flavour notes reminiscent of honey and rum. The finish culminates in the delicate and balanced marriage of peat and vanilla without either constituent overpowering the other.

Finally, I was lucky enough to sample a dram of one of Bakery Hill’s future releases, i.e., Muscat Cask, which as the name suggests, after maturation in the American oak ex-bourbon casks spent a year in ex-Yarra Valley Muscat Casks before being returned to American oak again.

The result does not disappoint: With vanilla, cinnamon and apples prominent on the nose, a multi-layered tapestry of rich dark fruits and cocoa is unveiled to culminate in a crescendo of rich, oaky spicy highlights.

Despite being pronounced on the flavour front, I like the subtle sweetness and lingering hints of muscat of the finish. Another winner that will hopefully see the light of day sooner than later.

Mayhem
Sydney, Australia 
Factory Theatre
19 January 2023

Having missed out on previous live incarnations of Mayhem over the years and given both the immense influence they have been exerting on the metal landscape at large since their original inception almost forty years ago along with much fabled about notorious live performances, it felt like it was high time that I finally got to experience one of the most prominent Norwegian black metal bands in the third dimension.

The packed out Factory Theatre was visibly brimming with excitement as to how the ever unpredictable entity known as Mayhem was to continue their legacy with their hostile sounds. 

Instead of resting on their laurels, it was great to see an unsanitised, righteous version of the band, showcasing both their opaque facets with searing borderline cacophonous unrelenting noise parts, their trademark all out metal onslaught as well as their atmospherically theatrical, ethereal side substantiated by the ever morbid and melodramatic histrionics of frontman and accomplished vocalist Attila Csihar.

What I have always loved about Mayhem is their raw, stripped down, dirty and distorted punk rooted approach, which was not merely integral to the first part of their career but was front and centre tonight, aiding in making the full force of their primal overdrive physically tangible.

Garbed in a tattered, multi-layered cloak and corpse paint at the beginning and undergoing quite a few costume changes throughout the evening, conducting the tight band with a cross made of bones and later on channelling Macbeth with a cranium, Attila’s ghoulish vocals were clear and severe, as he spearheaded the horde reminiscent of a devilish pope alternating between serenading and threatening the unfaithful. 

The appreciative and enthusiastic crowd lapped up the ritualistic ceremony, which was staged in differently themed parts with a well-curated setlist that made it a thrilling exercise for both the old school aficionado as well as the large number of younger aged attendees.

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photos by T

Thames & Hudson

Ernst Wurm, Francis Bacon Camera and Letters from M/M

If you harbour a weak spot for illustrated books in visually creative categories -  be it art, architecture, design, photography, fashion, film, or the performing arts - you will find yourself hard pressed to not find an array of delightful releases once you delve into the portfolio of the independent, family-owned Thames & Hudson publishing house, which is comprised of over two-thousand titles in print.

Needless to say, I am beyond excited when Thames & Hudson announces new releases on my favourite artists, e.g. Francis Bacon, as I have yet to encounter an occurrence where the fruit of their curated titles proved to be redundant.

In Camera: Francis Bacon by Martin Harrison examines Bacon’s approach to him channelling his alchemy in the creation of his wickedly energetic, darkly distorted depictions of the world, human anguish and the brutality of his methodology.

What makes the opulently illustrated book a treasure is that it zeros in on both the ephemera found in Bacon’s working documents in his studio as well as photographs, newspaper clippings and art books that have inspired his paintings, despite him having done his utmost to pretend that his paintings came to fruition fully formed.

By doing so, it is endlessly fascinating to be taken on an artfully reconstructed journey that tracks Bacon’s inspirations and reference points and once one is aware, it is hard to unsee how the master recycled them and took cues from the withering and damage photographic prints as they suffered over time.

Ahead of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ descent on terra australis, it is only appropriate for Erwin Wurm and his reimaginations of sculptures through performance via a myriad of media to be graced with a book celebrating his oeuvre from the mid-1990s to the present day.

One Minute Forever sheds light on Wurm’s evolution over three decades and paints a holistic, interweaved picture of an artist that has mastered the craft of the creation of an immersive, participative playfulness that interrogates the way we live, how we view and interact with the world.

Apart from Wurm’s widely known One Minute Sculptures and iconic works, the book features less known emissions and allows one to dive into the rich tapestry of the diverse media he used to create art that in its absurdity never seems to arrive and accomplishes the feat to be constantly in flux, thereby serving as fertile ground to never lose relevance and turning the audience into both an active ingredient and a sculpture itself.

Change of gear - the omnipresent impact of the art of type facing and its omnipresent impact. 

Chances are that if you are into iconic fashion brands or music part of which artwork plays a prominent role, you would have come across a brand that was founded three decades ago in Paris, i.e. Mathias Augustyniak and Michaël Amzalag’s M/M. 

Heavily infused by graphic design, what started with a focus on the creation of hundreds of unique typefaces has over time evolved to a multi-disciplinary practice and the creation of M/M’s own delightful and endlessly inspiring microcosm.

Thames & Hudson’s take on the duo is through the prism of typographical creations, which upon closer examinations appear put together and pigmented not unlike paintings of centuries gone by, thereby creating their own language.

Arranged in a chronological manner and framed by commentary by collaborators such as Björk, this beautifully arranged tome microscopically examines the details of what makes the typefaces standout, thereby creating a reference point that should prove to be highly relevant for anyone dabbling in the realm of visual culture.

Elton John
Allianz Stadium
Sydney, Australia
17 January 2023

One does neither have to be a card carrying glam pop aficionado nor a connoisseur of mournful ballads to find the setlist at an Elton John incarnation to appear extremely familiar. 

While on paper it might not sound like an overly exciting exercise, backed by a well-oiled machine of a tight and joyfully interacting seasoned band, the delivery of the Sydney stop of Sir John’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour infused the myriad of hits with a refreshed facet of fieriness.

With his mighty, resonant baritone intact and vocally nowhere near a state that would suggest being nigh retirement, the over two hour long set saw the man in vigorous form. Unapologetically revelling in his legacy with conviction as the numerous infectious crowd-pleasers effortlessly elicited giddy singalongs from the dance happy generation spanning crowd, deeper cuts, e.g. “Have Mercy on the Criminal”, found themselves alongside tracks that appear to have been curated as they hold a specific, contemporary relevance for him. 

With an unfailing feel for expanding arrangements of the tried and tested, ballads like “Rocket Man” are propelled into prog-rock territory, while others feel robust yet free flowing with each of his band’s constituents getting ample opportunities to shine with accentuated solo bits.

The grandeur, eccentricity and jocular gesturing peppered in between songs paired with the fact that an array of his billboard topping hits have been left of the set list without making a dent, are testament to how much of a glittery unicorn the man at the rock’n roll piano is.

Framed and elevated by the chemistry of his backing band the performance never ran danger of being jarring and culminated in a crescendo of classic encores, flanked by the recent collaboration with PNAU.

A majestic performance with a sense of finality to it that formidably celebrated a lifetime’s worth of entertainment of a fixture of popular culture. 

Maho Magic Bar
Tumbalong Park
Sydney, Australia
10 January 2022

Over the last four years the entity known as Broad Encounters has established itself firmly on our horizon for creatively and innovatively collaborating with other like-minded mavericks to forge immersive and mind-blowing experiences that are geared towards igniting one’s imagination and never lack an idiosyncratic layer of je-ne-sais-quoi.

Having been fortunate enough to interact with Broad Encounter’s previous incarnations, most prominently the fantastic warehouse extravaganza and ode to Edgar Allan Poe, i.e. A Midnight Visit along with the gin-themed theatrical experience A Journey Most Unusual, I was intrigued as to how the company’s co-founder and director, Kirsten Siddle and her team were going to channel their alchemy when it was announced that they were going to celebrate both traditional and contemporary Japanese culture with Maho Magic Bar.

Contextualised within the confines of neon-clad high-end club that is comprised of five bar themed tables, the audience is invited to suspend reality  and delve into the magic the rotating cast of charismatic Japanese magicians present in an intimate, multisensory and engaging manner for each group.

Underneath a canopy of cherry blossoms, the melange of quick paced well-choreographed yet customised performances, nuanceful ambience  and offerings of expertly curated Japanese drink offerings and the artful emceeing by a camp and engaging host, catapults on straight into a weird and wonderful alternative universe where humour and the fun aspects of kitsch reign supreme.

After its current stint in Sydney at part of Sydney Festival until 29 January, Maho Magic Bar is slated to return for a third season to The Garden of Unearthly Delights as part of the Adelaide Fringe Festival starting on 17 February.

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photo courtesy of Broad Encounters