A most Melburnian friendship- The Gospel finds a kindred spirit

June 15, 2021
By Gaye McMahon

The Gospel have announces the launch of their Blackhearts &Sparrows limited release. 

The Blackhearts & Sparrows release is a deep-in-colour and rich with-flavour whiskey made in collaboration with well-respected independent bottle shop Blackhearts & Sparrows. The partnership was formed as a celebration of kindred spirits and a mutual love for the well-curated. 

After opening up the Bond Store and allowing the fine folk from Blackhearts & Sparrows taste their way through specially selected casks of The Gospel, one barrel stood out more than any of the others – a heavily toasted, 36-month, air-dried single barrel of double pot distilled 100 per cent Rye Whiskey. 

Bottled at cask strength, it is rich with brown sugar, muscat, red fruits, allspice, vanillin-laced tannins and The Gospel’s distinct rye spice.  

“There are few brands that have managed to manifest the essence of Melbourne into everything they do. Blackhearts & Sparrows is one of those. Enter any one of their stores and you’ll feel like you are in Melbourne’s eclectic north. Their curation of wine, beer and spirits is second to none, and the selection of this particular cask is no different. It’s the best of our best,” says Andrew Fitzgerald, Co-Founder of The Gospel

Carefully chosen, the release stays true to the combined philosophy of The Gospel and Blackhearts & Sparrows, ensuring the whiskey world is accessible, welcoming and enjoyable to all. 

“Ever since the first release of The Gospel’s very distinctive bottlings of Aussie Mallee Rye we have proudly had them on the shelves of our stores”says Adam Cotterell, Co-Founder of Blackhearts & Sparrows. “For us, The Gospel represents what is so great about the Australian distilling community – a crew of folks thoroughly committed to celebrating the unique Australian raw materials they get to work with, combined with some incredible know-how and quality focus.”

“When the conversation started up to make a deep dive into their Bond Store to find a more personal cask, we ran around the corner, tasting glass in hand, as fast as we could! With The Gospel’s Master Distiller Ian Thorn having pulled cask samples from the four corners of the Bond Store, it was a pretty memorable moment when we came to the tasting glass with what would become our chosen cask – all of us knew we had something very special in our glasses.”

Enjoy neat or on the rocks, Blackhearts & Sparrows is best shared in the company of family and friends. 

Limited to 261 bottles, the release has an RRP of $135, well below other limited whiskey releases from Australia, making it a premium but affordable whiskey. 

Exclusively available to purchase on Wednesday 16 June from Blackhearts & Sparrows (online and instore), with a limited amount on The Gospel Whiskey’s distillery website. The release will join the brand’s core range, Solera Rye and Straight Rye Whiskey. It follows their last sold-out project, Wheated Rye.

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