måndag 27 februari 2017

Swedish Whisky bottled by Bergslagens Distillery – Sherry Darling 5yo 58% ABV

Dear friends and followers! To my immense joy, I received a package last friday which turned out to contain a sample from Bergslagens Distillery! The label declares "Sherry Darling Aged 5 years, sherry casks". This is the first release in a series of three (the other two being "Sherry Darling lightly Peated" and "Sherry Darling Peated").













The pressrelease that I received states that this first release has been produced by blending circa/roughly ten 50 litre sherry casks together. There is no mention either of type of sherry (but I'm guessing Oloroso) or of what kind of oak (european or american). Anyways, the pressrelease does state that the 58% ABV is cask strength (but I wonder, is it rather not batting strength we are dealing with here, and watered to that exakt ABV?).

Now, this whisky has not been produced or distilled by Bergslagen Distillery but it was distilled at the (now closed) Grythyttan Distillery. You see, a while ago the people at Bergslagen Distillery purchased all of the stock produced at Grythyttan. So, this whisky should rightly be viewed as an independent bottling, which the label also states. Great! 

This bottling will be available this wednesday (the first of March) in the four state monopoly stores located in the town of Örebro. It will also be available to order via the order-assortment. Each of the stores in Örebro will have 36 bottles and via the order-assortment there is around 500 bottles available. Ok, let's see what we have here! 
picture/copyright belongs to Bergslagen Distillery

Nose:
The first thing that springs to mind is an extreme presence of dark raisins, believe me, it really is extreme. This is a real sherrybomb in the true sense of the word! The dark raisins are in some way not really fully dried raisins, but rather like some kind of mix of raisins and half-dried dark red grapes… Something else on the nose? Of course, there is heavy leather (almost moving into sweat-y old leather shoes) something burnt, maybe even burnt leather. Besides that, there is some extremely citric stuff going on in the top layer, maybe green kiwi mixed with freshly squeezed lemon juice? But overall, the nose screams dark raisins… This is quite young whisky, so are there any traces of that on the nose? Nope, no alcohol sting, no signs of new make, there isn’t even anything yeast-y or bakers yeast going on here… very, very intriguing indeed! Ok, let’s have a sip 


Taste:
Oooh! That, is, intense! And dry, very dry, oak-y dry. A heavy mix of dry and dried dark raisins, the leather is definietely there together with large amounts of some really strong-brewed coffee, and big amounts of oak. Wow… also, the first sip makes me wonder if the liquid I'm enjoying is heavy sherry, whisky infused sherry, or just an extreme sherry bomb… the line between these three types or alternatives is definitely hard to tell in this case. There is also a big touch of alcohol going on here (a punch-in-the-face-whisky), but still it does not seem young in charachter (no signs of new make and nothing yeast-y). Is there ”too much” oak? Well, let me put it this way, if the whisky had spent any more time in the casks it might have toppled over indeeed. 

Some water perhaps? Just 5-6 drops to see what happens with the nose:
Not that intense on the raisins any more, but the kiwi and lemon juice really did step up. The burnt leather was also enhanced and is now at the center of attention. Even some sweet liqorice… nice! 

How did the water impact the taste? Well, it becomes mellow on the raisins and the leather, almost everything calms down. Lemon infused medium dark milk chocolate comes to the center of attention, and, the taste becomes really, really spicy, it almost stings my tongue actually! Also, coffe and sweet tobacco/cigarillos comes to the front together with white chocolate… interesting! Can this whisky take more water? I’m absolutely sure it can, but you have to buy one and try it for yourselves. I think it was better, and most of all, more extreme without water, and the extreme is what I like about this whisky!

Big thanks to the nice people at Bergslagens Distillery for sharing a sample of this great and interesting whisky and for the opportunity to review and try it before the release! Sláinte! Please make sure to follow my FB-page by clicking here, my twitter-page by clicking here, and my instagram by clicking here. Copyright © and All Rights Reserved on all tasting notes and text by SamuelWhisky and pictures likewise belong to SamuelWhisky, unless stated. If you would like to use any such material that belongs to SamuelWhisky or associated with SamuelWhisky, please ask by sending me an email to samuelkarlssonorebro[at]gmail.com

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