During the
Örebro Beer & Whisky festival this weekend I had the great privilege to
receive samples of two coming bottlings from the swedish independent bottler
’Svenska Eldvatten’ (’Swedish Firewaters’)! A big thanks to Peter and Tommy for
that! The two whiskys were meant to be released today at the swedish state
monopoly liquor store but fans shall have to wait for a few days (around the
10th december). I am very happy to be the first blogger to taste these two! Ok, this is very exciting for me so hang on, here we go!
North Highland 1995 18yo Sherry Matured 56,1%
ABV bottled by ’Svenska Eldvatten’
The first one
was distilled in March 1995 and bottled in October 2013 and matured in first
fill sherry butt no. 233123. The cask gave 428 bottles. Somewhere in the crowd
during the festival I heard that this whisky comes from a distillery that
rhymes with orangie. However, the guys at ’Svenska Eldvatten’ did not expose
anything when I begged them to tell me… Here is the link to the bottle on the
swedish state monopoly liquor store (it says that it's sold out but that is not correct)
Nose:
The first thing
I get is a very citric or acidulous touch, interesting! Elderflowers, summer
apples, fresh rhubarb, so very excotic, even dried banana (kind of like nature
candy). Lemonpeel and also something like ”pear soft drinks”, very fruity. Below
that layer is soft vanilla, almost creamy, lemon curd and marzipan, but the
main things on the palate is the excotic/fruity touches. I think it’s very
interesting that the first things that come to mind are scents that I associate
with bourbonwood matured whisky (not in a bad way of course), which is a bit
strange since it’s sherry matured, well, my nose must be wacky after the Örebro
Beer & Whisky festival… When I come to think of it there is quite a lot of
dried raisins but rather sultanas than dark raisins. Hmm, exciting! Time to see
what’s on the palate!
Palate:
Absolutely
gorgeous, and strong! Starts of like the nose on the citric or acidulous side
of things, but kind of in combination with a quite fast journey or flow into the
vanilla, the marzipan, then dried figs, and actually dried dates, the sticky
and a little bit dry inside of the dates. Not the bitterness of grape seeds
(red grapes) when you bite one, but a little bit like the dryness of them, and
of the white in the banana peel, once again of course in a good way. I’d say
that there is more sherry influence on the palate than on the nose. This is a
very interesting whisky and I’ve never had anything quite like it, wonderful!
Vintage 1979 Single Cask Blended Scotch
33yo Sherry Matured 52,2% ABV bottled by ’Svenska Eldvatten’
The second one
is a very special whisky. It is a single cask blended scotch, that is raw-spirit/distillate
of grain and of malt, blended at birth into a single sherry butt no. SE01! It
was distilled way back in 1979 and has rested in the cask for 33 years (!) until October 2013
and the cask gave 197 bottles. Here is the link to the bottle on the swedish
state monopoly liquor store (it says that it's sold out but that is not correct)
Nose:
Immediately when
I pour a little dram of this oldie in the glass I get very soft and darkish
sherry scents in the room. My nose a little distant to the glass I feel that the
grain is there but in a soft and very integrated way, not like in budget blends
when the grain usually screams alcohol. No no, this is very very soft grainy
notes, classy and you can tell that this is an oldie and a single cask for sure.
Nice! Then something I’ve never nosed before in a whisky: a slight touch of
chantarelle mushrooms, cool. Vanilla ice cream whipped together with young
rhum, perhaps also rhum-raisin ice cream… Going deeper with the nose in the
glass the center is citric or acidulous together with fudge candy cubes and
something that reminds me of sweet liquorice. Mmm, this is a very deep whisky,
the one you could nose for ever…
Palate:
Once again,
absolutely gorgeous! The stages of the taste moves seamless into one another.
Starts of on soft sugary figs, elderflowers, yes, in this one too, but now in
the form of lemonade. Then moves on into a sugary taste kind of like maple
syrup or from the birch-tree in the summer time. Quite a lot vanilla, white
chocolate, raw sugar (lump of sugar) and something like a mix of vanilla
custard on a birthday cake and whipped cream with lemon peel in it. Oh yes, give
me more : )
For the folks living in Sweden, don’t miss out on
these two beauties. The bottlings from ’Swedish Firewaters’ that I’ve tasted so
far have been very good, but these two are just grand!
