Swedish whisky from Hven Distillery – Mizar 6:1 45% ABV!

Dear friends, supporters and followers alike! On the 28th of February, the swedish distillery Hven held a press-tasting for their latest release. It was great to once again receive an invitation to attend, but very, very sadly I was not able to attend... To my great joy a generous sample of 10cl arrived not that long ago and so today I present to you my notes and thought on this whisky! 

This latest release is the continuation of the series drawing its inspiration from the constellation called "The Big Dipper". 

This time around our eyes are fixed on the star called Mizar. The name of the whisky hence is Mizar, with the addition of 6:1 (the sentences in italics in the quote below explains why :) ). The press-release contains very detailed info on the recipe, as follows: 

"The recipe is 58,8% Lager malt, 35,3% peated malt (38ppm), 5,9% Chocolate malt. The distillate have matured between seven and ten years on; 64,7% Muehlenbergii oak from Missouri, 23,6% Petraea oak from Allier and 11,7% Robur from Bourgogne. The whisky was married on seven Quercus Petraea barriques that previously held Chateau Margaux Premier Grand Cru. An additional seven casks with the same recipe have been kept for further finishing. This whisky will be released in September 2018. The traditional whisky phenols measures to 20ppm, however the contributing phenols from the chateau Margaux casks elevates the total phenols to 32ppm" (source).

Mixar 6:1 is still available at a number of swedish monopoly stores and you can view and order it by clicking here. Ok friends, let's see what we have this time around!

Nose:

Sugar-y sweetness, zyrup, partly resembling the sweetness of some kind of swedish red jelly candy (zoo, boats, or ferrari bilar). Immediately below this sweetness is a grain type of spicyness that is intermingling with what seems to be the spicyness of new swedish oak accompanied by christmas tree, resin on an old spruce, and spicy but sweet vanilla. I detect no peat, no smoke, but there is plenty of candied/burnt sugar. In the very bottom layer (the base) I find roasted sunflower seeds, slightly burnt. All in all, a quite forest-y dram.

Taste:

Starts off on a very, very delicate and well-balanced, oh so soft, peat with very discrete notes of medium-dry oloroso sherry. Also quite spicy and tannin-y in style, with an almost medium body. When swallowing the tannins and the medium dryness increases quite alot and burnt milk chocolate, bicycle inner-tube, and vanilla appears. After that, sadly, the dram turns almost water-y in style (there is so to speak not much body for the taste to rest on) and the tastes that remain is vanilla sweetness and syrup made of raw-sugar cubes. A slightly bitter dryness also remains in the very end of the surpisingly short taste

To sum up:

The start of the nose is very interesting and sort of classic Hven. It’s interesting that I did not detect any peat on the nose. The delicate peat in the taste is absolutely beautiful and well-balanced, as well as the nice hints of (what reminds me of) oloroso sherry. Unfortunately this dram did not take me all the way because of the ”water-y” style and the lack of body. It’s in no way a ”bad” dram but in line with my preferences the whisky could’ve easily spent some more time in the casks. Hopefully Mizar 6.2 will satisfy my preferences! 

Big thanks to Camilla at Hven Distillery for sending me a sample and for the opportunity to review it despite not being able to attend the release! Please make sure to follow my FB-page by clicking here, my instagram by clicking here, and my twitter-page 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 dot com and by stating the source 

The Creative Whisky Co. – Highland Park Single Cask 52,9% ABV!

Dear friends, followers and supporters alike! When working at this years Whiskyexpo in Linköping a while ago, Tommy and Peter of Svenska Eldvatten (Swedish Firewater) grabbed a hold of me to ask if I would be interested in reviewing one of their future releases, a single cask Highland Park from The Creative Whisky Company in their series The Exclusive Malts. Well, of course I was, and so I was given a sample. 

The cask number is 751, it's a refill (bourbon) hogshead that gave 235 bottles. It was distilled in October 2003 and bottled in 2017, and so the age of the whisky is 14 years old. Svenska Elvatten has managed to bring 55 bottles to the swedish market and you can view and order the product here, starting tomorrow. 

Ok, let's see what we have here!

Nose:

In the very top layer the focus is on mint-something-something (sort of green-ish), not to mention banana-jellycandy. Below that I find some very delicate oranges in combination with milk chocolate, in fact, there is very much going on in the orange-peel-department here people! Even some overripe pears are intruding, trying to get my attention. And of course, below that layer we have some kind of a ”creamy peat” going on, actually very interesting that it’s more cream than peat though. The peat appears to be sort of dry, in fact, almost all elements of the stuff and different scents happening on the nose is dry. Nosing again, the peat has become more evident; but it’s not quite the usual heather honey, rather we are talking an excotic peat, drawing towards summer-y flowers and, yes, cream. Ok, let’s have a taste

Taste:

Wow, that was definitely unexpected! So much peat, very tightly connected with sea-salt (kind of, not coastal, but still). Very quickly the peat evolves and gets bigger and bigger. At this point the peat kind of resembles an ashy peat, in a style reminding me of Connemara/peated Cooley, which has never happened to me before with HP. The peat starts to evolve towards bicycle tube (rubber) but then quickly makes a turn and becomes, what can best be described as, very dry almond paste. Everything gets more and more earthy now, and here we actually have the heather honey! In fact, burnt heather honey, fascinating… When the dryness goes to sleep, slowly the milk chocolate says hi and everything clings off with a soft vanilla fudge that waters my mouth. Wow, that was some journey indeed!

To sum up:

If you like very peaty and very salty HP, you should really try this one folks!

Big thanks to Peter and Tommy for the opportunity to review this release and for the opportunity to be able to review it before the launch! Please make sure to follow my FB-page by clicking here, my instagram by clicking here and my twitter-page 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 dot com and by stating the source 

Copyright belongs to whizita.de

Highland Park Single Bourbon Hogshead – Gordon & MacPhail 43% ABV!

Dear friends, supporters and followers alike! When working the Whiskyexpo in Linköping a couple of weeks ago I passed by the stand of Symposion, since I had been given the great opportunity to pick up a sample of a coming Highland Park Single Bourbon Cask for review. Here in Sweden it is released tomorrow and you can view the product here. 

We are talking about a 1989 (26-27 years old) single refill american oak hogshead (250 litres) that has been watered down to 43% ABV. The cost for a bottle is 2402kr and Symposion has managed to source 96 bottles for the swedish market. Ok, let's see what we have here!

Nose:

The centre layer on the nose consists of a very broad vanilla and butter combo with a handful of light peat. We also have classic marzipan and/or almond paste. The top layer is soo frutiy; a kind of summery feeling going on here with an elegant but attention-seeking citrus, peel from red apples, mushed red apple pulp, citrus-infused liquid honey, and hey, there’s even a touch of mint. Lots and lots of summer fruity-ness! Finally, in the bottom-layer, there is a discrete, earthy and somewhat ashy peat with hints of vanilla-infused pipe tobacco. All together a great nose!

Taste:

Opens up soo incredibly smooth on soft, creamy and sweet elderflower with evident touches of vanilla. This phase lasts for about 2-3 seconds to be interrupted by a quick slightly bitter liquorice/polypodium. This then quickly moves on into the longest phase of the taste consisting first of marzipan and/or almond paste but then moving on into medium-dry peat, oak/”mature” wood and a nice malt-y cling to it. It fades away with burnt peat, or rather ashy peat, in combination with elderflower juice (soft drink without carbonation). Absolutely beautiful taste! Especially so the very beginning and the very end of the taste, nice!

To sum up:

My concluding remarks/thoughts are: While some part of me definitely would like to try this at higher strength I really must argue that this dram actually is very good and enjoyable on 43% ABV. Also, it’s very nice to enjoy HP that is bourbon matured, so fruity and different from classic sherrymatured HP. The only thing that I can think of that goes against purchasing a bottle is the price, on the other hand we are talking about a single cask here, and 26-27 years old so maybe it’s a go right?! ☺

Big thanks to the nice people at Symposion for the opportunity to try this release, and to be able to review it before the launch! Please make sure to follow my FB-page by clicking here, my instagram by clicking here and my twitter-page 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 dot com and by stating the source 

Pic belongs to Symposion