Selected Malts – Benriach 8yo 52,2% ABV!

Dear friends, followers, and supporters alike! A few days ago, I received a package from my good friends Patrik and Mikael of "Selected Malts". The package turned out to contain their upcoming release, and although Selected Malts is a relatively new independent bottler (they released there first bottling roughly a year ago) this is actually their 10:th release so far! So congrats on a first year well done guys!

This time around they are releasing an 8 year old whisky from Benriach distillery. The distillation date was 20100530 and date of bottling was 20181219. The whisky was first matured in a single bourbon hogshead (2nd-fill bourbon) and was then transferred into two 128 litre 2nd-fill oloroso quarter casks for a finishing period of 7 months. The whisky was bottled at cask strength of 52,2% ABV, no filtration and likewise no coloring has been done! The two casks gave 500 bottles in total and out of these 464 bottles will be released at the swedish state monopoly this monday (15:th of April) through the "order-assortment". You can view the whisky by clicking here. Ok folks, it's time to analyze!

Pic belongs to Selected Malts

Nose:

Although the sherry finish has not really made a mark on the color of this whisky, it has done so on the top layer of the nose; light/yellow raisins, the peel and dryness of red/purple grapes, and finally the inside of dried (but moist) figs. Below this layer I do however mostly find scents that I associate with bourbon cask; (the famous) ”excotic fruits” such as yellow kiwi, overripe banana and lemon peel. But, far more evident is loads and loads of creamy vanilla, melted butter, cookies, and pastry. In the very bottom layer we have more robust notes such as marzipan, mint, a hint of peaty-ness and in the distant butter drizzled ginger. Complex stuff folks!

Taste: 

Well that was an interesting turn/surprise! It begins on light peat, saltiness, vanilla fugde and sweet liquorice! Slightly burnt custard sauce takes over which moves on into lightly roasted and sugared almonds. After that we have a beautiful wave of melted butter coming in, only to be interrupted by a dryness somehow reminding me of the leaves on a black currant bush. I can’t really seem to put my finger on the sherry influence, but something makes me think of perfume-y-ness, red and orange wine-gum sweets, and milk chocolate pralines filled with cherry-liquer. In the aftertaste, the vanilla, butter, and the light peat moves off and on into one another, and the whisky fades away on a slight dryness and a sugar-y sweetness. 

Some reflections to sum up:

This was a very, very interesting dram to taste! The taste really differs from the nose and I did not at all expect the peat and saltiness to be in focus in the early phase of the taste. Also, I thought that the taste would have more of the ”excotic fruits” from the nose coming through. The strength is perfect just the way it is. Being a (kind of) single cask (before the finish) of this quality, the price level is amazing. And hey, the complex nose is alone worth the price of a bottle, so sláinte!

Big thanks to Patrik and Mikael for the great opportunity to review this whisky before its release! For kind of weekly updates 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 and videos 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 Selected Malts

Swedish whisky from Smögen Distillery – Single Cask 56/2011 7yo 62,4% ABV!

Dear friends, followers, and supporters alike, once again it's time for me to review yet another bottling from Smögen Distillery in Sweden! Just as with this one, I was very fortunate to pick up a sample during Linköping Whiskyexpo. Thank you Pär! 

So, the whisky up for review today is 7 years old. On the 26th of november 2011, Smögen new make made from heavily peated Optic barley was filled into a 1st-fill bourbon barrel (from Makers Mark) with the assigned cask number 56/2011. As Pär explains here, he discovered that there was risk of leakage (emergency solution needed); he made the decision to transfer the whisky into a rum barrel that had previously held Port Mourant rum from Diamond distillery (Guyana). And so, the whisky was given a rum finish lasting for 4,5 months. The whisky was bottled in January 2019 at natural cask strength of 62,4%. The cask gave 325 bottles and out of these 288 will be released this thursday (190404) at the state monopoly through a so called web-launch. Please click here to view the product. Ok folks, time to analyze! 

Nose: 

The peaty-ness is robust, fat, in-your-face, and almost slightly ”burnt”, classic Smögen! There is something in the peat that makes me think of bicycle inner tube and at the same time the peat seems ”green” with a touch of cinnamon, very interesting… The peat is surrounded by a shy vanilla, and most of all notes of citrus gone almost lemon curd-esque. Even though the rum finish has of course made it’s mark on the overall nose, I’d say that it predominatly shows itself in the absolute top layer of the nose; partly in the form of rum-raisin vanilla ice-cream, partly in the form of a very potent Arrack-esque ”bite”

Taste:

Aaaaah, an explosion of flavors (that is soo hard to keep up with)! We start off on both sweet and salt, and sweet and peaty. I swallow and instantly after that rum-raisin and a ”green”/vegetal vanilla flies by extremely fast. We move on into leather with bicycle inner tube floating around discretly somewhere in the background. I take another sip. The strength/ABV is absolutely beautiful as it is, and warms my chest immensly. The peaty-ness is definitely robust, fat and very full-bodied and has some kind of vegetal/herby touch to it. In the early aftertaste a creamy and chewy vanilla fills my mouth. The rest of the aftertaste is leathery, medium dry to dry, and leaves the front of my tounge particularly dry with a slight touch of swedish Punsch and the smoke from a slightly chocolate-y cigarillo.

Some reflections to sum up: 

Friends, I must admit that I was actually a bit afraid that I would not like/enjoy this release. In fact, when sampling it during Linköping Whiskyexpo I actually warned Pär Caldenby that I do not very often like rum matured and/or rum finished whisky. However, with this particular release it has turned out that I had absolutely nothing at all to worry about. For me, this is the perfect rum finish; the rum cask has left a perfect mark on the whisky. This is because the distillery character of Smögen, with it’s beautiful peaty-ness, still shines through and is still very much there, meaning it has not at all been ”drowned" in rum. A very good whisky, and also a bit funny that an ”emergency solution” turned out to be so good!

Finally, big thanks to Pär one again for the great opportunity to review this whisky before its release! For kind of weekly updates 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 and videos 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.