Swedish Whisky from High Coast Distillery – Alba 53% ABV!

Dear friends, followers, and supporters alike, the whisky year of 2021 is finally up and running. For me it started out with doing a Svenska Eldvatten tasting for Strängnäs Whisky Society, and now it's time for the first review of the year. The nice people at High Coast Distillery sent me a sample of their upcoming whisky Alba. You guessed it, the casks used are all made of american white oak. 

The recipe goes like this: new make made from 44ppm malt was matured for 8,3 years in two versions of american white oak; 76% of the liquid in virgin american oak, and 24% in 1st-fill bourbon barrels. The whisky was bottled on the 19th of January at a strength of 53% ABV. The total number of bottles produced were 5044 (50cl bottles).

3600 bottles are reserved for release at the Swedish state monopoly Systembolaget this Tuesday (the 9th of January) and the product can be viewed by clicking here. Ok folks, let's analyze!

Nose:

The most evident scent on the nose is the peatyness. I would describe it as a mellow, deep, rather earthy (not smoky), and extremely well balanced peatyness. It’s in fact a very beautiful and intriguing peat that makes me want to dig deeper. Below the peat I find full bodied vanilla, orange zest with discrete milk chocolate, and a whiff of dark viscous honey. Somewhere on the nose there is a fleeting touch of coconut sweetness that’s probably coupled with the vanilla. The orange, the chocolate, and the coconut gives a slight reminiscence of ”liqueur”. The strength is perfectly balanced and when nosing deep, deep in the glass I find that the strength mediates a spicyness that clings to it.

Taste:

The peatyness starts off as saltyness (as it so often does for me), and medium salt licorice. In a matter of maybe a second or so the saltyness shifts into sweetness; honey sweetness, a tad of violet sweetness and a slight, slight touch of pinneaple pulp. From there we move on into a malty sweetness (barley/dust from milled barley mixed with slight touches of almond paste). The different sweet flavors then shifts into a medium spicyness and dryness which evolves into a slightly smoky peatyness with hints of leather, ending with a warmth in my chest. 

Some reflections to sum up:

I really like this whisky. It’s extremely well composed, well balanced and full of personality/character. Although the nose is more complex than the taste, the taste still gives the nose a good fight with its interesting flavor journey unfolding in your mouth. Virgin american oak really works great for maturing the peated style new make of High Coast, and it was a smart move to also include some 1st-fill bourbon casks in the mix in order to not let the spicyness from the virgin amercian oak take over. This is a whisky that comes highly recommended from me to you. A job well done to the folks at High Coast Distillery! 

Finally, a big thanks to the nice people at High Coast Distillery for the great opportunity to review this whisky before it's 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 is associated with SamuelWhisky, please ask by sending me an email to samuelkarlssonorebro [at] gmail [dot] com and when permission is granted by stating the source.

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