Swedish Whisky from High Coast Distillery – Solera 01 56% ABV!

Dear friends! On Friday I received a package from Swedish Distillery High Coast which contained a sample of an upcoming release named Solera 01. As the name clearly reveals this whisky is the first release in a series of forthcoming editions matured in a Solera system. But hey, what’s Solera?! Let’s consult wikipedia:

”Solera is a process for aging liquids (…) by fractional blending in such a way that the finished product is a mixture of ages, with the average age gradually increasing as the process continues over many years. The purpose of this labor-intensive process is the maintenance of a reliable style and quality of the beverage over time. Solera means ’on the ground’ in Spanish, and it refers to the lower level of the set of barrels or other containers used in the process; the liquid is traditionally transferred from barrel to barrel, top to bottom, the oldest mixtures being in the barrel right ’on the ground’ (…) In the solera process, a succession of containers are filled with the product over a series of equal aging intervals (usually a year). A group of one or more containers, called scales, criaderas ('nurseries'), or clases are filled for each interval. At the end of the interval after the last scale is filled, the oldest scale in the solera is tapped for part of its content, which is bottled. Then that scale is refilled from the next oldest scale, and that one in succession from the second-oldest, down to the youngest scale, which is refilled with new product. This procedure is repeated at the end of each aging interval. The transferred product mixes with the older product in the next barrel. No container is ever drained, so some of the earlier product always remains in each container. This remnant diminishes to a tiny level, but there can be significant traces of product much older than the average, depending on the transfer fraction. In theory traces of the very first product placed in the solera may be present even after 50 or more cycles”. 

Very exciting indeed, a swedish whisky matured in a Solera system, this is going to be really exciting to taste! 

From highcoastwhisky.se

So, the recipe for this whisky consists of 100% unpeated whisky matured in a Solera system that in total consists of 60 casks; 50 bourbon barrels (200 litres each) divided into five criaderas, and ten 250 litre swedish oak casks on the ground level, the solera casks. The swedish oak has three different origins: five casks have been made from oak grown in Skinshult, three from oak grown in Visingsö, and two from oak grown in Tararp. The whisky drawn from the Solera casks for this batch is 6,34 years old. It has been watered to 56% ABV. 2490 50cl bottles has been produced, and here in Sweden 1500 of them will be available at the state monopoly on the 15th of december. The product can be viewed by clicking here.

The Solera system at High Coast.
Photo from dear friend and fellow blogger
Jonas Gyllenpanzar Stjerna.

[Edit] Curious for some more info/details I sent an e-mail to my good friend Lars Karlsson, the Quality Manager at High Coast Distillery, wondering about the specific maturation process for Solera 01. And this is his reply:

”Solera 01 is more a Swedish Oak finished whisky than it is a Solera system whisky. We filled the Solera casks with whisky previously matured in the Criadera casks for 4,5 years, and let it get extra yummie before bottling. We chose to bottle this whisky under the Solera name since batch 1 is the starting point for what we hope will be a recurring and longlived product here at High Coast Whisky. Batch 1 most of all showcases the taste of Swedish oak. The forthcoming batches will differ from each other, and that is part of the concept we wish to mediate by using a Solera System”.

Well folks, now we know more so let’s analyze! [End of edit] 

Nose:

Lots of things going on at once. I find it rather hard to pinpoint which of all the scents are the strongest ones (the scents that dominate the other scents). So at first glance my overall impression is a sprawling scent. Nosing at a distance I first find basic ”white wine”, minerals, there is also a sweetness (light honey?), raisins, a whiff of yeast and/or dairy product mold (the moldy surface of brie), and burnt vanilla. Nosing with my nose in the glass this whisky is quite powerful on the alcohol. I find obvious tannins (thankfully not over the top), spruce resin, and something fruity that gives me a vibe of a yellow fruityness, sort of like a mix of honeydew melon and mango with a sparkling citric touch (fizz) to it. 

Taste:

Intense, very intensive indeed! The first thing that strikes me with the taste is that there is an evident saltyness! For me this is highly unusual when it comes to non-peated whisky, so a very interesting feature. The saltyness is followed by violet candy, liquorice something something, a ginger bread spicyness, quite heavy tannins (almost as if being tannins in a rich red wine), and a warm vanilla that in the aftertaste develops into a silky creaminess.

This photo also from Jonas Gyllenpanzar Stjerna.

Some reflections to sum up:

I feel a little split about this whisky. As I’ve stated previously I’m not really a big fan of whisky matured in Swedish oak (full time, or finishes). When reading about the recipe and then analysing this whisky I did my best not to let that influence me and rather, as I always do in my reviews, simply write and describe what I pick up on the nose and the taste. Having said that I do find the nose to be sprawling and the taste too heavy on the tannins. It is however not a bad whisky and those of you out there that do like swedish oak will most likely love it (especially the taste). So what do I like about this whisky? On the nose I enjoy the sweetness, the rasisins and the fruityness, and on the taste I absolutely love the initial saltyness, the warm vanilla and the creaminess. So I guess that I can conclude that I don’t like the core style of this whisky, meaning the swedish oak elements, but that there are obviously other things that I am attracted to. Having said all this I do actually look forward to the coming batches; it will be very interesting to see what happens along the way when the swedish oak calms down and some components/parts of the whisky slowly gets older and older.

Finally, a big thanks to the nice people at High Coast Whisky 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.

From systembolaget.se

Swedish whisky from Box Distillery: Quercus 1 – Robur 50,8% ABV!

Beautiful red-brown color!

Dear friends and followers alike! Last week I was very lucky to receive a package that contained a sample from from Swedish distillery Box – The high coast distillery! Yay! The sample contained the first release in their new series called "Quercus". This is what the write about the new series and about this Robur-edition:

"Quercus is a range from Box Distillery wherein we try to explore the tastes that different species of oak gives to the whisky. The first edition is named Robur after the European Oak (pedunculate oak), Quercus robur in Latin. Quercus robur is common in Europe, especially in Burgundy and Limousine where it’s widely used in the wine- and cognac industry. It’s also that species of oak you’ll find in Scandinavia up to the north of Stockholm"

The whisky was first matured in first-fill 200 litre bourbon casks, and then finished for seven months in new/virgin swedish oak. To read absolutely everything about the process, the age, the maturation etcetera please feel free to click here 

Here in Sweden, Quercus 1 – Robur will be released on the state monopoly this friday (17th of november) and you can view the product by clicking here. Ok, let's see what we have here!

Nose:

Starts off somewhat herb-y but most of all spicy. Behind the spicyness there is sawmill and planks, as well as ”dark” newly cut logs of spruce/fir. Beyond all this forest-yness hides a soft vanilla intermingling with something salt, I think the salt shows just a tad of peat. In the very depth of it all is something reminding me of cinnamon, maybe even nutmeg (?). Interestingly enough there is also cucumber-water and finally a lime cut in half left to dry for a couple of days on the kitchen bench…

Taste:

Starts of on medium salt and then BAM! A big, fat, instantly dry spicyness hits you! Two seconds later new wood comes bursting in, making quite an entrance indeed. The new wood dies quite quickly and makes way for even more dry spicyness. After that a beautiful medium (dry) vanilla taskes over and slowly evolves into something partly reminding me of brandy (and/or apple jucie), partly reminding me of cognac. The heat of the whisky (the ABV) evolves in my chest, at the same time as the taste moves on into dried figs, overripe red grapes and finally fades away into a general sugar-y sweetness

To sum up:

I have a very ambivalent relationship to whisky matured in new swedish oak. In general, from the ones I’ve tasted so far, I find it to be, for my taste, ”too much” of the ”new” and of the ”wood” on the nose, as well as this kind of ”spicyness” on the taste. For me, this whisky is by far the most sucessfull one matured in new swedish oak, this is because there is a great complexity in this one, both on the nose and on the taste. For me, it was still a tad ”too much” and a tad ”too spicy” (but I did not water the whisky and maybe this would bring it down a notch…). Finally, big thanks to the people at Box Distillery for sharing sending a sample and for the opportunity to taste it before the release! Sláinte!

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 material that belongs to SamuelWhisky or associated with SamuelWhisky, please ask by sending me an email to samuelkarlssonorebro[at]gmail.com and by stating the source

Picture belongs to Box Distillery

Swedish whisky from Box – The Explorer 48,3% ABV!

Friends and followers! As you might remember, I very recently visited the Swedish distillery Box together with a small bunch of bloggers and colleagues alike, if you have not read that story yet, please check it out here. One of the reasons we were invited was to have an exclusive taste of their upcoming release The Explorer which will be released this friday, at least here in Sweden, so do check out the link to the release by clicking here! 

The Explorer is the third release in their series called the Early Days Collection. As you might know by now the people at Box Distillery are (and always will be) very, very, very open with their recipies and production process because they really want us to know what we are drinking, and how it was produced. This is of course the case also with The Explorer. 

So quoting (and translating) the press-release-kit I was provided with:

"The Explorer is mainly matured in bourbon casks, three different sizes, 40 litre, 100 litre, and traditional quarter casks at 130 litres. The ages vary from 3 years and 3 months, to roughly above 4 years. 61 percent of the whisky is peated, which gives The Explorer a quite smoky character. 

Much of the taste also comes from new oak. Ten percent of the casks are so called Fresh Oak, which contributes with lots of powerful tastes. The kinds of new oak used are three; swedish oak, hungarian oak and american oak. The casks have been charred from three given specifications; moving from medium charring up to heavily charring. The charring is of great significance for the features of the whisky and a very important part of the work behind the Early Days Collection"

Ok, sounds great, let's have a taste shall we?! 

Nose:

Gentle peat, soft smoke in mix with a very present but still restrained vanilla, sounds strange but it’s a bit hard to explain… to say that the vanilla definitely is there but not in the absolute foreground might be better… there is also some sugar-y-ish fudge, a bit of ”burned out campfire” (yay, my first time picking up campfire in a whisky!). I also pick up a touch of christmas tree, something citric but not very pronounced, the sweetness from overripe red apples… Veeery soft and quite fruity actually! Also, when it comes to the peat-profile/style of the peating itself, I kind of get a feeling of Connemara, yes! quite similar… (and you all know that I looove Connemara). One thing that is very obvious, compared to the previous releases is that on the nose there is no sign of, or anything at all reminding me of raw-spirit/new-make in this release. There was a wee bit of that in the previous releases, but non in this one. A very good sign. Let’s have a taste!

Palate:

The peat is the thing that hits the tounge first. More peat on the palate than I figured there would be judging from the nose! Very delicate mix of soft vanilla somewhere in the background of everything, but the most pronounced stuff on the palate, after the peat, is a variety of different fruits, sort of like overripe banana, peach (both the actual fruit and peach-candy), honey-melon, apple, a touch of new oak, and quite fire-y-ish wood so to speak… When holding the whisky in my mouth for a couple of seconds or three, really tasting it, almost ”chewing” the whisky, I find that first comes the peat, then the touches of/the feeling of new oak acts as a bridge that slowly moves on into the fruity stuff. An absolute seamless developement of tastes on the palate, I’m not kidding folks, this is very good stuff… such a great composition when it comes to the total balance and how the flavours develop and interact! And, as I observed on the nose with no ”new-make vibes”, it’s absolutely the same on the palate. Of course one feels that it is quite a young whisky, but this is very, very good for being this age, very smooth, this is definitely their best so far!

Finally, a big thanks to the nice people at Box Distillery for providing me with the opportunity to try The Explorer! 

Please follow SamuelWhisky on my Zuckerberg-page by going here, and on my bird-page by going here. Copyright © and All Rights Reserved on all tasting notes 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@gmail.com Sláinte!

picture belongs to/copyright Box Distillery

Visiting the Swedish Box Distillery to taste their next release!!!

Dear friends, followers and fellow whiskydrinkers! About five months ago, Hasse Nilsson, the Senior Brand Ambassador of Box Distillery, came to the pub where I do tastings once a month, to host a tasting himself, completely consisting of Box whisky. Not only did I have the wonderful pleasure to for once actually attend and enjoy a tasting (instead of ”just” conducting it), I was also informed that Box Distillery would soon invite a bunch of bloggers to visit the distillery, and I was told I was one of them! I was as you can all understand very happy to hear these great news and said to Hasse in a typically swedish insecure way: ”But my blog is so small... Is this really true?!” upon which he replied ”That might be, but you are one of the bloggers we would really like to pay us a visit!”

So, last weekend, the time had finally come for us to visit the distillery, AND also to taste their next release, "The Explorer"! Nine bloggers including myself travelled from our respective hometowns to Stockholm and Uppsala, where we were all picked up by Hasse, and the Distillery Manager/Master Distiller Roger Melander himself and went on a road trip to the region where the distillery is situated.

Now, Box Distillery (producing whisky since 2010) is one of the worlds most northern distilleries producing both peated and non-peated whisky. On the site of the distillery, production of material for wooden boxes took place, hence the name, Box. As you can see from the picture below the distillery (in the brick building) kind of looks like a box, although a really good-looking one, right? (To check out what critics from the business have to say about Box Distillery please read here, and for a 360-tour of the still-house please click here)

Box Distillery © BOX 

After many, many, many hours by car (having a wee “car-tasting” and a fun music quiz as we went along)

we finally reached the first stop, the Höga Kusten Hotell (High Coast Hotel) with it’s beautiful surroundings and the amazing High Coast-bridge just out front! 

The High Coast-bridge

We all sat down in the restaurant and enjoyed a really nice three-course dinner after which we were invited to a tasting.

 

But, no tasting of Box Whisky is complete without a proper and super informative/nerdy lecture from the Distillery Manager on the how-to of whisky production in general, and the art of producing Box whisky in particular. 

After a while our mouths started watering (or rather drooling) and it was finally  

time for the tasting, a blind tasting!

The tasting consisted of five whiskies, all of them of course from Box. Out of these five, each one of us was assigned the mission to choose two whiskies of our liking, which was not very easy, believe me! We tasted (although not knowing it at the time)

1. Their next release “The Explorer” 48,3% ABV

2. Cask sample of a 3yo fully oloroso sherrymatured non-peated whisky 54% ABV (first fill)

3. Cask sample of a 2,5yo fully bourbonmatured non-peated whisky 54% ABC (first fill)

4. Cask sample of an almost 3yo fully bourbonmatured 43ppm peated whisky 54% ABV (first fill)

5. Box Distillery festival bottling 3yo “Festival 2014 [Non-official version]” 52,7% ABV

Anyways, from this line-up I chose number 3 (which was sooo good!) and 2 as my two favourite whiskies, and together with the other bloggers we actually purchased a cask of bourbonmatured non-peated whisky from Box that will be ready to bottle in three to four years time. And you should really think about doing the same (following this link). 

Roger Melander with the complete line-up!

The whole crew!

After the tasting, the hotel bar sadly turned out to be closed, but as you can imagine, in some magic way the party went on any way!

yay!

The next morning, after a couple of hours of sleep, some breakfast and a half hour trip by car, we finally arrived at the distillery! If I say that we received an ordinary distillery tour, well then I wouldn’t tell you the truth, cause it was definitely a VIP-tour! We did everything you can imagine. We checked out the mill. Got distilling at Box Distillery thoroughly explained

Spirit-still and the wash-still in the background

What is Roger measuring?!

we tasted the wash, which was amazing and in a kind of “wheat-beer”-style, sparkling with a taste of fizzy lemon and lime 

 © Bennie of tastenote.se

 visited the bottling-line/bottling-room

bottles waiting for labels

of course we tasted the peated as well as the non-peated spirit

 

took a tour in the two warehouses filled with maturing whisky

and what all the bloggers of course looked forward to, yes tasting Box whisky straight from the cask!

We started out with tasting a non-peated whisky maturing in a first fill oloroso sherrybutt number 2013-7 of 500 litres. The whisky was at around 61,5% ABV and at the age of 2 years and four months old. It tasted amazing and so smooth, at least like a 10yo!

Then Roger let us taste a peated whisky from a bourbon barrel which he described as something like “peat gone mad”, but let me tell you friends, it was definitely alright! The tasting session ended in a very exciting way, a non-peated whisky that had first been matured for 3 years in a 40 litre bourbon barrel and then been transferred to an as close to square-shaped barrel (!) as possible, made out of Swedish oak, for a final finishing of seven months. 

This particular barrel was, as most casks/barrels used by Box, of course produced by Swedens only cooper in an homage to Box Distillery, trying to make something funny and extraordinaire associating to the name “Box” J

Roger drawing a big sample for us to taste

Mmmm... the "boxed" Box was amazing!

As you can all understand, we had a great time and I felt really sad to leave the distillery… But, we will of course go back very soon to follow the progress of our maturing whisky! Tasting note of "The Explorer" will come very soon, so watch this space. Finally, a BIG thanks to Hasse, Roger and all the other great people at Box Distillery for arranging such a nice visit!

 

Please follow SamuelWhisky on my Zuckerberg-page by going here, and on my bird-page by going here. Copyright © and All Rights Reserved on all tasting notes 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@gmail.com Sláinte!

The whole crew! © Martin of peat.se

Tasting the Swedish whisky Box 3yo – ’The Pioneer’ 48,1% ABV

Friends! On this very warm summer day (at least here in Sweden), I will taste the first release from the northern Swedish distillery Box! The name of this first release is ’The Pioneer’ for reasons we can all understand ☺ 

Now, Box is the 6th active distillery in Sweden to release ”fully matured” whisky (3yo as the law requires). So far I have tasted Mackmyra (but not done any tasting note here on the blog), Smögen and a couple of weeks ago I tasted Hven and they have all been really good so I’m really excited to try whisky from Box! Their name has had a very good international reputation ever since whisky experts around the world for the first time tried their new-make. I’ve never tried anything from Box before so, again, very excited. 

Box are (and will be) very very very open with their recipies and production process and so they really want us to know how this first bottling is composed, so for swedish followers please take time to read about that here. 

A short version of the recipie reads as follows: 50% of the whisky is unpeated and matured in 40 litre bourbon casks, 35% of the whisky is 31ppm peated malt and matured in 40 litre bourbon casks, the rest, 15% unpeated and matured in 200 litre bourbon casks and that part has in turn been transferred to 100 litre new charred swedish oak casks. All in all this gave 6508 bottles out of which 5000 went to the swedish state monopoly and sold out in one day (!) Ok, let’s try this one!    

Nose:

At the absolute first nosing, coming straight from the sample bottle, I only get things reminding me of alcohol/new spirit etcetera. Now the whiskey has been in the glass for 15 minutes, the new spirit-touch is still there but more in the background, we also have a very big almost sugar-y sweetness in combo with some very light liquid honey (”akacia” sort of)… There’s also a quite small or mellow layer of peat with something citric behind it… I also pick up something kind of green, not herbal but maybe a touch of un-ripe honey melon… The whisky has now been in the glass for 30 minutes, the spirit-touch is ”still” in the centre of the nose together with something salt liquorice-ish. To me, my (first) impression is that this is a somehow quite anonymous whisky, at least on the nose but it does not have to be so on the palate, maybe my expectations are too high…  Anyways, let’s have a taste and see what the fuzz is all about ☺

Palate:
Mmm! Very nice indeed, definitely the perfect/optimal strength for this flavor and this style of whisky which creates a nice balance. The first thing I pick up is a quite salty and peaty start that really grabs a hold of my tounge. The flavors after that really do delvelope very slowly and almost seamless, good work fellas! We have fudge and soft vanilla, in other words stuff reminding of bourbon maturation, there’s touches of almond paste or maybe more of marzipan actually, a touch of bread yeast in combo with a very very small new spirit-touch, a little spicyness… Medium dry at the very end of the aftertaste, but oh soo calm, and that sugary sweetness from the nose is there on the palate, especially in the aftertaste… Overall on the palate, we have a lot more going on than on the nose, absolutely not anonymous on this side of things, in fact, probably very good for being this young. Extra points for the perfect strength for this particular flavor, nice!

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