The 2nd release of Whisky from Swedish Distillery Agitator – Argument: Chestnut 46% ABV!

Friends! As you probably remember I reviewed the first release from Swedish Distillery Agitator two weeks ago (if you haven't read it please do so by clicking here), and today I bring you my review of... you guessed it, their 2nd release! 

This release has been named "Argument: Chestnut". This should of course not be interpreted as arguing or fighting about chestnut wood. It should be interpreted and understood as stating ones case for the use of casks crafted from chestnut wood in whisky making. The general info in the press release states that the whisky in question had its initial maturation on regular bourbon casks and was then finished for a little more than a year on chestnut casks. As usual, when able to, I love sharing some more specific info with you my dear readers and so, just a few hours ago, I once again had a wee chat with Oskar Bruno (Distillery Manager) and our conversation resulted in the following info regarding recipe etcetera:

This whisky has been crafted from a mix of unpeated and peated new make. The peated component holds 30ppm and consists of three styles equally large in parts; one part distilled in the Low Reflux Stills, one part distilled in the High Reflux Stills, and one part that is a mix of the two. The liquid first spent more than two years in 200 litre 1st-fill bourbon casks, and was then transferred to 150 litre virgin chestnut casks for a finish. All in all we are talking about 28 chestnut casks. While 22 of them contained the peated component and enjoyed a finish of more than one year, 6 of them contained the unpeated component and enjoyed a finish of four months. The oldest component was filled into (bourbon) casks in the end of March 2018, and the youngest component into (bourbon) casks in the beginning of October. The casks were emptied at several different points in time; around the end of September and the beginning of October this year. The 28 casks gave 6000 70cl bottles at an ABV of 46%. Here in Sweden this whisky will be released at the state monopoly this Friday and you can view the product by clicking here.

Now, this is a release that I've really been longing to taste and review ever since I heard about it. Why? Well firstly because I find chestnut to be a really exciting kind of wood for maturing whisky, and secondly for this reason: as you know by now I am involved in a cask collaboration project together with the folks at Agitator and two of the casks in our collab is made from Chestnut, and so I find it very interesting to find out what style and profile this official distillery bottling of chestnut matured whisky from Agitator will have. Ok folks, it's time to analyze!

Nose:

A wonderful and enticing nose that’s full of both light and heavy scents. On the light side we have blossoming flowers, mainly white roses but also something that makes me think of pink flowers… to specify flowers is not my strong side so maybe it’s best to describe it as scents in a flower shop. On the light side we also have sweet lemon and squeezed/smashed redcurrants. There is a roughness in the berries that makes me think of red currant leaves but it doesn’t really come through quite that heavy. Speaking of heavy, on the heavy side of things we have dark raisins (as in a medium heavy sherried whisky) and a light hint of fragrant milk chocolate. There is actually also something reminding me of ”soft gingerbread”-cookie bordering on a truly mouthwatering vanilla! Digging deeper there is some kind of leather in the distant. In the base of the heavy side is a very light peatyness that interestingly has a clear element of firewood/fireplace/embers to it. A whiff of salt soft liquorice flies by. 

Taste:

A lot more peat than I had expected there to be judging from the nose, very, very nice! The peatyness is broad and at the same time light in style. Immediately after the peat leather-y almond paste makes its entrance and along comes medium heavy and rich tannins. The tannins never quite fade out but quickly morphs into fried/caramelized slices of lemon, orange flavoured milk chocolate, and slightly burnt vanilla. In the aftertaste something red from the nose appears very briefly (redcurrants or flowers?), and the light firewood peat echoes back and forth in a wonderful way.

Some reflections to sum up:

Once again, it is simply remarkable that a whisky this young can taste so old and mature! Nothing youngish to be found whatsoever, not on the nose, not on the taste. The nose is soft and has a medium complexity, and even though it’s not super complex I still find myself nosing, nosing, and nosing it over and over for a long time... I really like the taste and I’ve said before that chestnut maturation, to me, comes through as a kind of mix of bourbon maturation and european oak sherry maturation, the best from two worlds! The chestnut finish has made the perfect amount of imprint on the whisky. If included in a blind tasting for semi-whiskynerds I am convinced that a majority would categorize this whisky as sherry matured. On the taste I especially enjoy the fruity elements and the evident but light firewood peatyness that in no way is in the background. Both for the nose and the taste the chosen ABV is perfect and provides great balance. I believe that while this whisky is probably targeted more to the whiskynerds than to ”the great” whisky drinking ”masses” the taste profile will definitely appeal to both groups. The latter group may, in the beginning, be a tad scared off when reading chestnut on the label, but in time, with information and explanation, they will also build up the guts to buy and try a bottle. And, the cost of 599 swedish crowns for a 70 cl bottle of top notch swedish whisky definitely makes the decision a whole lot easier! Finally, thinking about the fact that this is just the 2nd release of whisky from Agitator, and that it tastes so good, makes me both smile in my heart and long for the future releases to come. 

Finally, a big thanks to the nice people at Agitator for the great opportunity to review this whisky before it's release! For further and future 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.

Pic borrowed from systembolaget.se

The 1st release of Whisky from Swedish Distillery Agitator – Single Malt Whisky 43% ABV!

Dear friends! Earlier today I received a package from the people at Swedish distillery Agitator. Yes, the package contained their two upcoming releases (!) and this evening I'm bringing you my review of the first release. To freshen up your knowledge on Agitator, their production method, and what sets them apart from basically any single malt distillery around, please read the first part of this article and regarding their philosophy (if you will) please have a look at their website here. 

The first release from Agitator has simply been namned "Single Malt Whisky". The general info that has been spread through press releases etcetera lets us know that the whisky in question has been matured in four different kinds of casks; bourbon, sherry casks, new american oak, and chestnut. In search of more specific info for you my dear readers I had a wee chat with Oskar Bruno (Distillery Manager) just a few hours ago. Our conversation resulted in the following info regarding recipe etcetera:

The whisky has been crafted from a mix of unpeated and peated new make (30ppm barley). The casks predominantly used for maturation are 200 litre 1st-fill bourbon, full time maturation. A portion of the whisky has been matured in new (virgin) american oak 200 litre, and this is where it gets interesting: 50% of the new american oak casks were of the wave stave kind, and the liquid in them enjoyed a full time maturation. The liquid in the rest of the new american oak casks started out in 1st-fill bourbon casks and then enjoyed a finish of more than one year in the new american oak casks of regular kind (non wave stave). The sherry casks used were 130 litre american oak, and the liquid in them enjoyed a full time maturation. The chestnut casks used were 150 litre, and also here we are talking about a finish; the majority of the liquid filled into these casks enjoyed a one year finish in them and/but in some cases the finish time was four months. The age of the whisky in this first batch is 3-3,5 years old and the number of bottles is 14000. Here in Sweden this whisky will be released at the swedish state monopoly this wednesday and you can view the product by clicking here.

Ok folks, time to review! 

Nose:

Very fresh and quite vivid scents! In the center layer is a malt-y/barley scent that is medium heavy and teams up with a rather robust vanilla. These two scents are intertwined in a really nice way. The layer above opens up slowly, more and more, with some time in the glass. Here we have very light citrus (or maybe even rhubarb acidity), a whiff of overripe pear, but most of all winter apples in apple pie (apples below a crust of sugar and butter baked oatmeal). Wow, as I nose the apple pie, oatmeal, and vanilla evolves more and more and there is lots of luscious vanilla and butter emerging, mmm! The bottom layer is actually the layer I first identified. Here we have the peat and there is a lot more peat than I had expected there to be from a standard-/core range-/house style-product point of view. I can’t really decide if I nose ”peat” or ”smoke”, so I simply have to conclude that’s it’s somewhere in between. On the other hand, the peat has a whiff of earthyness to it, so probably more on the peat side of things after all.

Taste:

Wow, judging from the style of the nose I did not see this coming; the taste actually starts off on a lot of sherry sweetness (dates and raisins), and it’s quite peaty indeed! It then moves on into oaky vanilla (american oak style) with a hint of light liquid honey. Then comes the malt/barley with a lovely oaky/woody spicyness to it. A dryness comes through and at the same time the peat shows itself for real and it does so in an elegant way. In the aftertaste the peat slowly fades away and the vanilla and dryness has a final bump.

The beautiful package that the samples arrived in!

Some reflections to sum up:

A very complex nose for being this young! In terms of scent-evolvement and maturity on the nose I definitely think of an age around 10 years old. As you can see my notes on the nose is a bit longer than my notes on the taste. From this you understand that the taste is not as complex and diverse as the nose is. I do however think that the taste is very, very mature and I definitely think of an age of say 7-8 years old. Adding to my reflections on the taste it’s absolutely worth to mention that there is great balance in this whisky, both between the main flavours and in relation to the choosen ABV. 43% ABV works really good. There is also great balance in terms of peatyness; it is there, it is obvious, but it doesn’t take over. All in all this is a really good whisky on its own. Furthermore, this is a very, very good first release, and definitely the best first whisky from a swedish distillery that I’ve tasted so far. It is remarkeable that a whisky this young can taste so old and mature. There are no typical signs of young (swedish) whisky; no yeast, no sulfur. Taking the general style of this whisky into account I believe that it will appeal both to the nerds and to ”the great” whisky drinking ”masses”. The latter especially so because of its perfect balance between ABV and peatyness.  Both these tow groups of people will of course be thrilled to hear that the whisky has been bottled in 70 cl bottles and that a bottle only costs 479 swedish crowns. A job well done to the team at Agitator. Skål!  

Finally, a big thanks to the nice people at Agitator 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.

Pic borrowed from systembolaget.se

Cask Collaboration with Agitator – tasting notes of 2yo spirit!

Dear friends, followers and supporters alike! Two weeks ago, on the 4th of May, the spirit in the casks included in the cask collaboration project between Swedish distillery Agitator and myself turned 2yo (!). And so, today it is my great pleasure to share with you all my tasting notes of samples from four of the casks!

In order to read up on what makes Agitator such an interesting and groundbreaking whisky distillery, as well as exactly what our collaboration entails, please do click here and read this previous article of mine and you will get a good introduction to it all. The general details are as follows:

New make recipe used for collaboration: 

Peated barley (30ppm), 58% from the High Reflux stills, 42% from the Low Reflux stills, went into Bourbon barrels 111-116 with a filling strength of 55,1% ABV on the 4th of May 2018.

The details of the samples reviewed are as follows: 

Sample no.1: Drawn 200504 from 1st-fill Bourbon Barrel no.113, 56,4% ABV.

Sample no.2: Drawn 200505 from cask no.1532, a 32 litre 1st-fill Oloroso American Oak cask, 56,4% ABV. (Spirit transferred 191031 from 1st-fill Bourbon barrel no.111).

Sample no.3: Drawn 200504 from Cask no.1531, a 130 litre Virgin Chestnut (“quarter”) cask, 56,4% ABV. (Spirit transferred 191031 from 1st-fill Bourbon barrel no.111).

Sample no.4: Drawn 200505 from Cask no.1530, a 32 litre 1st-fill Oloroso Chestnut cask, 56,4% ABV. (Spirit transferred 191031 from 1st-fill Bourbon barrel no.111).

Casks no.1532, 1530, 1531, and no.111 on the fork lift

So, the way I went about analyzing the samples are as follows: after considering what might be a good order in which to taste, I figured that the chestnut casks (sample no.3 and no.4) were the "heaviest" ones; the ones most influenced by the wood. And so I placed them in the order listed above. I spent around one hour nosing the four samples, and then around 1,5 hours tasting them. Ok folks, here are my notes and impressions!

Sample no.1

Sample no.1, nose:

Medium peat, sweet liquorice (and/or polypodium), and a burnt/earthy saltyness are all in the centre of the scent. Above this layer we have lemon curd with a touch of pear-flavoured popsicle (piggelin). Almost something like a carbonated lemon drink; carbonated lemon curd? In the base, the bottom layer, there is soft almond paste resting on a foundation of big vanilla, almost vanilla custard actually. The carbonated feeling in the top layer probably has something to do with the relatively high ABV. The alcohol is there but it’s not too much. The vanilla custard base mediates maturity and signals an age of around 8 years old.

Sample no.2

Sample no.2, nose:

The ABV feels slightly amplified (whilst the carbonated feeling is subdued). Peat and sweet liquorice is in the background. After only six months maturation/"finish" on this small cask there is already quite evident notes of sherry; we have red currant peel, a faint touch of raisins, and definitely dried figs. In the base vanilla fudge intermingles with peat-infused milk chocolate, medium rich leather and an evident touch of a calm campfire. The top layer has some acidity to it but not as much as in the bourbon cask. In terms of age I’d say that it feels very similar to the bourbon cask but here all of the scents are more integrated, more composite, meaning more mature. 

Sample no.3

Sample no.3, nose:

Wow! So many scents, so many impressions! Lots of more things going on than in the previous two samples (while they can perhaps be described as ”calm”, this one can be described as ”eventful”). It’s like a european oak sherry maturation on steroids; lot’s of dryness, lots of dried fruits (dark dried fruits), rich/bold peat, new leather, and medium-heavy to heavy dryness from the wood (tannins). At the core of the peatyness there is an earthy and forest-y mint going on. At the heart of the scent is both a big, big vanilla and something like a ”carpenters home-y cabin in the woods”-thing and/or carpenters workshop happening. I suppose this has to do with the fact that we are talking aboout a virgin chestnut cask, but somehow it does not seem virgin at all. Hmm, very hard to explain… In terms of age this one seems quite a lot older than the previous two samples. It’s hard to specify an age but say 10-12 years old!

Sample no.4

Sample no.4, nose:

OMG! While this small cask does have many similarities with the previous one, the scents are more accentuated and compact. The dried fruits are now red rather than dark, and the leafs from a black currant bush has turned up! I suppose wine gum candy (bassets) is a good description, and there is an intense presence of the candy pieces with red and purple color. The mint has been dialed up and the peat feels very present but somehow subdued or mellowed. Spicy sherry cask. There is also luke warm coffee and a whiff of vanilla infused chocolate chip coockies. Mmm… 

Sample no.1

Sample no.1, taste:

Mmm! Salt (almost sea salt), dry peat and sugary sweetness in a wonderful combination. Bourbon maturation works soo good for this new make recipe! We have smoky vanilla with sugar sprinkled slices of lemon coocked in a frying pan (caramelized). A quite distinct and dry almond paste takes over which morphs into peated whipped vanilla cream and sundried lawn ("hay"). A spicyness lingers. 

Sample no.2

Sample no.2, taste:

Wow! I would really like for you my dear readers to taste this one and share this wonderful taste with me, but at the same time I would kind of like to keep the whole cask for myself. You get the point; this stuff really is really good! I can’t belive that this is only 2 years old! The peat and the sherry is perfectly integrated. The sweet liquorice stands out in a beautiful way! Lots of medium dark flavours in the midrange. Warm peated vanilla, like liquid peated vanilla fudge… There is also something earthy/nature-y going on, maybe oven baked peat-infused parsnips drizzled in butter. Forest infused dried figs and mellow gunpowder lingers on and on and slowly fades away.

Sample no.3

Sample no.3, taste:

Once again, wow! Virgin chestnut cask could easily be mistaken for a heavy european oak oloroso sherry maturation. The core of the taste is both sweet and salt, and has a concentrated peat and tanninic dried fruits; dried figs, dark raisins, and oven baked apple slices. In the background, we also have chocolate infused dried slices of orange. The flavours are semi-calm and at the same time intese/concentrated. While I usually find virgin swedish oak overpowering (and having too much fir/christmas tree in it), virgin chestnut to me is nothing of the sorts, not too much wood, just intense/concentrated. The vanilla is indeed big, just as big as on the nose, and whilst I found the peat to be rich/bold on the nose, I find it to be subdued on the taste. This new make recipe and level of peating works really good with chestnut cask and brings out a mouthwatering touch of milk chocolate in the peat. In terms of age, my mind definitely says the same as on the nose: 10-12 years old. Simply unbelievable.

Sample no.4

Sample no.4, taste:

Dude! Now we’re talking. This is really like an accentuated, amplified, and enhanced super-version of the previous. Whilst the previous one was tanninic, this one is really, really dry. My impression of 1st-fill oloroso on chestnut is that it tastes kind of like a port pipe ”on fire”; burnt port/heavily roasted port. The dried fruits from the nose have almost transformed into something like chilli and spicy. It’s heavy on the spicyness and it teases my tounge in an intriguing way. There is an intese feeling of peel from black currants. We also have peat-infused bramble marmalade. In the background dark chocolate-y vanilla fudge cubes calls for attention. The aftertaste closes with lurking peat and intense vanilla slowly, slowly fading away. Wow, what a whisky! Sorry, I mean what an incredible 2 year old spirit!

Some reflections to sum up:

Alright folks! The maturation sure is moving along at a very good pace. Already the spirit tastes soooo good and I can't wait to taste these casks again further down the line. Out of samples no.2-4 my favorites are definitely no.2 and no.3. But, they are all really good and are all of very interesting and different character, to say the least. Having reviewed these samples in this phase of the collab, some ideas have definitely emerged regarding how (in what form) it might be interesting to bottle them. Big thanks to Håkan, Oskar, and Christian for the amazing opportunity that this collaboration is! And last but not least, big thanks to all of you my dear readers and I hope you've enjoyed this article. Sláinte! 

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 when permission is granted by stating the source.

Sample 1-4

Cask collaboration with Agitator – The first big step!

Dear friends, followers, and supporters alike! On the 4th of May 2018 I did my first visit to Swedish Distillery Agitator. If you haven’t already read my article from that visit please do so by clicking here and you will not only get some background info for this article, but also learn a bit about what makes Agitator such a unique whisky distillery. 

During the end of that first visit I filled bourbon casks no.111-116 (barrels, 180L) with the newmake I had helped to produce. The new make was made from peated barley (30ppm) and the mix was 58% from the High Reflux spirit-still and 42% from the Low Reflux spirit-still. The filling strength was 55% ABV. Around one year later, Agitator and I made it official through social media that we were embarking on a joint project, namely a cask collaboration (click here to read the ”pressrelease” in swedish). 

Oskar, SamuelWhisky, and Christian with casks no.111-116

So what does the collaboration entail? Well, it will result in at least one official bottling taking the six casks that I filled as a starting point. I will be the one leading the collab and taking care of everything from maturation, to desicions on types of casks used, as well as bottling the whisky, doing the labelling, etcetera, etcetera. Of course the Distillery Manager/Master Distiller Oskar and the Distillery Technician Christian will assist me with their expertise and offer their advise as we go along.

As you can surely imagine dear readers, it is a true honor to be a part of this collaboration. The best way I can try and describe my feelings for this project is to imagine that I would ask the people at Laphroaig (my favourite Scottish whisky/distillery) if I could do a collaboration with them and that they would say: "yes!". It’s like a dream come true. And with Agitator it’s an even bigger dream come true! Why? Well, their motto is ”What if…”; they are the only known single malt whisky distillery in the world using vacuum distillation, their production process is green/environmental friendly, they are pioneers in breaking free from norms and stiff traditions of the whisky industry in using different kinds of grains (barley, wheat, oat), having great acess to interesting casks, are willing to experiment with maturation using different and new kinds of casks, all in the hunt for the best whisky possible. This is the context for our collaboration in which I have the opportunity to do precisely what I want. With that said I consider myself a lucky chap indeed.

Since my first visit I have revisited the distillery thrice. As you might have seen on my FB-page my last visit was just three weeks ago and this time around I visited both in order to check up on the maturation process of the spirit in the six casks, and most of all to really start the cask collab and take the first big step, which this article is about. But before I take you through my fourth time visiting Agitator, what we did during my visit, and what the first step actually was, let me give you some info on what happened before my visit. 

In the end of September I received an email from Håkan Jarskog, the CEO of Nordic Whisky Capital (the company that owns Agitator). He invited me to join in on a tasting of cask samples drawn from the maturing stock at Agitator! The objective of the tasting was for an internal tasting panel (Håkan, two other members of the company, and myself) to help evaluate the samples and to provide Oskar and Christian with some thoughts on and perceptions of the maturation process, and tasting notes of some of the stock at a work-in-progress state. Wow, what an honour! The tasting was held on the 1st of October at the NWC headquarters in Stockholm. 

The line-up consisted of 12 cask samples with spirit of different recipes (non peated, peated of different ppm, malted barley, different grains), drawn from a variety of cask types and cask sizes, at different filling strengths and ages. Among these 12 cask samples were two samples that got my attention; one was drawn from a 32 litre virgin chestnut cask that had been filled with newmake made from non peated barley from the High Reflux Spirit-still (at the time of the tasting being 9 months old and at a strength of 54% ABV), the other was drawn from a 200 litre virgin chestnut cask that had been filled with newmake made from peated barley at 40ppm from the Low Reflux Spirit-still (at the time of the tasting being 5 months old and at a strength of 57,5% ABV). Together with three other cask samples, it was the two chestnut cask samples that I gave the highest scores.

In the samples drawn from the chestnut casks I found nosing and tasting profiles/flavours that was especially interesting; grassy-ness, malty-ness, some kind of wine-yness, fruity-ness, notes of medium bold to bold vanilla, sweetness, powerful influence of cask/wood/tannins (for me meaning dryness and ”bitterness”), as well as medium bold to bold peatyness (yes, even the non peated one coming out of the HR Spirit-still was somehow peaty both on the nose and the taste). The best way that I can try and describe what chestnut matured spirit tastes like is kind of like a fusion of a bourbon cask and a european oak sherry cask, with added/extra tannins.  

Some weeks after the tasting Christian gave me a call with some great news; they had recently received a shipment of a bunch of 150litre virgin chestnut casks, and since they had seen my high scoring of the chestnut cask samples he wanted to know if I would like to come visit the distillery to transfer the maturing spirit from one of my bourbon casks into one of the chestnut casks. Enthusiastically I instantly replied: ”YES!”. Furthermore, since my bourbon casks are 180 litre barrels he also suggested that we could fill the remaining spirit (estimated to be approximatly 30 litres) from the bourbon cask I chose into a 32 litre chestnut cask that currently held oloroso sherry. ”Great idea!”, said I.

So, just a couple days later, on the 31st of October I arrived by train to Arboga, and Christian picked me up at the station. After a few minutes of chatting and catching up in the car we arrived at the distillery. First we had some coffee in the control room, after which Oskar and Christian gave me a very nice Agitator-branded zipper-sweater as a gift, now that’s what I call proper attire for working! 

After some talking, some more coffee, and some nosing of two samples of new style new make, we went into the warehouse. Aaaah, the scents in the warehouse… it's like coming home! In the warehouse we began with locating my casks and started to take them down from the shelves. I then took out a sample from each cask and it was time for some evaluation. 

The first time that I got the opportunity to try maturing spirit from all of the six casks I had laid down was during my previous visit (the third one). At that point in time the spirit was 1 year and 10 days old. By the time of this fourth visit the maturing spirit had reached an age of nearly 1,5 years old (or to be precise: 1 year, 5 months, and 26 days old). 

The evaluation (nosing, tasting, comparing of casks) showed that being barely half way to whisky, the spirit already has lots of cask influence, and the samples drawn from each of the six casks already nose and taste really, really good. In short: mouth watering peated vanilla sweetness, m-mm! 

No sings of yeast or fusel, meaning nothing young-ish to be found, at all. Since I found all of the casks to be equally great I decided that cask no.111 would be an as good candidate as any of the other casks would for being transferred into the two chestnut casks. With that decided, it was time for a lunch break. After lunch we had some coffee and then went back into the warehouse. We took a stroll to the part of the warehouse where the newly received chestnut casks were located. Christian suggested that I should nose/sniff a couple of them to see which one I liked best, so I started to rip off the plastic from a couple of casks. 

The one I chose had wonderful scents of autumn evening forest, green moss, fallen leaves, a tad of charcoal, and a touch of new wood.

I then carried the cask I had chosen... 

It might look heavy but actually wasn’t

and then placed it roughly in the spot were we would be doing the transfer of the spirit. 

Meanwhile, Christian used the truck to pick up cask no.111 

and when he had adjusted the height of the forklift so that the bourbon cask was placed slightly above the chestnut cask we used a very simple pump and started to pump by hand in order to create suction to be able to transfer the spirit. Yay! Such a great and exciting feeling to take this first step!

When I did the transfer, Christian emptied the sherry that was in the 32 litre chestnut cask, and when the big chestnut cask was as full as absolutely possible

I started to transfer spirit to the small one 

It was at some point during this transfer that Christian noticed something rather critical, the 150 litre chestnut casks they had received was actually not 150 litre, but rather… 130 litre, ooops! Now the original plan was in trouble since there would all of a sudden be something like 18 litres of spirit left over; spirit that had no cask to go into, damn... what to do? 

Oskar came into the warehouse to see how the transfer was coming along, and we all started to discuss and brainstorm about different possibilities and solutions. Luckily, after a while Christian remembered that they actually had a 32 litre american oak cask filled with oloroso sherry laying around somewhere in the warehouse, phew! He located the cask, and Oskar emptied the sherry that was in it, after which I filled it with the remaining litres of spirit that was left in the bourbon cask. 

So, all in all this is what the first step in our cask collaboration resulted in: 

Cask no.1531, a 130 litre virgin chestnut (“quarter”) cask

Cask no.1530, a 32 litre 1st-fill oloroso chestnut cask

Cask no.1532, a 32 litre 1st-fill oloroso american oak cask (filled with roughly 18L of spirit)

cask no.1532, 1530, 1531!

When we had moved cask no.111 and placed it in the part of the warehouse where empty casks wait to be filled, Christian placed all of my (big) casks back into the shelves: cask no.112-116, cask no.901 (the ex. Islay cask that I filled during my second visit), and cask no.1531. All of them are now located in the shelf closest to the door between the warehouse and the distillery, and on shelf nr.5 and 6 (the top shelves). 

While Christian took care of the big casks I moved the two small ones to a place in the warehouse where small casks sleep. 

To sum up, having taken this first big step in our cask collaboration feels really exciting! There are lots of possibilities regarding bottling of the three casks in this first step as well as regarding casks no.112-116; will cask no.1531 be bottled and released on it’s own, or should one or both of the small casks be part of that release? Or, should cask no.1531 be mixed with a bourbon cask or two and bottled as one release? Should one or both of the small casks be a bottling of its own? Or, should the small casks be used as spice components for one or more of the bourbon casks? Also, what will the flavour profiles of cask no.1530-1532 be like when they are 3yo? I have some ideas, but what do you think?! 

Oskar, SamuelWhisky, Christian

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 when permission is granted by stating the source.