Swedish Rye Whiskey (to be) – 2yo Blind Seal Whiskey at 46% ABV!

Dear friends, followers, and supporters alike, once again I'm very fortunate to bring you my review of something really special and exciting! This wednesday Tobiaz Forsberg, the "Head Bootlegger" and intiator of the new and upcoming swedish whiskey brand Blind Seal Whiskey, visited my neighbourhood to hand over a sample (corona safe). 

Now, this was not any usual sample folks; about a week earlier, on the 11th of february he paid a visit to Swedish Distillery Agitator Whiskymakare since it was actually already two years ago that he filled the first barrels of Blind Seal Rye-style distillate!

Tobiaz filling the first barrels on the 11th of february 2019.
(Pic belongs to Blind Seal Whiskey).

Now, if Sweden was USA the maturing liquid in the casks would legally be whiskey, but since the EU has other rules we have to wait yet another year until there is actually whiskey in the casks. So, while visiting Agitator, Tobiaz drew a couple of samples for bloggers and friends to review, and I'm very honoured and happy to be one of them and to be able to review a sample of 2 year old Blind Seal drawn straight from cask(s) and watered to 46% ABV! But before reading my review, please first take part of this article to read up on Blind Seal Whisky in general and the recipe and production process of this liquid in particular. 

Ok friends, let the analyzing begin!

Nose:

Nosing at a distance the foremost scent is a velvety and soft (fudge-y) caramel/candy sweetness. There are also hints of melted butter and surrounding everything is an extremely mellow and very ”round” vanilla. The strength mediates calmness. When placing my nose into the glass, below the vanilla I find a whiff of slightly burnt wood. Shaking the glass properly a medium heavy rye spicyness and ashes (burnt out fire) appears accompanied by soft salt liquorice, a whiff of violet, ginger, mango, lemon peel, and then it’s boomerang time quickly back to the soft salt liquorice. A very complex and quite deep nose indeed.

Taste: 

Woooow, so thick, rich and creamy! At the center of the taste a "melted butter"-party is taking place (almost butter on salted popcorn actually), and we are dancing to a constant beat of spicy vanilla, saltyness, malted grain, and barbecue smoke that just keeps on rolling and rolling in my mouth as endless waves keep hitting the beach… In the early aftertaste there is a really velvet-y vanilla going on that evolves into a dry and medium-big almond paste and/or marzipan. Then, I’m gently hit by a lemon zest dryness, and in the actual aftertaste I really do have more a feeling of bourbon matured single malt than I do of rye whiskey. An interesting flavor journey for sure! 

Some reflections to sum up:

As said, the nose is very complex, lot’s of interesting stuff to find and this is a liquid that seems way, way older than 2 years old! The "industrial" feeling (gundpowder and metal) that was present in the nose of the 11 month old sample is gone and this I would say is a sign of even greater maturation than before. On the nose, the strength is very calm and you barely feel that it’s 46% and so I must say that I was a bit worried that the chosen strength would be "too weak" for the taste (meaning I thought that the strength would make the taste become ”thin”). This was gladly not the case, and for being bottled at only 46% and being only two years old the taste already shows an incredible richness and creamyness. To highlight the rye and the spicyness over the barley (that makes up 40% of the mash) though, I wonder if this should perhaps rather be bottled at say 48-50% ABV (?) Finally, I really, really like that there is a smoky/barbecue-y thing going on in the taste and that smoke sure makes this rye stand out. I absolutely can’t wait to try this liquid when it has turned three years old, very exciting times ahead indeed... And finally, a big thanks to Tobiaz for once again sharing a sample of your Blind Seal Whiskey with me at a work in progress phase, cheers! 

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.

It's a blind seal folks! ;) 
(Pic belongs to Blind Seal)

Swedish Rye Whiskey (to be) – A cask sample from Blind Seal Whiskey!

Dear friends, followers and supporters alike! Today I bring you something very, very special. Exactly one week ago I met up with Tobiaz Forsberg (former brewer at Fjäderholmarnas Bryggeri, and today he is) the "Head Bootlegger" at the new and upcoming swedish whiskey brand Blind Seal Whiskey!

That's right, Blind Seal Whiskey is not a distillery but rather a brand. More precisely it's a joint venture between Nordic Whisky Capital and Tobiaz. NWC is as you know the owner of swedish Distillery Agitator. NWC owns 51% of Blind Seal Whiskey and Tobiaz, who is the (idea)man behind the brand, owns the rest. 

Blind Seal Whiskey is deeply rooted in the american designtradition of the 1920's, and is inspired by the speak-easy bars of the prohibition era. When it comes to the issue of producing Blind Seal Whiskey, it uses the competence, staff, and production capacity available at Agitator. The orientation of Blind Seal Whiskey is american style whiskey, and initially the focus is on rye as the main component. 

With that said, by now you all understand that the reason for me meeting up with Tobiaz was that he wanted me to review a cask sample of his work in progress Blind Seal Whiskey. Yay, very exclusive, very exciting!!!

So the need to know details for this sample is as follows: the mash is made from 60% malted rye and 40% malted barely. The Blind Seal mash holds an average strength of 7,3% ABV. The liquid for this sample is a 50/50 mix of maturing spirit coming from two 200 litre new american oak barrels (toasting level 3, wave staves). One barrel contained spirit from (distilled in) the High Reflux-stills,  the other barrel contained spirit from (distilled in) the Low Reflux-stills. The heart of the former held 72% ABV, while the heart of the latter held 67% ABV. The different hearts were then mixed together and by the use of water reduced to 55% (which is the filling strength most often used, and preferred,  at Agitator). This is batch number one which all in all was mashed throughout the 7th-23rd of January 2019, and distilled throughout the 15th-29th of January 2019 (in other words a fermenting period of seven days). The casks were filled by Tobiaz on the 11th of February 2019, and the liquid for this sample was drawn and blended by Tobiaz on the 20th of January 2020, at the time of sampling being a mere 11 months old. 

Ok, folks, that's enough details for sure, so let's review!

Nose:

The top layer has soft/delicate honey sweetness intermingling with (an expected) vanilla sweetness, a moderately heavy vanilla sweetness. Whiffs of medium ripe banana, and a touch of orange zest/peel is saying hello to syrup. When nosing a little deeper, moving into the second layer, I first find a spicy-/herbyness mixed with maraschino cherries and deep violet, and then I find wood, kind of like a mix of firewood and oak/cask. There is actually something a bit toasted and/or barbeque-ish going on in the very bottom of the second layer. The bottom of the second layer is robust and has an ”industrial” feel to it (I’m thinking gundpowder and metal) that provides a medium heavy body which the top layer rests upon. There is absolutely no young-ish, new make-y, fusel-y, yeast-y stuff on the nose and it’s really hard to believe that I’m actually nosing spirit that is only 11 months old.

Taste:

I actually start to laugh, because this tastes so damn good folks! It starts off with an intricate, smooth and moutwatering sugar syrup-y sweetness intermingling with almond paste, and some sweetness as from boiled carrots (!) topped with butter and salt. It moves on into burnt vanilla with wood spicyness and medium robust tannins. We have fudge cubes, dark honey and slightly burnt maple syrup, very old agave, slight touches of gunpowder and evident cocoa as well as sweet liquorice; this 11 month old spirit has real body, maturity and complexity folks! Whilst the strength/ABV was not at all something I thought of when nosing, on the taste it simply provides a beautiful warmth to my throat and breast/chest. The strength is evident (but not at all overpowering). The aftertaste lingers for quite some time and holds tannins, spicyness, dark raisins, and ends on a soft sugary sweetness.

Some reflections to sum up:

Well, as you can probably tell I really like this dram. To me, the complexity of both nose and taste, and most of all the body and maturity that this dram shows, is actually quite unbelievable. And I can’t help to be amazed by how this spirit already tastes this good. If it was up to me I sure would bottle a part of this batch right now and bring it to the market, so well done! And finally, a big thanks to Tobiaz for sharing a cask sample of some Blind Seal Whiskey at a work in progress phase! I'm so happy to have been the first blogger to try it! 

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.