Tasting the all new Wheskykôrka 56,1% ABV (Single Sherrybutt Bunnahabhain) from ’Svenska Eldvatten’

On the 1st of April swedish independent bottler ’Svenska Eldvatten’ (’Swedish Firewaters’) released yet another exciting whisky at the swedish state monopoly liquor store. Tommy and Peter was very kind to send me a sample and I was very happy to receive it two days after the release, especially since it sold out that same day! 

The name of the whisky is a play with words of a famous Gothenburg seafood market called Fiskekôrka (Fishchurch) thus being modified into Wheskykôrka (Whiskychurch).

Anyway, the whisky is described as a more than usually peated Bunnahabhain matured in a single sherrybutt that was laid down in 1990 and bottled in 2012. The strength being 56,1% ABV. The cask was split between two local whiskyclubs and Svenska Eldvatten leaving 113 bottles for them to release. 

For whiskyfans outside of Sweden some of Svenska Eldvattens whiskies and rhums recently became available at ’Master of Malt’ so please check it out! Okey, let’s try it!   

Nose:

Very soft! The peat is definitely in the background. The sherry-influence is not overpowering, which of course I didn’t really expect judging from the color (but somewhere in my mind I guess heavy sherry was what I longed for ☺). Anyway the sherry-influence is rather soft. What there is a lot of though is milk chocolate, touches of cacao, in combo with some sort of distant mint. The sherry has left it’s mark though with things like very very soft caramelised melted raw sugar and really sugary sultana raisins. The alcohol is hardly traceable so everything is really soft… a wonderful interplay between the elements of this whisky! When really putting my nose deep in the glass and taking a deep breath there are lots of excotic elements, mostly on citric. Well, my mouth sure is watering which means it’s time to see what’s on the palate!

Palate: 

Aha! There is quite some sherry-influence on the palate, but mostly picking up on the caramelised sugar together with the raisins that was there on the nose. Maybe it’s re-fill sherry? Anyhow, in the very center of the palate, or what might be described as the focus of the whisky, we have a steady, firm, peaty-ness. Again, it’s not bursting with peat, not overly peated, but rather, firm and very much present. Surrounding this we have the excotic fruits from the nose, there is something citric yes, but here we also have pears, apples, and even a touch off passion fruit, things that I normally associate with bourbon-matured whisky. Finishing of is something almondy, some dried herbs and strangely enough a little little little aftertaste of ale/beer or it’s probably a malty-ness that I’m picking up on? Yeah, that’s probably it!

To sum up:

I think this Bunnahabhain was a very interesting experience, interesting combinations both on the nose and on the palate. Things are very well integrated here people! I was a little bit confused longing for big sherry-influence and huge peat, but no matter, this is a really pleasent experience and I’m really happy to have had the chance to try it, so once again a big thanks to Tommy and Peter of the Svenska Eldvatten, Sláinte! 

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Tasting the swedish Whisky Smögen ’Primör’ 3yo 63,7% ABV

Yay! On the 13th of March, the day after tomorrow, swedes will finally be able to purchase yet another swedish Whisky at the state monopoly ’systembolaget’ (through a web-release)! Smögen Whisky, founded in 2009 and located on the west-coast of Sweden, is launching their first whisky which is a three year old composition of nine casks made out of european oak. One of the casks was a 225 litre ’Barrique’ that previously held Bourdeaux-wine, the remaining eight casks were new charred 110 litres casks so this should be interestin. The barley is peated to 45ppm. The batch resulted in 2188 bottles out of which 1600 goes to the state monopoly. 

I am very grateful to Pär Caldenby, the owner and master distiller of Smögen, who very generously shared a sample, during this years Linköping Whisky Expo. Thank you Pär! 

Nose:

With no water added this is obviously very strong whisky! It’s so strong that the peat and the alcohol strength itself are the two main characters in this drama that are fighting to win the battle of attention. Still, trying to grasp the peat at this high strength, it’s robust and quite farmy but somehow still very soft. Interesting style of peat! At this strength the whisky is also quite ”botanical”. Beneath all this in the top layer, that is hard but not impossible to get past, I find a beautiful and very soft vanilla and a nice malty nose. Okay, let’s add some water to see what happens (I add water to another glass so I can nose and taste parallell…) 

With just a little bit of water, maybe 10 small drops into the same amount of whisky that’s in the picture of the glass, the whisky really settles down on the high strength, everything get’s reaaaaaally smooth and very malty. Now we have an almost biscuit-y (digestive crackers) and buttery nose. Some really nice fudge coming through. The peat also calms down of course but at the same time it developed into a quite sweet, almost brownsugar-y and almond-y peat.

Palate:

Returning to the glass with no water added, let’s have a taste. Oooh! This is great, for sure. It starts of on a very sort of salty peat. The strength actually isn’t too much (or is this a warning sign?). Of course you can almost feel the whisky evaporate from the tounge up your mouth but still, it’s very beautiful at this strength. There is lot’s of different fruit-y-ness, the main stuff is sultana raisins, something reminding me of baked or dried apples, but also moving over into sun-warm red grapes. This fruit-y-ness is complemented by a hint of poitin-spirit. Everything get’s quite dry after 4-5 seconds and the dominant aftertaste definitely is that brownsugar-y peat. Very nice! 

Let’s turn to the glass with just a little bit of water: Oh yeah, adding to the above, there is now a nice fudge and vanilla combination that comes first, but quite fast after that I get the very salty peat back, then malt-y-ness, just a tiny touch of poitin and finishing of on digestive crackers, unwhipped cream and soft peat… 

Well, let’s send a big congratulations to Pär for his very exciting and interesting whisky. I’d say that all in all this is a very mature 3 year old! Well done and Slainthé!

Bowmore 10yo 'Devils Cask' 56,9% ABV!

Hey folks! Finally the time has come for me to try the well received and much hyped (?) small batch release Bowmore Devils Cask! I've longed for this moment for quite some time know, the sample has been in my sample-stash for more than a month but there has been some other whiskies to try that have gotten in the way and I simply did not want to rush it with this one since I've heard it's a beauty. 

A big thanks to Håkan for being very generous and just sending me a sample for free! Thanks! 

Okay, as far as I've heard this has been entirely matured in first fill sherry casks for ten whole years and then bottled at cask strength. Whether it's european oak or american oak I don't really know. What I do know is that this whisky has been giving of wonderful scents ever since I poured a dram in the glass to shoot the photos. Let me tell you, absolutely wonderful things on the nose here!

Nose: 

Oh yeah! Just having the glass quite far from my nose I get really dark raw-sugar notes, there is something quite orange-y in there too, mixed together with the classic sherry stuff such as dried figs, even a bit chocolate-y, something really far away even reminding me of mint chocolate... I'd say the peat is really well hidden in there... Mmm, this is deep stuff friends! All of these things are the foundation of the whisky and on top of that layer we have really really high register notes of leather-something and also citrus. Ok, let's see what's on the palate 

Isn't that a beautiful color?!

Palate:

Ooooooh! Starts off strong but not too strong, mainly peat and some very intense sweet/citric notes in the very fast first phase of the whisky. This is brutal but friendly. Moving fast from the very tip of my tounge back into my mouth. Then comes the dried figs, dark raisins, some orange-y stuff, it get's quite dry and then... something reminding me of fireworks ashes or gunpowder (not that I've ever eaten it but you know...) and then a touch of violet (flowery-ish) candy. Now that I take another sniff and nose the glass again that violet stuff is on the nose too, hmm... 

Anyway, this was a very interesting experience and as I've said some times before, the balance or interplay between the sherry and the peat is just great, and I'd actually say that the main focus here is brutal sherry-influence and then comes the peat. Slainthé and see you soon!

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Tasting the three travel retail exclusive Laphroaigs – QA Cask, An Cuan Mór and PX Cask

Yay it’s finally Friday! To celebrate I thought I might put the three travel retail exclusive Laphroaigs head to head in a little line-up. The three travel retail Laphroaigs are: 

’QA Cask’ was released in 2012 and holds 40% ABV. It has had it’s first maturation is in ex-bourbon barrels and then a final maturation in (new?) charred American white oak casks, there of the name QA (of course meaning Quercus Alba). I don’t know the age. It goes for arond €48 for a litre bottle.

’An Cuan Mór’ was released in 2013 and holds 48% ABV. The name means ”The big ocean”. It has first been matured in firstfill bourbon barrels and then transfered for a final maturation in European Oak (which I interpret as oloroso sherry butts). The age is around 8-9 years old and goes for around €95 for a 70cl bottle.

’PX Cask’ was released in 2012 and holds 48% ABV. The PX Cask is sort of a version of the Laphroaig Triple wood but instead of final maturation in oloroso sherry butts it has had a final maturation in Pedro Ximinez sherry casks. Hence the maturation as follows: first first-fill bourbon barrels, then quarter casks (around 125 litres bourbon barrels) and then finally matured in PX casks. The age is between 6-12 years old and it goes for around €60 for a litre bottle.  

Big thanks to Jennie for the An Cuan Mór sample, and a big thanks to Dani at Edrington for the PX ”sample”. The QA was a gift from the family. Ok let’s try them!         

QA Nose:

Starts of on a mix of very soft peat and vanilla, pear, also there is a hint of wet burnt wood. Quite simple but nice nose. Slightly ”watery”. Sadly I don’t have the standard ten year old as a reference but I’d say this is very in the classic style of Laphroaig. 

An Cuan Mór Nose:

Hmm… Interesting! Some notes I’ve never felt in a Laphroaig before! Adding to all the elements from the QA (except the watery-ness), and compared to the QA, which I feel is very classic, at least on the nose, this one is sort of more focused, perhaps a little closed, but there is also some ”metallic” notes, maybe Iron and saltiness, but mostly this one definitely has more wood/oak influence, not more on the vanilla though but rather more on the darker notes. There is also in the distant something very close to dark raisins but I would’nt say this one has a in general ”sherried” nose. Also marzipan and something perfumy… Quite complex actually, this will be exciting to taste! 

PX Nose:

Mmm, the nose of the PX is definitely complex on another level, compared to both of the previous. No wonder since the three types of casks. This one has more of the heavy, dark layers. Dark, what seems as almost dry-ish raisins, dried figs, salty-ness, almost roasted salted almonds (or am I just getting hungry?) This one also has a really big peat with a stronger character than the previous two! Oooh, my mouth waters, let’s taste them!

QA Palate:  

Initially there is peat, but not sweet and not salt, just peat. Wait… here comes the sweetness, mostly on vanilla. Then we have a little bit of the wet burnt wood that was there on the nose, almost a little ashy… Then comes just a little bit of dryness, a little herby… A little ”thin” on the palate but not watery, not at all. I thought this one would have more of wood/oakyness/power due to it’s final maturation in (new?) charred casks, but no… Also let’s keep in mind the 40% ABV

An Cuan Mór Palate:

Mmm! Oh wow, that was powerful! Besides the power from the higher alcohol of course, there is a really oaky power here. Wonderful! I would’nt say that there is very much of classic european (sherry) oak flavours but rather something like ”forest flavours” and most of all, MORE PEAT! Of course it’s darker in style than the QA but there is also more salty-ness, more dryness and it really clings on to my palate, the tounge itself. Some very citric apple-cider, almost sparkling flavours swishes by in not more than half a second… This is an exciting palate for sure!

PX Palate: 

Mmm! This is such a good whisky! It really starts of on the sherry influence, it’s there right away. The balance between peat and sherry is perfect. Quite sweet in the beginning, mostly on sugar-coated dark raisins, dried figs and then quite fast comes a very nice dryness, that as in the An Cuan Mór REALLY clings on to the tounge… It calms down after say two to three seconds, really opens up in my mouth, lighter flavours appear, there is pear, vanilla and a soft sting from the alcohol. The journey of flavours in this one is beautiful and it’s hard to capture them all… That was a great job, well done! 

To sum up:

For me the PX is definitely the winner and I felt that right away when the first drops hit my tounge. You can also tell, not just by knowing the age but by flavour, that the PX is the most complex and mature out of the three. But I suppose it’s all a matter of if you like an emphasis on the bourbon flavours and power, then I’d go for the An Cuan Mór, but if you like a sherried style Laphroaig then go for the PX. In my humble opinion, from memory, the PX is also better than the ’Triple Wood’ but I think I may have to compare them to be sure… 

Slainthé and thanks for taking part of my tasting notes! P.S If you are on Facebook please like the page for my blog here 

QA Cask - An Cuan Mór - PX Cask

Imperial 16yo 1995 53,5% ABV, bottled by Duncan Taylor

Please check out my third tasting note as a guest-blogger at ilovewhisky.se (in swedish)!

Tasting two Highland Parks – 21yo 47,5% ABV vs. 25yo 45,7% ABV

Let’s do something fun and compare two Highland Parks, namely the 21yo and the 25yo! The first Highland Park I bought was the 18yo and that was a looong time ago. It took a while for me to try HP again but when I did I really fell in love with it, not to wonder since it was the 30yo! : ) Anyway, I haven’t really done tasting notes on any HP but now the oppurtunity has come thanks to some ”samples” from Dani at Edrington. So big thanks to you Dani!  

The info I have managed to source from the Highland Park website is this: The 21yo is predominantly matured in american oak seasoned with sherry. The 25yo is matured in up to 50% firstfill sherry casks, predominantly european oak is used. The proportions other than that seemed a little hard to find out so I sent an e-mail to Martin Markvardsen asking for some complimentary info and this is what he replied:

”21yo American cask seasoned with sherry, 20 % first fill... the rest of the casks used are  predominantly American oak [bourbon casks] but there are some Spanish casks used as well (…) 25yo all European oak, with 50% first fill dry oloroso cask” 

Thanks Martin for that info! Okey, let’s compare them! 

21yo Nose:

The basic nose on the 21yo is sherry, although quite a proportion of the casks used are bourbon casks. Not ”in-your-face-sherry” but rather soft and elegant with an emphasis on sultana raisins… There is something in there that reminds me of oranges (kind of zesty) and chocolate, also there is brown sugar and quite a lot of vanilla, finally something like red apple-peel. Just a little bit of peat. The balance between these things are incredible!

25yo Nose:

Turning to the 25yo you really get a lot deeper sherry notes, the difference between them is striking actually. Here we have dark moist raisins, a mix of fresh and dried figs, and dates with dark honey. The orange is there to, in the very center of everything, but this time it’s really citric and calls for your attention. Going from glass to glass when nosing I’d say that the peat is quite a lot more evident in the 21yo than in this one where it more tamed and has calmed down…

21yo Palate:

Mmm, hehehe, I can’t help my self from laughing out loud cause this is such a ridiculously good whisky! It is so balanced that it’s even hard to describe, but a lot of ”dark” flavours that quite fast move on into some kind of raw-sugar-coated-dried figs if there ever was such a thing… Very sweet but still medium-dry if you know what I mean. The vanilla is warm and elegant, this whisky really takes care of my tounge. Beautiful

25yo Palate: 

Hehe : ) This one too is incredibly good! More full-bodied. Here we really have big, dark, moist, raisins and dried but still juicy figs… It it so soft that it’s unbelieveable. You can’t even feel the alcohol… Drinking this nectar feels more like drinking a mixture of oloroso sherry, whisky, dark slowly flowing liquid honey and raw-sugar, than actually drinking whisky. It’s crazy… The peat is barely there. After having tried the 25yo I really get what people mean when they talk about the ”heather honey” of Highland Park. Absolutely beautiful… 

To sum up the 21yo and the 25yo are both great and do have their own qualities. As you can see in the picture below the color is almost the same although the 25yo is bigger on the sherry. If you want a great balance between sherry influence and soft peat then go for the 21yo, if you want a more full-bodied but still soft sherry bomb then go for the 25yo. But please, don’t miss out on them! If you have the oppurtunity, then do try them both. If I had to I'm afraid I couldn’t possibly choose between them… Slainthé!

21yo to the left        

Tasting an absolutely new release from 'Svenska Eldvatten'

Vintage 1994 54,5% ABV

Following the success of the very special release Vintage 1979 Single Cask Blended Scotch, here comes once again another very special release and quite rare composition of whisky from 'Svenska Eldvatten' (Swedish firewaters)! Their latest bottling of whisky is a Single cask of blended malt scotch, and it's sherry matured! As you all now blended malt (used to be called vatted malt and) means that at least two malts from separate distilleries are mixed together. In this case, as far as I have heard, malt whisky from six distilleries have been used for this composition, and here comes the quite rare part, were blended together "at birth", that is at filling (!) The vatting has then be matured for nine years in a sherry butt with the number #SE02. It was filled in August 1994 and the whisky was then bottled in October 2013 and gave 619 bottles. 

A big thanks to Peter and Tommy for being so kind to share a sample during the Linköping Whisky Expo! For swedish fans this bottling is available here. Ok, let's try it and see if this is as good as SE-bottlings usually are...

Nose:

Almost some kind of rhum-y vibes, or rhum-raisin, in combo with vanilla ice-cream... hmm... also there is... apple-pie and vanilla cream. I'm thinking also of baked apples and pistachio crème (the filling in cinnamon buns). What is this, am I nosing some kind of dessert or fika?! : ) Also there is actually, when I nose really deep in the glass, some quite salty licorice infused with lemon, cool. Also red "ferrari bilar", light touches of swedish snus and finally white chocolate, no I'm not crazy it just a VERY interesting combination! Let's see how it tastes

Palate:

Starts of on something salty, then fast over to chocolate-chip-cookies and then swooosh, within a second off and away to something lemony, citrus peel. Straight down and warms my chest. Wow, that was a fast journey! It's to bad that once you've tasted a whisky you can never go back to your first experience of not having tried it, you can never forget you first impression... Mmm, the aftertaste bids creamy but quite dry vanilla, the rhum-raisin is there and somehow the pistachio crème too, sugary finish. This whisky was a completely new experience for me, very interesting and exciting combinations! You've done it againg guys! Slainthé

anCnoc 22 yo 46% ABV

It’s finally time for me to try the anCnoc 22yo! The anCnoc whisky is a Highland malt that is produced by the Knockdhu disitillery (the name of the whisky comes from the distillerys water source). I’ve tried some anCnoc whisky before out of which the 35yo is my favorite so far. The 12yo and 16yo are very good ’standard’ whiskys. 

The 22yo is matured in a combination of bourbon casks and oloroso sherry casks, though a majority of the whisky has spent its time in bourbon casks. If you wanna go for it its available for just below €100 at Master of Malt. A big thanks to the nice people at Berntson Brands, and especially Evert, for sharing a sample with me!

Nose:

Theres much more sherry-influence in there than I thought it would be judging by the colour! This stuff is mouthwatering let me tell you! The classic bourbon scents of standard anCnoc but pumped up with some really nice sherry-influence (mostly on dried figs) It’s quite deep actually…  there is also some kind of milk chocolate vibes, and underneath that we have dark honey and some very soft but still very prominent sweetness expressing a mix of red apples, redcurrant and citrus. I could nose this one forever… but I really wanna try it (!!!) so here we go

Palate: 

Oh yes, this is very nice, 46% ABV is actually quite perfect for a whisky in this style, very classic and fresh. First there is a warm sweetness mostly on dark raisins and honey, but there is also some kind of very very light liqourice there too. Then comes the bourbon stuff, something fudgy and vanilla, and then actually something reminiscent of Baileys, a mixture of cocoa, coffe and un-whipped hi-fat cream. After that something really warming and drying, not overwhelmingly so but just a little bit drying my mouth, a little bit herby. This is a very vivid and alive whisky for being 22yo and still it has something very mature about it. You should try it! 

Tasting two Laphroaig 25yo – 2007 40% ABV vs. 2013 45,1% ABV!

Okay! It’s been a while since I posted a tasting note so let’s do something fun… post two tasting notes! And what could be better than trying two Laphroaigs - that is the new Laphroaig 25yo 2013 edition against the very first edition of Laphroaig 25yo 2007 edition?! The first edition was not very popular amongst fans due to it’s only 40% ABV so after that release they started to release it in cask strength circa once a year. I’ve always liked the first version since I tried it the first time back in 2007, but I’ve never actually tried it against a CS version, so let’s do that!

Laphroaig 25yo replaced the 30yo which was compeltely matured in 1st-fill oloroso casks. The 25yo is matured in a combination (50/50) of first fill bourbon casks and, as far as I have heard, 2nd-fill oloroso casks. Interestingly enough the 2007 edition (standing to the right in both pictures) is darker than the 2013 edition… Ok let’s try them head to head!


2007 Nose:
Very very soft peat. Almost mint or even mint chocolate. Mmm… Pear, a lot of citrus in the very highest register, quite exotic in some way, very calm in profile over all. There’s also some touches of ashes in there. Also a little bit farmy if you know what I mean.

2013 Nose:
Two completely different Laphroaigs already on the nose! There’s much less peat in this one. Also there is vanilla which I did not really pick up in the previous one. This version also seems less ”full-bodied” on the nose in some way, which is quite strange considering it’s higher strength… Also the citrus is not there, but it’s still exotic though, and farmy, and also seems dry or quite herby-ish… Dont’t get me wrong, the 2013 also has a wonderful nose, but just a little more… restrained.


2007 Palate:
Mmm, sooo soft! The peat comes first and lot’s of sweetness in combo with liquid honey… Liqourice, cocoa… It’s very full-bodied for the first say two or three seconds but then it gets quite watery. It clings on for a good while though and mostly on the peat, something sweet and ashy and herbs, medium dry.

2013 Palate:
Again, two completely different Laphroaigs! In this one the tastes in the beginning is more on citrus peal and a lot heavier on the peat (the tables are turned that is…). Also much more full-bodied and a bit more warming, not as elegant though, that is a bit rougher and "out there", but all of that is of course probably because of the higher strength. This one is also a lot longer in the aftertaste and more dry.

To sum up...
None of these two are very heavy on the sherry influence, nor on the nose or on the palate… There’s more sherry influence in the 2007 though… They are both very good Laphroaigs but in their own way: if you like it elegant then go for the 2007 and if you like more ooomph then go for the 2013! I never thouht I’d like the 2007 more but today it seems as if I actually do… So let’s pour another dram of that one… Slainthé!