
June 17, 2016

Stuff from the world

As it says, given that ‘the world’ is anywhere except Scotland, Ireland, Amerikka, Japan, and Canada.

Pfanner 2011 ‘Redwood Whisky’ (43%, OB, Austria, single malt, 1,800 bottles, +/-2015)

Pfanner in Austria’s Vorarlberg have gained a good reputation within not many years. This baby was matured in red wine casks, possibly Austrian red wine. They make very good red wine in Austria! Colour: amber/apricot. Nose: starts slightly buttery, but it’s soon to present a rather lovely combination of cinnamon cake, red berries, pumpernickel, and caramel cream. All that gives it a rather Christmassy profile, especially since it tends to nose more and more like some Christstollen. Or yeah, cinnamon cake. Mouth: a little unusual, but once again, the spicy arrival mingled with the red berries and all this cinnamon works pretty well. Raspberry fudge, touches of cloves and nutmeg, and only the faintest traces of oak ‘as such’. Good body, with a pleasant creaminess. Finish: medium, on some kind of spicy butterscotch. Some moist all-grain bread in the aftertaste, as well as cinnamon mints. Comments: red wine and whisky’s always a scary combination, and I haven’t come across many that worked in my book. This one does, even if it’s obviously young. SGP:461 - 78 points.

Oh well, while we’re in Austria…

Waldviertler ‘Rye Malt’ (41%, OB, Haider, Austria, +/-2015)

Malted rye, this could be good. Colour: gold. Nose: sweet, fruity and bready, that’s what it is. Lavender flowers, bitter oranges, pumpernickel, gingerbread, orange cake, honeysuckle tea, gewürztraminer juice (grape juice, not the wine)… All nice and soft, without any obvious oakiness – which may be seen at other makers of very young ‘new’ whiskies. Mouth: drier, with more oak (a feeling of sawdust), but we’re below the limits. The distillate is pleasant, fruity and rye-spicy, bready, with some wholegrain bread and other seeds. Poppy, mashed acorn squash, a touch of banana, and perhaps a little violet jelly. Finish: rather long, and rather spicy. Ginger and pepper, with good ryeness. Porridge. The aftertaste is particularly nice, with some citron liqueur. Comments: perhaps a little more power? It doesn’t quite feel like 100% rye, but the rye content is high. Well above average for sure. SGP:452 - 79 points.

Flóki (47%, OB, Iceland, spirit drink, +/-2016)

Not 3 years old yet. Everybody’s starting to make whisky these days on this planet! What’s probably quite difficult to do is to find a singular voice, as more or less everything has been done, and as localness may only appeal to… locals. Oh and this is 100% Icelandic malt. Colour: gold. Nose: yes sir! Smoked sawdust, charcoal, pinewood, tobacco, fresh vanilla, ‘new stuff from Ikea’s’… I know that sounds very mundane, but it’s not. And yes I know Ikea is Swedish. I’m positively surprised, this is no oak decoction at all. They have a good cellar master! Björk? Mouth: bravo! Mentholated, pine-y, eucalyptussy, and in fact pretty Scandinavian, I could imagine sipping this in some sauna or something. It’s probably totally wood-driven, but the mentholy freshness just works. Finish: medium, on oranges, mint, oak, and fir. An unexpected saltiness in the aftertaste, as if they had added, well, salt. Comments: this young spirit did capture some kind of localness, which I find very cool. Not something easy to do – yeah, even in Scotland. SGP:352 - 78 points.

While we’re in Scandinavia…

Smögen 2012/2015 ‘Jubilee’ (60%, OB, Sweden, 222 bottles)

Wow, a jubilee, already! Colour: amber (already!). Nose: bacon and barbecued sardines plus some kind of smoked raisins and some seashells. A mossy vanilla. The oak’s been chosen with great care, that’s for sure. With water: that’s the problem with many modern super-young malts, water makes them over-oaky (or carpentery, ha-ha). Which is exactly what is not happening here. Damp old tweed jacket, honeydew, burning fir wood, Ricola sweets, oysters (yessss!)… Mouth (neat): huuuge. Smoked lemon? Lemon grass and whelks? Peppermint and ginger tea? With water: the oak feels a little more now, with a bitterish/tannic background and a fairly aggressive pepper. Not this baby’s best profile, I’d say. Finish: unfolds on oak spices. Rather medium than long. Comments: it’s complicated. Superb young whisky but I’m not sure it stands water on the palate (tell me about a Viking!) Oh well, let’s drink it at 60% vol. (out of the skulls of our enemies)! There was a 2011 that I liked better last year. SGP:375 - 82 points.

I’ll tell you, these Smögens at full strength just kill you. We have room for one more world whisky but after this one, we’ll call this a tasting session!

Paul John 6 yo (54.7%, That Boutique-y Whisky Company, batch 2, 173 bottles, 50cl)

Good, we don’t taste price tags, but let’s say it, €127.65 for one 50cl bottle of 6yo Indian whisky might be just a tad excessive (what they call laughable on whisky forums or Facebook). Let’s not forget that the price of malting barley lies around €250 a ton (that’s 1,000 kilos), very roughly, and that you need less than ONE kilo of barley to come up with ONE bottle of MATURE malt whisky. Unless this is the Koh-i-Noor of whisky, of course… Colour: full gold. Nose: but of course this is great, and that’s the main problem. These people are alchemists, they manage to turn the lousiest grains into the most splendid of spirits. Banana cream, vanilla fudge, orange cake, barley water… Oh I so hate them! With water: classic creamy Indian malt. Sweet, rounded, and moderately exotic. Papayas. Mouth (neat): splendid arrival, despite a very discreet clothes-y/mushroomy touch that sings a bit out of tune. The problem is that it gets then very bitter and drying. What some call ‘planky’. With water: no, it’s not that bad, but the oak really feels. Too much. Orange liqueur matured in (heated) American oak. Twice. Finish: medium, even oakier. Finishing the teapot whilst it got cold. Comments: a big no, in fact. In fact I find this disappointingly over-oaked, beyond the very nice zesty nose and arrival. But I’m sure that’s only me – I swear it’s not the insane price! Honest! SGP:371 - 72 points.

Check the index of all world whiskies I've tasted so far