World sessions Number Twenty


May 7, 2021

	World sessions Number Twenty
	Another trip around the whisky world. We'll do many others as more and more 'whiskies of the rest of the world aye' are coming our way, which is just excellently cool. Once again, we'll start this from little France…

Kornog 2007/2020 (57.7%, LMDW, Version Française, France, 243 bottles)

So this is peated Glann ar Mor, as you know. Still shuffed that we managed to pull quite some money for Parkinson's UK with our own cask of Kornog, in celebration of Michael Jackson's life. But that was earlier this year… Colour: reddish amber. Nose: Sauternes! After Glenmo who did that rather loosely at first, Kornog's former owner has really pioneered Sauternes in whisky (as well as sister sweet wines, Cadillac, Monbazillac, Cérons et al.) In my humble opinion, these are the only unfortified wines that do always work very well with whisky. So, we have apricot jam, quince jelly, acacia honey, then propolis, pine resin, menthol, teak oil, garden bonfire, a little curry, walnut wine, camphor… Grand slam, would I say, but the championship isn't over. With water: gums, tyres, engine oil, tarmac, caraway and coriander seeds… Boy is this a heavyish nose. But I like it. Mouth (neat): honey, peaches, lanoline and menthol, which may lead to… Rum. The oils from the cask are pretty loud, having said that. Thuja, pine, teak, fir, balsam, loads of natural tar… With water: I'm glad water worked, because in my meagre experience, these profiles could just get totally flat once reduced. A lot of camphor, chlorophyl, tar, cough medicine, curry-like notes from the wood, then dried apricots, raisins and figs. Finish: long and very mentholy and camphory. Also chartreuse and verbena. Oak and pinewood in the aftertaste. Comments: I suppose the cask came from a top château. Which could mean that they had only filled this French-oak barrique once, and sold it on while it was still extremely active. I am speculating but you do feel the oak's essences a lot here. Which I do like for sure, but I'd still file this under the 'rather deviant' category.
SGP:485 - 84 points.

Off to the Netherlands…

Cley 3 yo 'Cask Strength' (52%, OB, The Netherlands, cask #127, 2020)

First time I'm hearing from these fine folks up there in or around Rotterdam. This youngster malt has been finished in toasted virgin American oak quarter casks, so we might expect a few IKEA-y notes here and there, let's see… Oh, just wanted to add, I find the Bauhaus presentation lovely. Colour: gold. Nose: the expected cakes, breads and fresh-sawn woods. This is not disagreeable at all, it's just a little simple this far. Water should help… With water: banana cake with a little cinnamon, pancakes and scones, a hint of tar. Mouth (neat): the distillate isn't big (Holstein or similar?) but the oak did indeed add some texture and some fine notes of lemon curd, cloves and caraway. Sweet curry, turmeric, cinnamon. With water: hey this one swims well! Water adds a few lovely citrusy touches, then we have coffee, fennel seeds, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. The oak is taking over at this point, but this remains 'not an oak-bomb'. Phew. Finish: rather long, all on oak spices and pipe tobacco. Bitterish aftertaste. Comments: pretty encouraging, I would say. Not sure this fine spirit really needs this much oak, having said that.
SGP:451 - 78 points.

Let's move further north…

Stauning Rye 'Batch 02/2020' (48%, OB, Denmark, 2020)

Stauning Rye 'Batch 02/2020' (48%, OB, Denmark, 2020)
Love rye and rather loved an earlier rye by Stauning, now that was a 2013 bottling (WF 84) so that's water under the bridge. Colour: gold. Nose: I needed all those years to find out that I'm pretty much a rye guy. It's not that this baby's void of any excessive woody aromas, but these breads and pastries just do it in my book. A huge loaf of wholegrain bread, with caraway, fennel seeds, pumpkin seeds, hazelnuts, pistachios perhaps, and possibly some carrot added to the dough. Love love love these whiffs of orange and elderberry blossom that are rising to your nostrils after a while. Mouth: probably no textbook-whisky, but I find this extremely good. I find this very 'old-Europe', whatever that means, with many herbs and seeds, as if this was made by a skilful old apothecary. Also, these big, obvious notes of peach liqueur are just incredible (given that they've probably not added any peaches to the wash). Superb palate. Finish: are we sure no one's added any peaches? Nectarines perhaps? Comments: whether this is 'whisky', organoleptically speaking, remains to be seen, but I say who cares, it's rather fantastic spirit. Holland, nine points! (nearly)
SGP:751 - 87 points.

Further north…

Mackmyra 5 yo 'Batch 2' (50.3%, That Boutique-y Whisky Company, Sweden, +/-2020)

Mackmyra 5 yo 'Batch 2' (50.3%, That Boutique-y Whisky Company, Sweden, +/-2020)
That Master of Malts would have embraced world whiskies this much is just another sign of the times. We still need to recover from that 'Motörhead' bottling by Mackmyra, having said that… . Colour: white wine. Nose: very young, very fresh, extremely fruity, on syrups and liqueurs. Melons, litchis, cherries, touch of varnish, blood oranges, green apple liqueur (Spanish manzana verde). Oh and pears. With water: green tea and amyl diacetate. Pears, pineapples… Mouth (neat): a 5-kilo pack of Haribo's finest (not all in one go), plus some apple peelings and just cut grass. With water: same, plus a little more breadiness. Some would add 'it was about time' but this little Mackmyra really wakes up the little kid in us. Finish: medium, hyper-fruity. Bags and bags of bonbons, jelly babies, crocodiles, jellybeans, easter eggs, liquorice allsorts, marshmallows… Comments: very funny, but this very extreme fruitiness is a little hard to stand after you've had, say 2cl. Still spectacular.
SGP:840 - 80 points.

And let's swim to London…

Bimber 'Netherland Edition' (59.7%, OB, England, bourbon cask, cask #87, 257 bottles, 2020)

Bimber, that's another new urban distillery that rather mystified us when we first tried the first batches. We've got several others that we should try but since we're in a very worldly mood today, let's try this édition hollandaise. Colour: gold. Nose: right. Apricot cake, honeysuckle, cauliflower beignets, mirabelle liqueur. I believe that pretty much sums it up. With water: grated cinnamon, zwetschke tarte. Mouth (neat): it's pretty clear that they have sorcerers at Bimber's. Vanilla, mirabelles, quince, more mirabelles, Turkish delights, more mirabelles, bergamots, more mirabelles, moshis, more mirabelles… I think you caught the idea here, this is m.i.r.a.b.e.l.l.e. liqueur. So with water: spices from the oak chiming in. Finish: rather long. Spicy lemons and gingery mirabelles. Great chalky and autumny earthiness in the aftertaste. Comments: that was some very mirabelle-y Bimber for sure! Great excellent, well-constructed and very seductive modern young whisky. There was a pleonasm in that sentence, go find it ;-).
SGP:651 - 87 points.