I’ve a small group of whiskey contacts for sample exchanges.
My growing selection of opened spirits bottles – around 70 – is offered in return for something I’ve preferably not had before.
Where possible these samples are requested blind – even if a pre-selection has taken place – hence the semi.
This was the latest selection – A to D.
Blind sampling c/othewhiskeynut
4 samples, 4 identical glasses –Tuath being my receptacle of choice – some water to rinse the palate & a pen & paper to record my findings.
A – Nice & inviting nose, rich, reminds me of sherried influence,unusual & intriguing flavours on the palate,good complexity & depth.
Like this one.
B – Clean & refreshing, sweet & fruity, bit of a punchy heat on the rear.
Cask strength?
C – Anything after a cask strength tends to suffer a little, but this one didn’t sing to me, even on a 2nd tasting.
Perfectly fine but didn’t grab me.
D – Softly smokey, that familiar waft of peat endeared this one to me even if a tad too biscuity sweet malt for my liking.
Easy drinking light smoker.
I tasted the samples without trying to guess what they were. This allowed me to concentrate on the drinking experience without prejudice – as far as possible.
A rudimentary scoring system ranked in order of preference for nose, palate & finish allowed a top score of 4, bottom 12.
First run came out D, A, B then C.
As I found A the most alluring overall I ran through them again – same result.
Only then did I guess what they were – which wasn’t too difficult given the varied styles.
I must admit to not being too surprised by the reveal. It sort of confirms my palate preferences.
The easy peater won out over and above the intriguing flavours of Goldly’s – which despite being a single grain was most definitely not silent. Cask strength in and of itself is not enough and Speysiders –at least the non-peated variety – don’t do it for me.
As a large Belgian media conglomerate has just swallowed up a chunk of Irish news media – I thought it opportune to swallow some Belgian Whiskey.
Now Belgium is relatively new to the game of whisky distilling – but have a long history of distilling jenever – so it’s rather refreshing to see a bold ‘Aged 3 Years’ statement emblazoned across the front of this very attractively presented bottle of single malt.
Just as every Belgian Beer has it’s own glassware – it seems as if Belgian Whisky is no exception to this highly entertaining & endearing custom.
My interest was certainly piqued.
Vuur – for anyone who doesn’t know – is Flemish for fire – I had to look it up myself – which is explained by the peat content.
Belgium does actually have peat bogs. Mainly around the Haute Fagnes area – oddly near the highest point in Belgium at Signal De Botrange. I only know this as I happened to visit the place when on holiday a few years ago.
Belgian lightly peated malted barley was used in this whisky.
Extra ‘fire’ content is provided by the use of ex-Laphroaig quarter casks for maturation.
And a great job they do too!
Single Cask too! c/othewhiskeynut
There’s a joyful youthfulness about it.
A little bit bold – a tad brash – but full of flavour & appeal.
The peat influence is relatively quiet to begin with – a trifle soft – while the barley sweetness slowly gets consumed into a glowing ashy peat smokiness that gradually dries out the palate leaving a very satisfyingly long warm feeling on the finish.
A beautiful little number from Belgium!
I sourced my bottle via the wonderfully named Drankenwereld shop in Belgium itself here.
World Whisky Day is fast approaching on Saturday the 19th May 2018.
As part of the build up I’m featuring a series of blogs – both old and new – over the next month focusing on a country from each letter of the alphabet – if possible – that makes whisky.
It’s probably not what you expect from Belgium – but it made an impression on me as a young teenager – and obviously still has appeal today as it’s used in many adverts!
2) The Beer (and the glasses it comes in)
In a former life, I used to attend political meetings invariably held in rooms above pubs. A fellow comrade also came along but often refused to drink in the bar below afterwards as it wasn’t CAMRA approved. Oh how we laughed at his prescribed ways – and he back at us drinking our mass produced tasteless p**s water. When I eventually got to Belguim and sampled the outstanding array of fine beers on offer – I wanted to ring up this fore mentioned gentlemen and apologies to him.
Belgium does more beer than Scotland does whisky!
I was simply overwhelmed by the range on offer. A restaurant in Brugge I visited had a 2 page meal menu, and a 20 page beer menu! Where do you begin? On spotting a very strange glass being served to a fellow drinker – I thought I’d start there.
Kwak and glass
Wow! Kwak. A truly tasty dark beer with very strong flavours, a bit sweet, but lovely. The fact that all the beers are served in glasses unique to the brand only adds to the enjoyment. Kwak certainly has a glass to match it’s unusual taste!
3) The Whisky
What? Belgian Whisky?
Well up until the early 2000’s there wasn’t any – but now there’s around 3 whisky distillers making the aqua vitae. I managed to get a whisky mule to bring me back a bottle.
The Belgian Owl c/othewhiskeynut
The Belgian Owl Single Malt is a very fine – if slightly unusual whisky – or at least I haven’t had something like this before. It has a fruity nose as well as taste to it. Extremely enjoyable and easy to drink even at 46%. Jim Murray rates it highly and many awards have already been won. This is certainly an A whisky for me!
Further exploring the world of rye whiskey I have come across a certain amount of opposition & even derision of the term Irish Rye.
It is some what ironic that Irish Distillers are currently recreating Irish Rye from long forgotten records where quite clearly rye was commonly used in the production of Irish whiskey.
I’d even suggest there is some merit to the proposition that Ireland actually invented Rye Whiskey. America only popularised it with the influx of Irish immigrants & know-how.
Who knows?
What I do know however is that Ireland is a little late in joining the current rush for rye.
I managed to get my hands on one of those new breed of ryes from Belgium via the marvelously named Drankenwereld online bottle shop. Despite the alleged openness of the European Union – it still took a few emails to arrange a safe & prompt delivery.
Sunken Still Rye Whisky is a 4 year old rye matured in bourbon barrels from the Filliers Distillery in Belgium who also do the Goldlys whisky range.
I found the nose to have a curious honey sweetness with a spice that reminded me of cinnamon – almost into liqueur territory here.
Mrs Whiskey adored the nose & likened it to perfume.
Luckily the taste was clearer with the dry rye spice punching through the soft sweetness to give a long lasting finish.
A pleasant & fragrant Belgian slant on the rye flavour profile.
It’s probably not what you expect from Belgium – but it made an impression on me as a young teenager – and obviously still has appeal today as it’s used in many adverts!
In a former life, I used to attend political meetings invariably held in rooms above pubs. A fellow comrade also came along but often refused to drink in the bar below afterwards as it wasn’t CAMRA approved. Oh how we laughed at his prescribed ways – and he back at us drinking our mass produced tasteless p**s water. When I eventually got to Belguim and sampled the outstanding array of fine beers on offer – I wanted to ring up this fore mentioned gentlemen and apologies to him.
Belgium does more beer than Scotland does whisky!
I was simply overwhelmed by the range on offer. A restaurant in Brugge I visited had a 2 page meal menu, and a 20 page beer menu! Where do you begin? On spotting a very strange glass being served to a fellow drinker – I thought I’d start there.
Kwak and glass
Wow! Kwak. A truly tasty dark beer with very strong flavours, a bit sweet, but lovely. The fact that all the beers are served in glasses unique to the brand only adds to the enjoyment. Kwak certainly has a glass to match it’s unusual taste!
Brugge also did a very fine – if not as strong brown beer in the oddly named Brugse Zot Brune – also served in an attractive glass.
Brugse Zot c/o Whiskey Nut
3) The Whisky
What? Belgian Whisky?
Well up until the early 2000’s there wasn’t any – but now there’s around 3 whisky distillers making the aqua vitae. I managed to get a whisky mule to bring me back a bottle.
Belgian Whisky c/o Belgian Owl
The Belgian Owl Single Malt is a very fine – if slightly unusual whisky – or at least I haven’t had something like this before. It has a fruity nose as well as taste to it. Extremely enjoyable and easy to drink even at 46%. Jim Murray rates it highly and many awards have already been won. This is certainly an A whisky for me!
There are other brands available that I haven’t managed to get hold of yet.
Goldlys and Carolus don’t have as great reviews but may be worth sampling. There might be other manufactures out there also trying to jump on the whisky band wagon. One thing is for sure however.
WestmeathWhiskeyWorld 