Continuing my exploration of the whisky world are these 4 single malts from grain to glass French Whisky distillery Rozelieures.
I sampled them before looking up anything on the web – it helps to eliminate any undue bias – & found them mainly on the light & easy side of the flavour spectrum.
Origine Single Malt 40%
Distilled from grain grown on the Rozelieures farm places this whisky in a select club of producers claiming terroir credentials.
Origine didn’t particularly shine for me however.
The flavours were soft, muted & mild – a touch of honeyed malt, hints of rustique agriculture, an easy going palate with an appreciative bite on the finish displaying woody spices & sweet vanilla.
Grand.
Rare Single Malt 40%
A fresher & cleaner style of malt.
Easy & smooth – almost to the point of being laidback – trés tranquille – perhaps deliberately so.
I’ve been told by distillers exporting into France the market shys away from bold flavours – so Rare is probably playing up to that.
Tourbé Single Malt 46%
Tourbé means peaty – yet I had a hard job picking this up from the very light straw coloured whisky.
There was a gorgeously dry & tingly spiciness on the finish however with subtle hints of smoke.
A 2nd tasting drew out more & Tourbé proved to be an enticing soft smoker.
Fumé Single Malt 46%
A more ‘traditional’ style of smokiness was evident with Fumé.
Old leather & cigar smoke on the nose.
The mild & easy palate gave way to a delightful crescendo of smokiness which dried out leaving a tingling spice finish.
Nice!
Thoughts
French whisky is growing fast.
A Federation has been formed to further the category of which Rozelieures – with their engaging & entertaining single malts – is part of.
Being a fan of bigger, badder & bolder flavours Fumé was the one for me – but I did find the subtlety of Tourbé enticing.
Perhaps with the opening up of travel restrictions after COVID a distillery tour trip of French Distilleries is in order!
Santé
Bottle images courtesy Whisky Rozelieures.
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