Symposion Satsar på Lyx

 

 

Att Malmöbaserade Symposion under många år varit ledande importör av kvalitetsdestillat är ingen hemlighet. Då och då har de lanserat en exklusiv whisky för lite större pengar som lockat samlare och storköpare. Men aldrig har de väl satsat så stort på dessa lyxbuteljeringar som nu. För något annat tycker jag inte vi kan kalla dem. 20 buteljeringar från nutid till 1940-tal från strax under 600 kronor till strax över 53 000:-

Alla Buteljeringarna kommer från anrika Gordon & MacPhail i Elgin.

De har gigantiska lagerhus med fat från efterkrigstiden som noga hålls under uppsikt i samplerummet och såklart avsmakas med jämna mellanrum. Ett av de fat som nu kommer till Sverige som en buteljering är från 1948. Mäktigt tycker jag.

Så här lineupen ut som Symposion lyckats få ihop med Gordon & MacPhail:

G&M Speyside Collection 1970-tal

Strathisla  1970  43%  44 yo, 8576:-. Nr: 85861-01

Strathisla  1972  43%  40 yo, 8037:-. Nr: 85556-01

Longmorn 1973  43%  42 yo, 7807:-. Nr: 85517-01

Linkwood  1973  43%  40 yo, 7807:-  Nr: 85866-01

 

G&M Speyside Collection 1960-tal

Glen Grant 1961 40% 53 yo, 13 844:- Nr: 85416-01

Strathisla    1961 47% 52 yo, 28 951:- Nr: 85683-01

Glen Grant 1963 40% 50 yo, 11 998:- Nr: 85536-01

Strathisla    1964 43% 48 yo, 12 063:- Nr: 85234-01

Strathisla   1965  43% 50 yo 11 473:-  Nr: 85001-01

 

G&M Speyside Collection 1950-tal

Mortlach    1954 43% 58 yo, 28 318:- Nr: 85810-01

Strathisla    1954 43% 59 yo, 28 318:- Nr: 85217-01

Glen Grant  1955 40%  57 yo, 23 741:- Nr: 85514-01

Smith´s Glenlivet 1955 43% 50 yo, 25 472:- Nr: 86993-01

Glen Grant  1958 40%  54 yo, 18 477:- Nr: 87737-01

 

G&M Speyside Collection 1940-tal

Smith´s Glenlivet 1958 43% 62 yo, 53 010:- Nr: 82915-01

 

Och vi som inte har massor av slantar att lägga på en enskild buteljering kan få hänga med på tåget genom att testa de lite yngre buteljeringarna från Gordon & MacPhail.

Hur roligt kan nu detta vara?

Ja, de allra flesta fattar att gemene man/kvinna, t.ex. en ensamstående förskollärare med 2 tonårsbarn, inte kan köpa sig en 8 000-53 000 kronorsflaska för att smaska i sig på lördagsmyset. Hur tänker Symposion där? Jag har faktiskt inte frågat men jag frågade Steven Cameron från G & M när jag fick möjligheten att intervjua honom efter MacAllan Speymaltprovningen på Cinderella Whisky Fair i februari. Han sa att han tänkte att klubbar kan köpa in de dyrare flaskorna och på så sätt får flera personer smaka whiskyn som annars blir ett samlarobjekt i någons låsta skåp.

Om nu någon klubb får chansen att köpa en av dessa fantastiska utgåvor så gör det. Håll en provning med standardbuteljeringar från destilleriet och toppa med en cl av någon av dessa fantastiska buteljeringar som vi alla ( japp, det hjälper inte att man säger att _Nej…sånna flaskor bryr jag mig inte om…… Erkänn att du vill …..) vill smaka!

Men som sagt, jag fick möjlighet att prova dessa lite yngre buteljeringar som man valt att lansera för oss ”vanliga dödliga”. Och jag tycker ni som har en liten slant över ska ta chansen och införskaffa en av dessa. Alla funkar och gillar man tung sherry är Mortlach, Longmorn och Glen Grant klockrena.

G&M Speyside Collection Yngre Buteljeringar – alla med tungt sherrypåslag.

Linkwood  15 yo 43%  845:-  Nr: 86819-01 Fruktighet med sherryavslut

Mortlach   15 yo 43%  845:-  Nr: 85843-01 Svavel och kryddighet

Nedanstående buteljering skall finnas tillsvidare på Systembolaget.

Strathisla  2005  43%  695:-  Nr: 85000-01 Frukt och kryddighet.

Glen Grant 2008  43%  585:- Nr: 85101-01 Päronkaramell med en touch av överskottsbolag.

Longmorn 2002 43%  825 :-  Nr: 85178-01 Fruktig och med tungt sherryavslut.

Fler smaknoter hittar ni på Lill-Lördag med Mrs Wolfmoon eller nedan:  https://www.facebook.com/mrswolfmoonswhisky/

Symposion hittar ni på: www.symposionhot.com

 

Hos dem hittar ni förutom Gordon & MacPhail – NIKKA, Springbank, Cadenhead, Benromach, Compass Box, Jack Wieber, Liquis Sun, Malts of Scotland, Silver Seal, The Nectar, The Vintage Malt Whisky Company och Sansibar. Sedan hittar ni också Cognac, Armagnac, Calvados, Vodka i världsklass. Tål att kollas in.

 

Det är några år sedan sist jag hade förmånen att stå bakom montern hos Symposion och första mässan, 2012, hade vi över 250 olika buteljeringar bakom ryggen.
Skräckblandat och underbart! Utbudet har inte blivit sämre. Dock har konkurrensen ökat och idag finns det många fler aktörer på marknaden som introducerar nya buteljerare för den svenska publiken. Men jag tror att man tryggt kan säga att med Gordon & MacPhail i sitt stall så är Symposions ledande roll som importör ganska säker. För lagerhusen i Elgin går inte av för hackor och det visar ju ovanstående släpp. Så ge er ut och botanisera bland G&M Speyside Collections, kanske främst för klubbarnas räkning. Och hör av er till mig när en provning erbjuds. Jag kan tänka mig att smaka alla dessa buteljeringar med glädje (….så länge mina guldpengar räcker).

Följ gärna Lill-Lördag med Mrs Wolfmoon på:

 https://www.facebook.com/mrswolfmoonswhisky/

Och vill ni boka en provning med mig, Mrs Wolfmoon, så maila på:

tasteeventsbywolfmoon@gmail.com

En Mackmyra på B

Amrut & Ardbeg x2

Jakten på PPM

Parts Per Million – i detta sammanhang handlar det om fenoler. Fenoler som ger rökighet i whisky.

Brinnande torv!

Ni vet att en gång i tiden var all whisky mer eller mindre rökig……. För att det fanns inget annat sätt att stoppa kornet från att gro än över öppen eld och röken var olika beroende på var i landet (Skottland) du befann dig. På öarna använde man sig av torv eftersom det inte fanns särskilt mycket träd. Torven användes även inåt land men där var sammansättningen i de hoptryckta växtdelarna en annan.  Det gav den färdigrökta malten olika karaktär och i förlängningen fick whiskyn sin grundsmak från kölningen. Sedan spelar ju jäsning, pannform, lagring och buteljering stor roll i smaken men nu pratar vi peat-reek.

Ardbeg är innovativa – här kan vi “röka” Ardbeg 10 förångad till Haar – dimman på Islay! Som ickerökare hade Mrs Wolfmoon lite svårt med inhaleringen men fick till det på andra försöket. Det var lite skoj men här ska vi inte förånga någon Ardbeg – den ska drickas!

Så kom möjligheten att torka kornet med varmluft från oljeldade pannor. Så under 1960-talet valde många mälterier att gå över till denna metod. Med oljekrisen blev naturgas ett alternativ på 1970-talet. Och så skulle rökig whisky kunnat ha varit ett minne blott – om det inte vore för smaken! Ja, det fanns ett utbrett önskemål om rökig whisky troligtvis baserat på tradition. Tack och lov säger jag som gillar variation i min whisky.

Det något osensuella men ack så viktiga Port Ellen Maltings!

I Sverige har Ardbeg ett starkt fäste. När destilleriet hängde på fallrepet startade man en egen kommitté och Sverige hör till de länder som har flest medlemmar i den. Vi får också en stor tilldelning av de limiterade utgåvorna som Ardbeg släpper. Vi Svenskar var tidigt med på banan när whiskyboomen på 90-talet slog till och den rökiga whiskyn blev kult.

Islay. Bara det är Islay. Jag gillar bara Islay-whisky. Har ni hört det någon gång? Jag har det. Många gånger.  Så när Supenova och Octomore kom blev många Rök-Nördar hejdlöst glada (jag med)! De flesta vågar sig på annan Single Malt Whisky men en del blir kvar på Islay och det är OK. Man får hålla sig i sin ”Comfort Zone”. Och jakten på PPM fortsätter. Till somligas glädje och andras förtret. Själv är jag ute på smakäventyr hela tiden. Det senaste var en kamp mellan Octomore 7:2 och Supernova 2015 men mer om det kan du se här, Lill-Lördag med Mrs Wolfmoon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEX0GY7FKIA

Hur gick det nu till när Jakten på PPM drog igång?

Så här har jag hört (och en bra historia är ju bättre än en sann eller hur det nu var…):

Jim McEwan och Mickey Heads satt i nån av Islays barer och tog en ale ihop efter en lång arbetsvecka. Kanske hade man tagit med sig Dr Bill Lumsden också…… Man var ense om att rökig whisky var på uppgång och framtidens kassako. Bruichladdich satsade på Port Charlotte som komplement till sin lättrökta core range och Ardbeg jobbade oförtrutet på med sin rökiga whisky och knöt kunderna till sig genom kommittén. Då kläckte nån av dem idén att göra en tokrökig Whisky. Undrar om inte vi kan göra en ännu rökigare sa den andre….. och sagt och gjort.

Octomore Futures på 80,5 PPM och 46% destillerades 2002 och släpptes på marknaden 2008.

Ardbeg Supernova som kom 2009 hade en PPM på  ”över” 100 och en procent på närmare 60 (58,9%).  Dr Lumsden sa lite kaxigt: –It’ll sort out those who were complaining about Blasda!‘

Så var Machotävlingen igång. Rent PPM mässig så vinner Bruichladdich med Octomore 6:3 på 258 PPM. Försäljningsmässigt tror jag båda destillerierna har fått en nätt liten vinst. Och smakmässigt då? Ja, smaken är som baken. Som vanligt!

Under en kort stund trodde jag att denna var en “must have” för sitt röda plåtrörs skull! Men så öppnade jag de andra Octomore-flaskorna jag hade hemma och kastade rören. Så behövde jag inte köpa den här!

Jag personligen dricker gärna både Octomores och Supernovas. Sen vet jag inte om jag tycker att de är så väldigt prisvärda med Supernova 20015 på sina 1499:- på Systemet. 995:- för en Octomore på Travel Retail känns ju bätttre…..

En av Mrs Wolfmoons Ardbeg-vertikalprovningar! Corryvreckan står sig alltid bra!

Hur som helst – Fenolerna som spelar så stor roll i rökigheten kommer från torvens eteriska oljor.  Bland annat kan man hitta föreningar som fenylalanin, tryptofan och folsyra. I sitt renaste tillstånd bildar oljorna vita kristaller som är intensiva i sin tjär- och röklukt och har en brännande smak. Efter destillationen finns en del av dessa oljor kvar i whiskyn och ger den typiska rökprofilen. Hur du skär hjärtat spelar också roll. Huvudet vill man bara ha lite av – annars blir man sjuk av spriten…… Sedan ska pannan ”ticka och gå” i sin förutbestämda takt. Om det går för snabbt kommer mängden och typen av smakbärare (congeners) att förändras och då ändras även smakprofilen på whiskyn. Hjärtat är den bästa spriten. Klar och smakrik. Och vill du ha lite ”skitig” sprit med rökighet så tar man med lite mer av Svansen som kommer sist i destillationen.

För er som är intresserade av kemin så är de viktigaste ämnena för röksmak/doft  i whiskyn: isomeriska kreosoler, xylenoler, 3,5-dimetylfenol,  och 4-etylfenol. Minimalt med andra fenoler t.ex. guajakol ger en stark tjärsmak vid redan låga halter.

Av fenolerna i malten så är det bara ca 2/10 som kommer med i spriten MEN ett ämne som ger litet utslag i PPM mätningarna kan har stor effekt på smaksinnet så exakt hur stor effekt fenol-förlusten har på smaken vet man inte.

Så kommer vi till åldern på whisky eller egentligen lagringen. Jag har hört folk prata om  äldre Islay whisky som om att nu jävlar ska vi smaka det rökigaste som finns…… Men tji fick ni! Efter 10 års lagring sjunker fenolhalten med 30-50%. Lägg då till 8 år till på en Laphroig – från 10 år till 18 år och var hamnar man då? Älskar ju Laphroig 18. Fyllig, balanserad, rök och tjära integrerad med sötma och mogen citrusfrukt. Men vill jag ha en rökig käftsmäll så är ju 10:an bättre och jag dricker gärna en oberoende Laffe 8-12 år när jag vill att det ska hetta till!

Så tipset för att lägga ner det rökigaste bytet i Jakten på PPM är en ung Islaywhisky från Ardbeg, Laphroaig eller Lagavulin. Eller kanske en Port Charlotte från Bruichladdich.  Om fäller du en multitaggare som Octomore eller Supernova behöver det inte betyda att du tycker den smakar rökigast. Och vilken som är roligast att jaga….. ja du…. Samlare bör göra sig besvär och fånga de limiterade släppen såklart. Vi andra ….. vi kan nöja oss med core range och oberoende buteljerare som vi snubblar över. Det kan vara minst lika smakrikt!

Ni som vill se och höra mer av mig, Mrs Wolfmoon, eller vill boka en provning, hittar mig på:

Face Book – www.facebook.com/TasteEventsByWolfmoon

Youtube – www.youtube.com/channel/UCUxtbDdl2pKfdZdxVKYDqOA

tasteeventsbywolfmoon@gmail.com

Akashi from The Eigashima Distillery

I always say I never tasted a bad Japanese Whisky. That´s not entirely true ……

But let’s start from the beginning. Yamazaki 12 from the biggest JapaneseWhisky company – Suntory – was my first Japanese dram. I don’t know when or where but suddenly I and Mr.Wolfmoon had a bottle of it. Very exotic. And good as well. One of the best whiskies we had tasted at that time. We also got our hands on a Yamazaki sherrycask. Many years ago. Probably in Copenhagen, Denmark at Juuls Vinhandel. So we got interested in world whiskies and tried some 12 yo Hakushu also from Suntory the most famous Whisky Company in Japan.

All Japanese whisky we tried was good ….until ISAWA 10 yo single malt. But how bad it is? Well this opinion is divided….. Some say horrible (I saw many twisted faces at www.maltstock.com –  experiencing this single malt) and some say strange, some say interesting. The ladies seems to be more tolerant to it. Me myself am a little of all of the above! Mostly it tastes like leather. Not a little leather. Just leather. Or as Mr. Wolfmoon said: Isawa – freshly pressed cowboy hat-juice !

Anyhow, this fascination of world whisky made me want to taste more Asian whisky. Kavalan and Amrut. More of The Suntory range. And I also had the opportunity to try a lot and work with the Nikka range when educating myself to Tutor of Fine Spirits.

The European interest in Japanese whisky has made it easier to get our hands on more Japanese Whisky. And of course Suntorys interest and investments in France (Wine and Cognac) and in the drink business worldwide in general, has a lot to do with Japanese Whisky coming to Europe. Unfortunately it often comes in limited releases and then you can only get it in auctions for a lot more than what it was sold originally. But keep it coming Japan! We want your whisky!

I got my hands on some Akashi samples. The whisky comes from Eigashima Shuzo/White oak distillery. It was actually the first distillery to get license to distill whisky 1919, but they only started to do it in the 60`s. Suntorys`s Yamazaki was the first distillery to make Whisky in Japan and they started running 1923.

White Oak Distillery is a true micro distillery with it´s capacity of 60,000 liters compared to Yamazaki´s undisclosed but estimated capacity of 6,000,000 liters. The company has a history of making shochu and other distilled spirits and it is in that “spirit” they make their Single malt as well. The only single malt whisky they will have in their standard range is the NAS. Most of their malt goes into blends.

The Akashi Line Up:

 

NAS , 5yo, 12yo, 14yo, 15yo.

The colours varies from light gold to darkest red/brown sirup.

The nose is as varied as well. From butter fudge in the NAS and 5yo through bourbon notes and glue in the 12yo to the touch of good sherry casks in the 14yo and spices and glue again in the 15yo.

The peat smoke goes through the whole palette. It is strange that it is so present in the taste when it wasn´t there in the nose.

The two closes to each other is the NAS and the 5yo with their sweetness and being very easy to drink …….. A bit wimpy…..

Then the 12yo is just something different. It is a wildly shooting Cowboy in an inflatable boat. You have rubber, leather, oil and smoke in a dry finish. Sulfur, gunpowder and fireworks. Good? Hmmm Interesting……..

The 14yo is so beautiful. Dark reddish brown. And the nose of sherrycasks is promising. But something went…well wrong. There is rubber again, peat and rancio. Stuff is definitely going on. In every direction.

The 15yo goes back to the smell of “young spirit” . Its quite flat with some peat, bitterness and surprisingly saffron. I just stand without describing words……..

Just to mention, we had the Yoich 10yo from Nikka as a flavor reference and it is so well balanced and yet nuanced so it plays in another league.

The conclusion is that they were almost more interesting to smell ….. but when you drink them you want to try them all –  they are “incomplete” singly.

Yamazaki is an easy whisky. Akashi is a dodgy one because it changes all the time. Maybe it is so simple that it is hard to make a consistent whisky? And a distillery as Eigashima with it´s focus on other spirits don´t have that constistancy?

Well Japanese whisky making is dodgy if you stray from the Suntory Boulevard or the Nikka Street. But you will find interesting whiskies to be surprised by, be horrified by and hopefully enjoy, if you dare to take a stroll down Eigashima Lane, Shinshu Alleyway or any other obscure walkingpath in the Land of the rising sun! So put on your sunglasses and go Japanese!

Springbank vs Springbank

Cambeltown was the whiskycapital in UK in the early 20th-century with about 37 distilleries bringing home loads of money to the area. But as almost all good things it came to and end. The American prohibition was a big reason that only 2 distilleries survived. Glen Scotia and Springbank.

The distillery has been up and running since 1828 in Cambeltown, located on the Kintyre peninsula. Springbank is a classic whisky-distillery that almost everyone has heard of. They also make two other brands of malt whisky – Longrow which is quite peated and Hazelburn which is unpeated.

I had the opportunity to meet Frank McHardy, a man with over 50 yrs in the business and the representative of Springbank when I was working at my first whiskyfair. I was nervous and he helped me out. A very nice and good looking man so he nicked a piece of my heart. I like it when someone who has so much knowledge and experience still can be so humble!

My Impression of Springbank was good but since I had not tasted much of the range I grabbed the  opportunity to get my hands on some samples.

I will not give tastenotes for them all. Actually I did write it down while tasting but I don´t think you will enjoy reading them ……

What I will give you is a “over all” impression of Springbank – based on following lineup: CV, 10 yo, 12 yo, 15 yo, 18 yo, Gaja Barolo Wood Expression, Calvados Wood Expression.

I find the house style of Springbank  sweet, fullbodied, and malty with an underlying tone of peatsmoke. You can find vanilla and fruit in all of them but I find the 10 yo more salty and less fruity than the others. The 12 yo which is cask strenght has a some liquorice/chilli sting but that might come from the high ABV.

This time I rated the 15 yo as the best with the roundness of the body carrying all different tastes like rum raisins, fruit cocktail, wine and sweetness.

It was followed by the Gaja Barolo woodfinish that was almost as fullbodied but only 9 yrs old.

Third place went to the 18 yo which has the “old whisky notes” in it. It has probably some older sherrycasks in the mix………

The most exciting one was the Calvados wood Finish. The whisky spent 6 years in refill bourboncasks and then 6 years in Calvados casks from Christian Drouin. That makes me extra curious since I have tried many of Christian Drouins products and will spend a few days at the Coeur de Lion estate in Normandy this spring, to learn more about Calvados. It didn´t match the Gaja Barolo last night but when I got to try a sample of it today it was so much more….. Came to the conclusion with some friends who also got their hands on this rare bottle that it need some air to come to its full potential!!!!

I think Springbank will be a distillery I will keep a closer eye on from now on. I did really enjoy the Hazelburn Sauternes Wood Finish and the” Smuggle Whisky bottlings” Rundlets and Kilderkins. So yes, Springbank is a distillery worth to taste and follow. And that it is family owned and make their whisky as they always had – some say the Springbank distillery is a functional museum – doesn´t make it less interesting.

A new distillery opened in Cambeltown in 2004. Its called Glengyle and their single malt is called Kilkerran.There will never be 37 distilleries in Cambeltown again but now there are 3 and Cambeltown is  a whiskyregion to count with again.

Linköping Whisky Expo

Whiskyfairs in Sweden has popped up like mushrooms the last few years.

Beside the biggest one – Stockholm Beer and WhiskyFestival – we have the big but maybe a bit more manageable Malmö Beer and Whiskyfestival, Gothenburg Whiskyfair and Linköping WhiskyExpo. There are also lots of small and medium fairs which are cosy and more intimate.

We had not planned to go to Linköping WhiskyExpo which is one of the most reputational fairs, but sad circumstances sent us up north and with only 2 hours drive we thought a visit to the fair was a good send off for a friend we will meet again on the other side! For us it was balm for the soul.

We acted quite cool I must say since it was a secret we would show up. So we sneaked up behind the stand of Svenska Eldvatten where Tommy and Peter had a helping hand from Patrik, Bengt, Tommy from Calner Whisky and Alexander from AZ Spirits. Lots of hugs and a taste of Svenska Eldvattens Vintage 1994 singel cask blended malt and Vintage 1979 singel cask blended scotch! They are blended at birth. It means that rawspirit from different distilleries (malt and malt & grain in the 1979) has been blended together and matured in the cask togheter all the time insted of blending the already matured whisky just before bottling. They are both SherryCask´s and my first opinion is that it was a bit too much sherry in 1979 and the 1994 felt more  fresh. A second try is needed!

Picture taken at closingtime just before Mr & Mrs Wolfmoon was politely but firmly told to get out of the building!

Meeting some friends was just what we needed so when we went into the worldwhisky Section it was fun to meet Lennart and Ingela at the Nikka stand. And with their knowledge they got us some lovely Single Cask Yoichi,  Miyagikyo 15 and a Taketsuru 21.

The Taketsuru 21 is a great blended malt but I must say that the single cask Yoichi and if you can get your hand on the Single Cask Miyagikyo are fantastic!

We strolled over to Amrut – the indian whisky and Mr Ashok Choklingam himself was at the stand. He greeted us as old friends (thank you!!!!). We spent the weekend together at Maltstock -the relaxed whisky weekend in the Netherlands last september. http://www.maltstock.com   We tried some Single cask Amrut and the Portonova. We also talked about that we had the opportunity to try Amrut Greedy Angels at Maltsock. When I told Ashok that when some people asked me how it tasted I had to say that -I haven´t got a clue. I was so amazed to try it that I cant remember! (He wispered -“its a lot of fruit, tropical fruit!” And then he laughed. He is a man who laughs a lot and I like that!)

Picture taken at the Amrut tasting at Maltstock – the relaxed whisky weekend!

Amrut is sold in Sweden by Clydesdale. And Clydesdale has a affliated company called World Wide Brands managed by Stefan Jansson. We met him and his lovely wife Gun. They are both passionate and knowledgeable people. Among other brands they import bottles from the independent bottler Samaroli from Italy and Millstone from Zuidam distillers in The Netherlands. Millstone is close to our heart since we have a share in sherry cask from Millstone. We got to taste a Millstone Px cask bottled just the day before by Patrick van Zuidam who was at the fair. It was….interesting!!! Not the nicest Millstone we tried but interesting is better than plain isn´t it?? Except from talking to Stefan and Gun the biggest experience was to taste the 20 yo  Glen Grant from Samaroli. We got the dram poured int our porto-glass but then we got another glass to try it in. We were told to puor half the dram into the strange glass and then smell the whisky. I have always said that porto is the best nosing glass for whisky but this glass… this coupe glass was fantastic. I say I need at least 12 of them so we – mr Wolfmoon and myself – can have a tasting with 6 different whiskys in those glasses! Try and buy! Not on the market in sweden yet but soon I hope!

We had the hopes up for some Yamazaki Mizunara when we saw Mr Tatsuya Minagawa at the Suntory stand. He greeted us as well since he recognised Mr Wolfmoon who with his fascination of Japanese whisky has been pestering this poor bloke the last 2 Maltstocks and of course at the whiskyfairs he visits as well………

No danger though! Tatsuya is a nice guy but he didn´t have any Sherrycasks or Mizunara cask with him. So we tried the Hakushu 18 instead. And it´s not Yamzaki 18 …….. But nice!

After that we had to hurry up a bit! We jogged into the swedish section where we wanted to surprise my friend Mattias from Sirholmen Spirits but he had heard the rumours and sneaked up on us instead. He was working with Pär Caldenby from Smögen Whisky and I was excited to meet Pär for the first time and equally excited to try his 3 year old Singlemalt Primör. And my tastenote for Primör was a bit simplified – it tastes whisky! By that I mean it taste like original whisky. I try to find the tastenotes and stop at malty with some fuseloil and that it feels round bodied. For me it needs a few more years in the cask. I will follow it´s progress with interest.

But then Mattias and Pär knocked my hat off with something different – Gin.I don´t like Gin. Well, I do now…… (another world to explore). Strane is a smoth and well tasting Gin that I wish everyone who is interested in destillates should try. Amazing! Thank you for inviting me to the world of Gin!

The last Whisky we tried was a Mackmyra Elegant Sherry Reserve Cask – a favourite when the cask does what it should. But we wanted to try it against the Box Distillerys non peated sherry. But since its only a pre-taste of what is going to be, the competition isn`t fair. We thought that Box would be equally good since we adore the Box Rawspirit and our private peated casks is soo coming on. BUT the Mackmyra took the gold medal this night with Box actually a horselenght after. Strange!!!!! Will keep an eye on this progress as well. And I might buy a cask of Elegant Sherry from Mackmyra – want to join??

 We finished the Expo with some 25 yr old rye and two Rum from Svenska Elvatten. Caroni and Guyana. But don´t ask about tastenotes……. we got half thrown out after that. But just because it was closing time …we werent ´drunk, rude or anything…I hope …………..

Just to mention we tried some grain from Scott´s selection (nope…didn´t do the trick tonight…) and som bottlings from Cadenhead. Our own choices wasn´t so good but Magnus from Magnus Whisky told us to try the 24 yrs old small batch Cragganmore…….and Yes! Soo good!

Whiskytaste Sweden has some interesting bottlings as well. Jonas and Gabriella made us feel very welcome and we could have been standing there all night. It was good they had a tasting to host so we could see more of the fair. We were treated a 25 yrs old Tamdhu, a bottling from Whiskyfässle provided more citrus than any other dram I´ve tasted. Paul John is another interesting Indian whisky and Whiskytaste Sweden give us the opportunity to taste  Leviathan II that holds the bronze medal in Worlds Worst Whisky. That is interesting. I don´t find it as bad as my male companions……. Lots of leather and …well other stuff. Have tasted worse and since there is a silver and a gold medal as well, that might be true!!!

Next fair to visit is the floating Cinderella Whisky Fair in march – but before that Mrs.Wolfmoon shall be hosting some tastings! Taste Events by Wolfmoon is actually getting some work done!

Join me at  https://www.facebook.com/TasteEventsByWolfmoon

and find more information about tastings in Kristianstad Sweden at http://www.tasteeventsbywolfmoon.n.nu/

3 Memorable drams

Wanted to start this year with a few thoughts about memorable drams. The reason is that I lost a friend quite recently and it makes one wonder and remember things.

So the first dram to remember is Ardbeg Alligator.

It was late (or early), a Magic Midsummer Night. The light outside was turning greyish to announce that the dawn was about to break. Then Mrs.Wolfmoons sensitve nose found a streak of peat in the wind which only could mean that Mr.Wolfmoon had poured one or two drams of that precious new Ardbeg. As you all know I am a responsible person when it comes to drinking ( 😉 ) and through all those years of partying my motto has been After midnight – Only water! – So I thought that pouring a precious dram att 3 o´clock in the morning after a night of heavy partying was a waste of good whisky!

Did I get grumpy? Oh yes (as always…. I´m a grumpy old lass)! Did I nag? Again yes! But I can see the picture of my lovely friend wrapped in a fleece blanket on our patio, half asleep and sniffing that dram for an hour or soo with a few Mmmmmm…. accompanied by Mr.Wolfmoons -One could sit here and sniff this all night! And we did! Till 5 in the morning as we always used to do after those Magic Midsummer and New Years Parties. Today I´d scour all the whiskysites and auctions to get another bottle if I only could give it to you!

Ardbeg Alligator is for You, Annica!

What got me in to this mess that is the Whisky World was a Mackmyra Reserve.

 My friend Roger was going to collect somthing like 57 or 58 bottles of a sherrycask matured Mackmyra Reserve at Juuls in Copenhagen. All the bottles ended up on my parents kitchentable and I was one of the first to taste it. It stunned me! It was like nothing I ever tasted before and it dragged me into the Whisky World forever.  I´m going deeper and into darker parts of the Whisky Labyrinth and I like it. That first Mackmyra will always be there to remind me of the beginning, the origin and how it all started! And since I didn´t start my whisky journey with classic “Scotch”or aged maltwhisky my taste is wideopen and I can explore the tastes without any prejudice.

Thank you Roger for being my first guide into the magic of malt whisky!

(It is not “that” bottle in the picture…didn´t take many bottlephotos back then. Guess how may bottlephotos ther are in my cellphone right now?….)

Glen Grant 1955 (Gordon & MacPhail)

I had the opportunity to taste the Glen Grant from 1955 at Stockholm Beer and Whisky Festival 2012. I had not been drinking many older whiskies and probably none more than 25 years old. This bottle is matured for more than 50 years so it was a big jump from young to old. And I was stunned! Again! What was most fascinating was that the taste lingured on and on. Even after a hamburger with onions and I brushed my teeth it came back!   It opened my eyes (and tastebuds) for older and more matured whisky. I still don´t think that older always is better (had some really awful old ones) but it is interesting to explore age and maturation and nothing beats a good old maltwhisky.

The Glen Grant from 1955 – is for the classic and age!

So Mrs.Wolfmoon has managed to write a Whisky blogpost without any tastnotes. Again!
I was thinking about writing more tastenotes in the blog in 2014 but that is more a New Year´s Intention than a New Year´s Resolution. Anyhow, there will be more blogposts in 2014 – that IS a Resolution!

Calvados Coeur De Lion!

So what is Calvados?

I´m sure you can look that up somewhere on the internet to find the scientific explanation if that’s what you want.

For me it was a total black hole, where I didn´t want to go until I had a very brief encounter with Christian!  And it wasn´t any Christian I had the fortune to stumble across. It was the King of Calvados – Christian Drouin,from the Coeur de Lion estate in Normandie.

Actually I was at my first whisky fair – Stockholm Beer & Whisky – in September 2012. A bit shaky and quite nervous because I had never been behind the counter in a whisky fair before. I chose the worst fair to start with – well at least the most busy one. And not enough that we had more than 250 different whiskies to serve, we also had some Calvados……. And the King of Calvados himself to present it…by my side….and I had only tasted Calvados one or two times before (and I didn´t like it).

When we got presented I told him the truth (or half of it, I didn´t mention that I didn´t like Calvados) that I had no knowledge about Calvados what so ever! He kindly took me in and gave me a tasting and a speedlesson of his Calvadosrange. I was amazed. Well not so much about the Blanche the Normandie – which I found to be “a white dog” – but a bit more tasty! Blanche de Normandie is an appelbrandy.

Then Christian Drouin took a bottle, served me a sip and I was lost. The Wow-factor went to through the roof. I had no idea what I had in my glass but it knocked my hat off! It was sooooo gooood! What I just had tasted was some kind of celebration bottling. No longer available and very expensive. But if you want to teach someone about what Calvados should taste like – don´t give them the cheap factory stuff – give them a Coeur de Lion Vintage!

Since then I´ve had the opportunity to taste some more Calvados – some which I like – others not my favourites. One of my Calvados-teachers is Richard Fransson from Steninge Ädla. He gave me a lovely tasting of some different Calvados bottlings he had come across visiting Normandie and Coeur de Lion estate/distillery so I wasn´t a total ignorant when The Prince of Calvados – Guillaume Drouin, visited my tastingleader course with 10 different bottlings from Coeur de Lion.(YES 10).

I´m not going to tell you all about the Calvados I got to try. Just want to show you the essence of the tasting. Heres the lineup:

Pommeau de Normandie  –  Blanche de Normandie

Coeur de Lion Selection  –         Coeur de Lion Vsop

Coeur de Lion Hors d´ague  –  Coeur de Lion Vintage 1993

Coeur de Lion Vintage 1989  –  Coeur de Lion Vintage 1986

Coeur de Lion Vintage 1970  –  Coeur de Lion Vintage 1962

Guillaume was talking about the taste ”Rancio” wich is a taste you find in well matured Congnac and its also a discription of a flavour you find in fortified wine.I´m a fan of Sherrycaskmatured spirit BUT the worst Whiskies I have had has been sherrycask matured. And they all had this “Rancio” taste. Probably a leftover from the fortified wine – the sherry . If it get overhand it will give the distillate a bad taste of mushrooms and rancid butter (as mentioned in my blogpost “the advent calendars).

So when we had to vote for our favourites I liked 1989 and 1962 the most. I think 1970 and 1986 was had too much of the Rancio. I also liked the Pommeau de Normadie a lot. It is a 17% aperitif made of applejuice mixed with calvados before fermentation and then aged in oakcasks. I highly recommend it. Especially if you have friends who doesnt appriciate the high ABV of distilled spirit.

If you want to try some nice Calvdos go for the Coeur de Lion range from Christian Drouin. I´m loking forward to give some nice Calvadostastings and I can assure that I´ll start with the Pommeu de Normandie and I definitely will try my best to get two vintages, one with “rancio” and one without…..just to let you choose foryourself wich one to love –

Because you will love the Coeur De Lion.

So what is Calvados? Shortly it is “distilled cider” out of apples or pears matured in oakcasks, the same way whisky is “disitilled beer” matured in oak casks. – Google it if you want to know more!

http://www.coeur-de-lion.com/ or for the Swedish market http://www.symposionhot.com/sortiment/calvados/

Svenska Eldvatten

or Swedish Firewater as it would be in English.

The name brings back memories of black and white movies with bowlegged cowboys and vicious indians. I can also imagine Zeb Macahan and Lucky Luke, two of my all time favourite heroes! Now I have found two other heroes to look up to, Peter Sjögren and Tommy Andersen – the guys behind the independent bottler Svenska Eldvatten.

Their first bottling Bowmore 2000 actually ended up in my whiskyshelf. Today it feels unreal to have it since everything they bottled so far is sold out. The layout of the labels are strict scandinavian and is very estetic for us up north. Yes I know Europe likes a bit more flashy labels but I hope all you out there can enjoy the scandinavian design as well as the fabuolous whisky inside. Or Rum …… because Svenska Eldvatten has the intention to bottle single malt whisky and other noble spirits as well. Their first rum bottling, a Caroni from 1997 has been very well recived and is also sold out!

I haven´t tried all their bottlings but a few:

Bowmore 2000 is one of the best Bowmores I ever tasted. It has the characteristic soft smoke from Bowmore but is a bit more mischievous than the destillery bottlings.  I like it with a drop of water – just the opposite from the Swedish Whiskyblogg.se who said it shouldnt be bothered with water,  ……. Well, we all drink our drams the way we want and I give this baby some water (unlike I do most of the times). Tastes sweet, a bit burnt and blooming. There is a lot of grapefruit! I like a lot (I´m an IPA kind of beergirl).

Caroni Trinidad Rum 1997 – When you pour this one for someone you will get the sweet, rich fragrance of wellmatured rum in your nose, even if you are giving the glass away at once. What will surprise you is the dryness in the mouthfill. It´s almost desiccating but with all the flavour from the nose. Strange it doesnt feel sweet………. Surprising and nice.

When I tried the Bunnahabhain sherry matured 1991 and the Bunnahabhain sherry peated 1997 the plain sherry was the best of them. But it´s not easy to get another try since there is no peated to find except with those lucky people who bought it. (well I tried them twice to be honest – plain won again so I am obliged to say I liked the plain sherry the most).

Me and Tommy Calner, www.calnerwhisky.se had an internal competition between The Clynelish 1996 and Bunnahabhain Sherry matured 1991. They are both smooth and rich, full of sherrywood and has a lovely mouthfill. Which one is best? We callled it a tie in the end. They are both so good so why choose – lets give them both goldmedals! Here you can see us with Alexander Zaar from AZ Spirits www.azspirits.se at Malmö Beer and Whiskyfestival. Thank you Robert van Hal www.whiskyforalla.se for taking such a great picture of Mrs.Wolfmoon (who´s not the most photogenic person in the world….).

At last I want to introduce you all to Glenn, a blendend malt scotch whisky!!! Named after all the faboulus Glenns who live in Gothenburg (google that if you don´t get it). There will be more Glenns to come – all different!

Glenn Batch 1 is a a sweet, peated “crossbreed” between Bowmore, Laphroaig, Glengoyne and two more “secret” distilleries. It´s stands nicely by itself but makes a good Glennish coffee as well. Yes I have tried it! Of the 250 bottles that will go on the swedish market in May I think 248 will be bought within days of Gothenburgers – and they are all to be congratulated!

Tommy & Peter enjoying a “Glennish Coffee” at Malmö Beer and Whisky festival!

These two gentlemen also represent the independent bottlers Archives from the Netherlands and The Golden Cask by house of MacDuff. They make sure we can get our hands on Deerstalker in Sweden (the 18 yrs Balmenach gives me all the sweets I need). And when it comes to Rum they import the drink highest in alcohol at Systembolaget (the Swedish government enterprise for liquor) The Tilambic 151 with 75,5% and the St.Nicholas Abbey Rum.

So keep your eyes open for Svenska Eldvatten – you won´t be disappointed!

www.eldvatten.se

All for now from tasteeventsbywolfmoon.n.nu