144.4 A flashing blade

Description

This is about as niche and wild as you get. A single cask, cask strength, Swedish, heavily peated, long-aged, single malt. Wrap your head and lips around that. This is an exciting release for us in July, and really showcases what is going on in the cold capital of Swedish single malts. Located in the high coast of Sweden, they are about as remote as you can get. The casks maturing up there are exposed to the brisk sea air and high elevation, and are maturing in unheated warehouses. During hot days, the pressure in the barrels increase, the whisky expands and penetrates deeper into the oak. Deep inside the barrel, the oak’s flavours are released, which come out when the temperature and pressure drop again. Expect notes of tar, BBQ glazed meats, doused oysters, smoked lemons, and mineral salts. The perfect winter dram!

No messing about here. Immediate notes of pickled gherkins in brine, elastoplasts, tar extracts, BBQ glazed pork ribs, peat fire embers in a cast iron hearth and green olive tapenade on salted flat bread. A brilliant peat-dominated distillate. With water we found carbolic acidity, hot mash water and smoky grist – touring a distillery in full peaty production mode – also malt vinegar doused oysters and smoked lemons. The palate was pure seawater and lemon juice at first. Before a big surge of petrol, mineral salts, engine oils and touches of camphor and paraffin. With water there was some more complexity emerging with aniseed distillate, mercurochrome and suggestions of paraffin, TCP, horseradish and soy sauce.