Our Nordic whiskies were exceedingly well packed and safely made their journey from Norway to Sweden to India.

Our benefactor thoughtfully gave us the option of tasting blind so only labeled the bottles with a number, sharing separately by email the ‘key’ to unlock which whisky was which.

So naturally we decided to go literally in order of 1, 2, 3, 4… to see what we would discover!

The first two whiskies just so happened to be from Sweden’s Smögen distillery, named after the nearby Smögen island.

A new entry in the world of whiskies, Smögen was founded in 2010 by lawyer, whisky enthusiast and author Pär Caldenby with a vision to produce an Islay-like whisky using heavily peated malt from Scotland and local barley.

Photo: Master of Malt

Smögen Single Cask 7/2011 4 year 57.3%

•  Nose – Initially quite a punch, sweet caramel, a little wood resin, candy sweet, apricot, nutty marzipan… as it aired a quality a bit like a lovely bright wine, smoked wood, vanilla
• Palate – No doubt this was a cask strength whisky welcoming you with a ‘Hello, I’m here to envelop you, expand your senses further’ Smoked oak like the shadow effect of peat… very much present yet well rounded, hint of bitter nut
• Finish – Subtle, sweet with a lovely smoke finish
• Water – A bouquet of fruit, super sweet like a sachet of sweet spices to infuse a dish. On the palate, the bitter element became even more pronounced, flattening the earlier expansive quality.

We greedily went through this sample. This was the favourite of our first tasting session and we both wish we had more! If ever you stumble across this rare bottle, you will not regret making an extra effort to have a sample.

The distillery has this to share about the bottle:

First fill Sauternes Chateau barrique, 429 bottles, filled in a barrel 11
March 2011, bottled March 28, 2015, released August 2015 via Systembolaget, where it sold out in seconds. Peat smoked at least 45 ppm phenol.

*** Whiskies courtesy of Thomas Øhrbom from Whisky Saga ***

For more information on Smögen whiskies, do read Thomas’ posts on Whisky Saga. Specifically:

• Nordic Whisky #37 – Smögen 2011 4 YO Single Cask #7/2011 2015-04-28
• Nordic Whisky #74 – Smögen Sherry Project 1:4 2016-01-19

More Nordic whisky experiences tasted that evening….

• Smögen Sherry Project 1:4 57.2%
• Box Whisky The Festival 2015 54.5%
• Box Whisky Shareholders 2016, 3 year 52%

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