Category Archives: Beyond Scotland

Spirit of Hven – MerCurious Corn Whisky 45.6%

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It is a curious thing at Swedish distilleries… you can pay to taste whisky however if you actually want to BUY a bottle, you need to go to a state-owned “off-license” Systembolaget or order online from an authorised distributor.

Additionally, this small island distillery Spirit of Hven specialises in mostly small batch experiments, so aside from their “regular” expressions like Tycho’s Star, what you try today will not be available tomorrow, let alone via the liquor store.

With Master Distiller Henric Molin’s foray into Corn whisky, there are indications this will  remain a regular expression – simply with different batches where subtle differences may be found. Named after the planet Mercury, known in Greek and Norse mythology as Hermes and Oden respectively. According to the folks at Spirit of Hven, this god “ruled over wealth, fortune and commerce. His favorite activity was to rule the corn trade.” 

After enjoying a relaxing lunch post distillery tour, we settled down with a rather large book of whisky options… and thought why not start by trying this before getting into the “real” aka barley whiskies!

MerCurious Corn Whisky 45.6%

  • Colour – Bright orange
  • Aroma – Sugary sweet, vanilla, bright fruits, buttery, sweet corn starchy sweet
  • Palate – Young, raw but not harsh, more of that buttery quality, sweet and almost a bit grassy
  • Finish – Limited

We didn’t really know what to expect however it was… curious? What struck is was the smoothness and the extremely orange colour!

We set it aside and on the revisit it was pure candy floss!

And what did the folks at Spirit of Hven have to say? Quite a bit!

Every batch comprises of 14 casks, all playing an important tune in this masterpiece; all casks are made of American air-dried virgin oak. MerCurious is velvet smooth and enticing while still challenging with rich character. The recipe is 88% corn, 5% wheat, 3,5% barley, 3,5% rye. Maturation is between 3 and 8 years depending on cask recipe.

Scent and Taste

  • Undiluted: the first notes attracting the nose are light, sweet candy aromas surrounded by scents of fresh fruits; apples and cloudberries. MerCurious has a distinct character of mature whisky combined with vanilla and cocoa balanced with a delicate spirituality. The corn is evident and if you close your eyes you feel yourself teleported to the kitchen with the nose over a casserole with new boiled sweet corn. A fine note of menthol contributes with a nice freshness, a clear provenance from Hven.
  • The taste is exiting and unique. First it is almost sparkling, fresh and vibrant then it transforms into a full bodied sweet and sour pie. It lands mid-back tonngue. Via the mouth it reaches the nose with a sweet corn aroma. The small addition of barley to the recipe gives a lively and fresh taste with light menthol and green notes.
  • Diluted: With water 1:7 (≈40%) the scent changes; the distinct spirituality fades a bit and promotes the light candy notes. It scents of jellybeans, wine gums and chocolate cake, mature blackberries and sweet pie dough. Vanilla and fudge in the background.
  • With water the taste becomes velvet smooth, green notes of sweet corn, asparagus and pear. Sweetness balanced with delicate acidity and light bitterness from American oak. This is happiness in a bottle, soft and smooth mixed with integrity and personality.

What else did we try from Spirit of Hven?

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Spirit of Hven – MerCurious, Seven Stars Alcor, Seven Angels St Raphael

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Travel is a precious commodity these days… even more so when somewhere completely new in the company of a good friend. Without a fellow whisky lady explorer, I doubt Sweden would have made it on my COVID times travel list… and certainly not an amazingly packed few days which included not one but two distillery tours!

Our first was Spirit of Hven on a small island between Sweden and Denmark. It is one of those distilleries that takes COMMITMENT to reach. In my case it meant a couple of planes, taxi, bus, train then another car, bus, train, ferry and many kilometres walk to reach! Once on the island of Veen, we took the scenic stroll around the east coast of the island – most enjoyable and well worth doing. However the signage was limited so there was a time or two when we wondered – are we going the right way? It was only as we returned along the ‘main’ route that we suddenly saw signage a-plenty!

I’ll share more about our distillery tour another time, however for us the whisky fun really began after lunch. The owners have quite a remarkable collection of whiskies in their bar – tempting as the range was we were ladies on a mission to explore more of Spirit of Hven creations.

The distillery whisky menu was chock full of options – while some of the limited expressions were out of stock – it was remarkable how many were still available.

What did we try?

And the best thing? Relaxing outside after a day of travel including our MANY kilometres of walking!

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Penderyn Dragon Range – Celt 41%

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I really enjoy exploring expressions from a single distillery – it enables one to discern underlying commonalities whilst at the same time the variations that come from different elements – be it maturing in different casks, periods of time or use of peat.

Even better is when you have a trio packaged conveniently in 200ml bottles – perfect to share with a few folks without needing to host a party!

Celt was the last in our trio – the only one that used peat. What did we think?

Penderyn Celt 41%

  • Nose – Is that dried apricot? Then shifted quickly into briney sea salt (reminiscent of Talisker?), then apples and vanilla, with the smokiness also joining, sweet caramel, smoked bacon, sponge cake… delightfully evolving and shifting between different elements
  • Palate – Mmmmm…. buttery, smokey, well rounded whisky with that oily quality that properly coats the palate, nice warm fire
  • Finish – From sweet to bitter, lingering to leave a subtle smokey tail

This one caught our attention – most enjoyable and held up very well even after some time. For some – it was the clear favourite! Though the ex-bourbon matured Myth without peat was also a winner.

As we sat back and considered all three in the Dragon Range – Legend, Myth and this Celt – we recognized some common threads…. each had apples and vanilla on the nose and a nice bitterness on the palate. Interesting!

And what do the folks at Penderyn have to say?

Celt is a single malt whisky finished in ex-peated quarter casks, bottled at 41% abv. (43% in the USA). This whisky has a Kosher certificate.

  • Nose: Mild aromas of peat smoke, early morning at the rocky seaside and warm marmalade on toast all compete for our attention.
  • Palate: It begins with great sweetness before the smoky, slightly medicinal flavours descend.
  • Finish: Slight bitterness follows that leaves a long and lingering freshness in the mouth.

I bought this tasting set of 200 ml bottles for EUR 37. Then hand delivered samples to my tasting companions in Sweden and France.

Here is the convoluted tale of how we came to taste the Penderyn Dragon range:

What about our earlier Penderyn explorations?

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Penderyn Dragon Range – Legend 41%

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While not called Legend, a few of us have tried Penderyn’s Madeira finish over the years. It proved to us that this Welsh distillery has got the balance right – affordable, enjoyable with just enough interesting going on to make us happy to repeat! My most recent revisit was at the close of 2020 with my Advent Calendar malty marathon.

The Madeira finish is a core Penderyn expression and a bottle sitting in Mumbai was intended to anchor an exploration with our desi tasting companions. Which we will get to… one of these months or years…

However in the interim, “Legend” – also a Madeira finish – beckoned as part of the Dragon range tasting set.

Penderyn Legend 41%

  • Nose – Apples, touch of citrus, subtle, vanilla cream, as it warmed up a hint of rum raisins and cream
  • Palate – Some spice, a bit of woodiness, later we wondered – was that a touch of grapefruit? It also had that bitter quality
  • Finish – Spicy at the back – black peppers then ginger

After the delightful Myth which had fruit in abundance in the nose and considerable substance on the palate with a satisfying finish, the Legend came across as… dare I say it… a wee bit flat?

We speculated perhaps we should have started with the Legend – with fresh palates, perhaps this would have made a better ‘appetizer’ before moving on to the bourbon. A bit counter-intuitive but may have resulted in a more harmonious progression.

We set it aside and carried on with the Peaty Celt… then returned to revisit. No major transformation however did detect some red currents, some spice and bitterness.

And what do the folks at Penderyn have to say?

Legend is a Madeira-finish single malt whisky, bottled at 41% abv. (43% in the USA)

  • Nose: Aromas of fresh apples and citrus fruits intermingle with cream fudge and sultana raisins to create a complex yet fresh, clean and well-balanced whisky.
  • Palate: Incredibly smooth and both fresh and rich dried fruits abound. Delicate and sweet on the palate with just a hint of bitterness to remain refreshing.
  • Finish: A long aftertaste of Madeira cake and sultanas.

Would we agree? Not entirely… Could it be my opening and transferring into wee sample bottles a month+ before and distributing dampened the character? Some whiskies are particularly susceptible to losing their “oomph!” with oxidation. Or could it be the recipe for Legend differs from their core Madeira finish?

Either way, we did not find the complexity or the rich dried fruits. Pity…

Here is the convoluted tale of how we came to taste the Penderyn Dragon range:

What about our earlier Penderyn explorations?

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Penderyn Dragon Range – Myth 41%

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With no India trips in sight, I decided to go ahead and bring samples from the Penderyn Dragon range trio with me to France and Sweden… which we then decided to taste virtually late July.

Given the Dragon Range trio had Bourbon, Madeira and Peat, we decided to start with the ex-Bourbon finish. If we were to do it again, would start with the Madeira – once we’ve shared our experience with both you will understand why!

So… on to Myth matured in an ex-bourbon cask…

Penderyn Myth 41%

  • Nose – Mmmm…. apples, pears, a bit spicy, some wafts of tropical fruits, fresh grapes, toffee… increasingly sweet with vanilla, fresh baked brioche
  • Palate – More substance than expected, full of flavour with a nice bitterness too… the 2nd sip had a hint less vanilla yet the sweetness remains
  • Finish – Spice that lasts, a bit of bitter chillipepper that mellows into sweet spice

From the start this was a happy, lively summery dram, engaging on the nose, lovely on the palate… an easy enjoyable sipper. We set it aside to try the other. When we returned for a revisit – it remained just as delightful – bright, lively and fresh.

And what do the folks at Penderyn have to say?

Myth is a single malt whisky finished in a range of specially selected ex-bourbon and rejuvenated oak casks., bottled at 41% abv. (43% in the USA). This whisky has a Kosher certificate.

  • Nose: Fresh and lively, Myth has mixed citrus fruits mingling with apple, pear drops and the merest hint of tropical fruits.
  • Palate: Sweetness dominates then moves over to allow some refreshing bitterness to emerge while the mixed fruits continue to dominate the flavour.
  • Finish: Gradually all the flavours ebb away to leave memories of a lively and light style of whisky that is easy to drink.

Would we agree? Absolutely!

Welcome to the convoluted tale of how we came to taste the Penderyn Dragon range:

What about our earlier Penderyn explorations?

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Penderyn Dragon Range – Legend, Myth, Celt

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There we were on a virtual tasting bringing together friends in London, Paris, South of France, Germany, Mumbai… barely finished what was in front of us and already planning the next. Sounds simple enough, right?

Except our merry malty friends are now scattered around the globe with narrow options to coordinate combined virtual sessions between Brexit and Mumbai customs.

However with extremely limited travel and also the limitations of what can be personally brought across borders, purchasing 700ml seems silly! Enter an idea to either build on what was already in India or buy the same set of 200 ml bottles…

That’s what led to our plan for me to purchase a tasting set of 200 ml bottles online in Germany to send samples to Paris. I immediately thought of Penderyn as I knew the Madeira and other was safely tucked away in Mumbai… A quick online search and I found this Penderyn trio – what they call their Penderyn Dragon range:

As this wasn’t quite what was already in Mumbai, our London based malt man decided to pick up the same 200ml trio with every expectation of sharing in his April/May 2021 trip to India.

All excited, I proposed a virtual session with the folks at Penderyn! I contacted the delightful and amusing Aista Jukneviciute, Penderyn’s Blender whom I met at The Village spirits festival in February 2020. It was a resounding yes and the excitement built even further!

For those who aren’t familiar, Welsh distillery Penderyn was founded in 2004 and is headed by Laura Davies, Distillery Manager, who trained with Dr. Jim Swan. We’ve sampled only a few Penderyn over the years but have overall enjoyed our experiences, appreciating how it remains both more affordable and accessible in style.

And then conditions in India worsened with trips canceled with India travels suspended for the foreseeable future.

In the meantime, our European situation has improved, so I thought why not open this trio and bring to Paris along with other samples for our Euro ladies? If not today, sometime we  can enjoy a session… with (or without) our desi compatriots.

This followed by a trip to Sweden to meet up with another Whisky Lady… also with Penderyn samples in tow… and a plot to do a virtual session between Laholm, Paris and Nurnberg was hatched!

Even more remarkably… it happened late July! Not with the lovely folks at Penderyn as we’d prefer to ‘reserve’ that privilege to hold together with folks in India… but it still happened!

Convoluted and yet creative… just the kind of connects that weave together the fabulous whisky fabric!

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St Kilian Part 2 – A curious turn

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This is the 2nd part of six samples courtesy of St Kilian organized by Whiskey Jason. While the distillery trip was cancelled and I missed the official tasting experience, I was still super curious. 

The initial three were overall promising – particularly the 2nd sample was really enjoyable. We couldn’t wait to dive into the next ones…

4th Sample – Industrial

  • Colour – Quite pale
  • Nose – Oil refinery, heavy peat that was “in your face”, like a chemical processing plant, iodine, hot machine shop, cured leather, oily and very industrial, gun oil, adhesive, wood chips, parsley to strong cinnamon, cured meat and bacon
  • Palate – Embers in a cold fireplace, no balance, hard core metallic
  • Finish – Same

When I looked back on my notes, there was a quote… I hesitate to even share.. but the reaction to the 1st sip was “Ugh! Disgusting!” We really struggled with this one… after the really promising start with the initial three, it was such a shift in gears… a very curious turn…

5th Sample – Briney smoke

  • Nose – Butter fudge, creamy, vanilla, saline, briney fishy peat, cream of tartar
  • Palate – Spice, cinnamon, old smoke, hot buttered rum, such a contrast from the nose to discover such sweetness, heavy cinnamon
  • Finish – And yet the smoke lingers…

In this one the peat sort of snuck up on you… perhaps after the forceful peat of the previous one, this didn’t seem so strong. Yet as we sniffed and particularly after the 1st sip, the peat became stronger and stronger.

6th Sample – Pharmacy

  • Nose – Interestingly, it began light and fruity, then took a decidedly chemical bent… like an organic chemistry lab, shifting to a more medicinal direction, dish water, paper glue, rotten fruit and compost
  • Palate – Really bitter, on the front of the palate some sugars, yet at the back was tar
  • Finish – Slightly sweet

My goodness! How did it go from slightly fruity to compost and full pharmacy. 

We sat there stunned… perplexed… in such a quandary… what could the folks at St Kilian have been thinking? Clearly the direction of these drams was no accident but… why? What would posess pursuing a clearly industrial pharmaceutical bent? 

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St Kilian Part 1 – A promising start…

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St Kilian is one of the newer distilleries in Bavaria… I had the great pleasure to meet with a couple of folks from there together with a fellow German Sharing Angel at Nurnberg’s The Village Whisky Festival in February 2020.

Fast forward to November 2020 and there were plans to visit the distillery. I was incredibly excited to spend a weekend learning about the distillery, their processes, ideas and overall approach to whisky making.

Alas as fall progressed into winter, COVID conditions deteriorated and the trip was cancelled. However very kindly, the folks at St Kilian dispatched samples and set-up a virtual tasting. Unfortunately the samples reached me late and I also missed the virtual session too.

However, I remained very curious so on a weekend with fellow whisky enthusiasts, we cracked open the 6 bottles, split each sample into 3 and we started to explore…

1st Sample – Bursting with flavours

  • Nose – Vanilla, fruity, creamy toffee, nice bourbon cream pie… then shifted to something more herbal, vegetal with ripe tomatoes, celery… then balsam fir
  • Palate – Creamy, fruity apple, dried plums, quince, a bit raw but still interesting
  • Finish – A bit of bitter almond?

Young, till a bit fiery, scrappy… and frankly quite a promising start.

We returned after some time and it had ten on almost an artificial sweetness, candy floss and vanilla on the nose but then a biting spice on the palate with a bitter nutty finish.

2nd Sample – Tasty treat

  • Nose – Very fruity, starts with overripe bananas, then shifts into hazelnuts, back to bannoffee pie, then the nutty quality became stronger and stronger with cashew, pecan nuts adding to the hazelnut, vacillating between roasted nuts and raw nuts freshly plucked from their tree, vanilla pod, fresh resin
  • Palate – Spicy yet nothing in the slightest bit harsh! Has more substance than expected from the aroma, fuller, incredibly tasty
  • Finish – Sweet spices of cinnamon, cloves, lightly bitter

We really liked this one – it had character and remained enjoyable. Even after we set it aside for some time and returned, it was bubblegum, wintergreen oil and still delicious.

3rd Sample – Tropical punch

  • Nose – Oh my! Tropical fruits – pineapple, mango… cinnamon red candies.. very prominent banana, a hint of rubber, overall sweet with a hint of alcohol, vanilla cream, a bit of roasted chestnut, candle wax, soooo sweet… then had a hint that was almost like a bandaid adhesive 
  • Palate – Initially the bananas on the nose carried through on the palate, a hint of smoke, raw chestnut, green walnut, became sweeter and sweeter
  • Finish – Strong cinnamon finish

The colour of this last dram was quite significantly darker than the others. What was curious was the smoke. It was more like the kind of smoke that settles on the walls of a room that had someone smoke in long before rather than anything direct. 

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The Belgian Owl – Intense 72.7%

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I am pretty sure that The Belgian Owl Intense has to be the strongest whisky I’ve ever had – by alcohol strength that is! Most distilleries will reduce the new make spirit by adding water before maturing in barrels – hence even in younger cask strength whiskies we see ABV hovering around the 60%s or less. Not so with Belgium Owl who have bottled at a whopping 72.7%! What did we think of the whisky?

The Belgian Owl Intense 40 months, first fill bourbon, single cask 1538452 72.7% Bottle 177

  • Colour – Bright gold
  • Aroma – We initially thought of a dusty attic, very different. Nutty, resins, as it opened up, becoming increasingly pleasant, sweetly vanilla, a floral perfume, toffee, strawberries, Victoria sponge cake, cream, pure desert, really interesting and inviting. It kept shifting – from desert to sweet grass and honey, back to cinnamon, then caramelized bananas
  • Palate – Salty buttery caramel, cinnamon, chocolate milk, toffee, vanilla, bananas
  • Finish – Initial burn, then very sweet soft caramels
  • Water – While surprisingly smooth without water, it is even better with – bringing out a buttery cinnamon roll… over time there was almost a “perfume” on the palate

Had we sampled this “blind”, I highly doubt anyone would have guessed the ABV. It was way too delicious with different dimensions and not at all harsh. In many ways this was the most interesting of the quintet – bursting with character yet surprisingly not overwhelming.

What do the folks at The Belgian Owl have to say?

The Belgian Owl Intense is a single cask whisky stored at its degree of ageing, specifically selected by Etienne Bouillon. Each cask is unique and unveils its own character. We would like to promote some of these casks, we are sure you will be delighted.

The choice of bottling at cask strength is a completely natural choice for us. We can offer you a tasting as if you were here with us, in our whisky storehouse, undiluted, straight from the cask. This sensation is intense and unforgettable. We hope that these emotions will accompany you wherever you are.

Overall when we considered the five different whiskies in our The Belgian Owl quintet, we thought:

  • Trying the spirit with Origine provided interesting insights into the underlying qualities
  • Their flagship Identité at only 3 years is friendly with delicious aromas
  • For us, the 3-year single cask Passion was the only disappointment, coming across as a bit unbalanced and ‘not quite there’ the way Identite nailed it… and curiously lacking “passion”
  • When we first tried the 4-year Evolution, we loved how it was a clear step forward from Identite, building on what we appreciated with the added maturity really augmenting the experience on the palate in particular
  • And with Intense? Remarkable! At 72.7% we thought it would be too intense – not at all!

This set was kindly provided by The Belgian Owl – to me in Germany, my tasting companions in Paris and hopefully soon by folks in India too. However, the views here are our own.

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Additionally, there are the two ‘off-shoots’ with:

The Belgian Owl – Evolution 46%

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We kept up our exploration of The Belgian Owl with their oldest expression… and before you start thinking of venerable 20 year old whiskies, for this distillery, forty-eight months is sufficient time to produce something worthy of exploring!

The Belgian Owl Evolution 48 months, first fill bourbon 46%

  • Colour – Bright copper
  • Aroma – Ahh! Though initially a bit shy, as it opened up was well worth a wee wait. Lots of pears, herbs, vanilla, slowly evolving from floral to fruity and then back to more floral. Much like the Identite, the primary fruit was pears joined by exotic tropical fruits. We also found some quince. lovely honeysuckle, sweet spices of cloves, aniseed… then back to herbal and even a hint of pine.
  • Palate – A sharpness in a good way! That light spice, malty wood, slightly bitter… all combined in a more classic Scottish character.
  • Finish – A long soft, subtle spice, quite interesting with a hint of mint and liquorice
  • Water – No desire to add

Here was a “proper” whisky! One that wasn’t Scottish but gave a generous “nod” to a classic Scottish style. The kind of dram that invites you back to more – well balanced and interesting enough to keep you curious.

We thought of this as the “adult” version of The Belgian Owl – mildly reminiscent of Linkwood – more from the sentiment it evoked than directly comparable. Clearly one that could be a crowd-pleaser.

When we reflected back, considered Identite more of a “smell” whisky whereas the Evolution is more of a “taste” whisky… one that gives much more as you sip.

What do the folks at The Belgian Owl have to say?

Nothing on their website however this was the oldest of the quintet at four years. In keeping with their house style, matured only in ex-Bourbon casks and like Identite was likely a combination of a few casks.

What else did we receive as part of our The Belgian Owl quintet?

This set was kindly provided by the good folks at The Belgian Owl however the views here are our own.

If you don’t want to miss a post, why not follow Whisky Lady on:

Additionally, there are the two ‘off-shoots’ with: