Waldviertler J.H. Single Malt 41% + Rye Malt 41%

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Next up from Austria was a duo from Waldviertler J.H. with their 5 year Single Malt and 6 year Rye Malt.

Both come from the Austrian distillery J Haider in Roggenreith, north of the Danube river. It was founded in 1995 by the Master Distiller Johann Haider and his wife Monika Haider. While new to us, it seems the distillery has become such a tourist attraction that by 2011 it had 80,000 visitors a year (FYI double Glenlivet)

What did we think?

Valdviertler J.H. 5 year Single Malt 41%

  • Nose – Plastic, glue, why tried to say honey?? Perfume but more of an industrial, chemical variant than fine perfume, amaretto, syrupy, dusty grain
  • Palate – Raw wheat, gehu (guar gum), quite crude (one called it ‘battery acid’)
  • Finish – Unrefined

To say it didn’t hit the spot was an understatement. To be fair, this group of Whisky Ladies have little familiarity with rye. At best the Canadian know if from youthful follies of Rye and Ginger(ale).

And this Austrian Rye was decidedly young… something we would describe in hindi as ‘kaccha’ meaning it is raw or uncooked… for something that really should be prepared properly.

Yet like many of these experiments, it was interesting to try… just wouldn’t go out of our way to repeat.

Here’s briefly what the distillery has to say:

Single Malt J.H. and Dark Single Malt J.H. are made from 100% barley malt. When the malt is roasted lightly, caramel tones emerge, while dark roasting produces coffee-caramel tones.

Valdviertler J.H. 6 year Rye Malt 41%

  • Nose – Surprisingly similar to the Rye, but more honey, antisceptic, gummy adhensive, with a whiff of flowers like rajnigandha jasmine
  • Palate – Malt grain, ply or cardboard, rancio, completely ‘kaccha’
  • Finish – Holds… but why? In truth for this finish holding isn’t a good thing

What can we say without sounding discourteous… this was simply not a single malt for us. Far too raw, like hooch that touched wood.

Here’s briefly what the distillery has to say:

Rye Malt J.H. is made from 100% malted rye, light roasted(41%. alc.). 
Flavor: This rye malt whisky is unique in Euroe, its mellow sweet honey note evolving from the special malting of the rye, hamonising perfectly with the light vanilla flavor of the sessile oak (local oak).

Like Wiser’s Uuahouua Pinot Noir, you can purchase the Rye Malt from the Austrian Supermarket for approximately €62 for the 700 ml bottle.

Here’s what they have to say:

The Original Rye Whisky J.H. is the best-selling whiskey and has added much to the family’s success. Ever since 1995 the family business of family Haider has been distilling whisky at the highest stage possible, making them and their exquisite liquor an international pioneer. Family Haider started to destil Schnaps in the 1990’s using a … Alle Produkte von Waldviertler Whisky Haider

Learn more about the distillery from Whisky Intelligence’s “Milk or Whisky? Austria’s first distillery Walviertler Roggenhof”

What all did we enjoy in our Après-ski evening?

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Wieser’s Uuahouua Pinot Noir 40%

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One of the fabulous things about our Whisky Ladies is their adventurous spirit and itchy feet… which means any given month a few can’t make it as they are off traversing the world.

For our group – this is a huge plus as it means bringing back little gems which otherwise could never be obtained.

Even while back-packing with minimal luggage, one of our ladies scored in Austria a few very interesting miniatures which were duly shared at our “winter” session… paying homage to European ski destinations.

What did we think?

Wieser’s Uuahouua Pinot Noir 40%

  • Nose – Very sweet with a bit of spice, oranges, buttery, then like gummy bears
  • Palate – Very winey, like a desert whisky, though still a bit raw, goes down rather well
  • Finish – Spice with a surprisingly long finish

Now this whisky might just be worth seeing where they go next. Like many European wine cask finishes, there is something unique.

While I have no idea what the 200 ml  bottle set our Whisky Lady back, it seems you can purchase a full 700 ml bottle from a supermarket in Austria – how civilized! It currently costs approximately €54 for the 7 year version.

Here’s what they have to say:

Luminous Chestnut red. Fruity and velvety like Pinot Noir. Feminine wine flavour and masculine Malt in perfect harmony. A contrast which couldn’t be greater: a high-tech distillery in a 1,000-year-old house, a joining of things traditional and modern. Markus Wieser, the grandson of the Austrian wine pioneer Josef Jamek, is a passionate master distiller of … Alle Produkte von Wieser 

What else did our backpacking marvel bring back from Austria?

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Whisky Lady – December 2017

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Carissa Hickling's avatarEveryday Asia

December brought yet another a trip to Germany with much merriment and mischief for this  Whisky Lady on my return!

All three groups had an opportunity to meet…

Normally our original group does not meet in December. However I used my powers of persuasion to pull together an ‘off the books’ evening to celebrate Canada’s 150th anniversary. Our “O Canada” evening included:

Our Whisky Ladies embraced the season with an Après-ski theme featuring:

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Swiss Whisky – Langatun Old Bear (2010/2016) 62.8%

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Our adventures in whiskies continued… with our first whisky from Switzerland.

Langatun distillery is located in Langenthal and while new to us is definitely not a new kid on the block… It can trace its lineage to 1857 when Jakob Baumberger founded a distillery on his father’s farm. Their granary harkens back to 1616. And they are no stranger to peat, playing around with its use for over a hundred years.

But what about the whisky??

Langatun Old Bear Cask Proof (May 2010/Feb 2016) 62.8% Peated Single Malt, Cask Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Non-coloured, Lot No L0116

  • Nose – Apricot, plum, sweet, wood smoke, quite Christmassy, plum cake (one even described as edible rotten fruit)
  • Palate – Complex… finally a truly complex dram! Layers upon layers upon layers, coating the palate beautifully with rich balance, lots of sweet spices of cinnamon, cloves, allspice, quite dry, caramel, treacle…. Yum!
  • Finish – Fabulous! Dark chocolate with cherry fruit, wonderful sweet spices settling on clove

Just as the Box Dalvve was a summer dram, the Langatun was clearly a winter whisky.

Here is what the folks in Switzerland have to say about their malt:

The “Old Bear” is a homage to Jakob Baumberger, who founded a distillery on his father’s farm in 1857, and who also took over a small brewery in 1860 in Langatun. The company logo of the brewery was in the coming decades the bear, the “Old Bear”.

The “Old Bear” is prepared in the same way as the “Old Deer”, but with slightly smoked barley malt, therefore the additional name «Smoky». Incense is carried out as in the case of meat or fish: during the drying of the germinated barley, the drying air smoke is added, the aromas of which are deposited on the barley malt and reach the finished product through the further processing steps. 

The “Old Bear” is stored in oak barrels, where Châteauneuf-du-Pape was previously cultivated, a very strong deep red wine. Its traces can be found in the “Old Bear”: an intense red-brown color, in the nose beautiful notes of wood and smoke, in the taste a typical malt component and in the finish subtle smoky flavor with a slightly vinous undertone.

Back in 2013, Jim Murray gave this whisky a remarkable 96 points for the 2008/2012 Lot No1201 described only as “Whisky for the gods…”

Stuart P over at Master of Malt has this to say for tasting notes:

  • Nose: Herbal and pine-cone freshness leaps from the glass, then richer aromas of vanilla custard and stewed red berries.
  • Palate: More custard notes on the palate, subtle smoke and black pepper, along with stewed fruit, cake spices and toasty oak.
  • Finish: Burnt sugar and cinnamon, with a hint of red berries.

Purchased at The Whisky Exchange for £69.55 and sampled from an unopened bottle in December 2017.

What else did we sample in our Après-ski evening:

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Swedish Whisky – Box Whisky Dálvve 46%

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Yet again we have returned to Sweden, compliments of our Swedish Whisky Lady’s summer trip to the land of her birth.

She brought this Box Whisky with her… carefully kept aside for just this occasion! A special Après-ski evening with whiskies from France, Switzerland and Austria.

Box Whisky Dálvve 46%

  • Nose – One coined the phrase “It is Scandi floss!” for it light sweet candy floss like aroma, then behind the sweet peaked some peat, overall impression is fresh, minimalist, with some citrus grapefruit, cedar wood
  • Palate – Not complicated yet exceedingly enjoyable, in keeping with the aromas – minimalist, peat and lightly sweet
  • Finish – Starts off slightly bitter then warms up in a lovely way

This was definitely a ‘thumbs up’ dram with exclamations like “Sweden rocks!” and “Mmmmm… really rather nice.”

We found it very drinkable, one of those happy to be home whiskies that can work even in Mumbai’s warm weather. A bright summer dram.

Here’s what the folks over at The Whisky Exchange have to say:

Dálvve is a medium-peated whisky that has been aged for around five years in first-fill bourbon casks. This is a sweet and smoky whisky with notes of vanilla.

Here’s what else we sampled that evening:

It was purchased in Sweden in August 2017 and opened from a closed bottle in December 2017.

Curious to try more Nordic whiskies? Check out the European whisky section with  Swedish whiskies:

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French Whisky? Michel Couvreur Special Vatting Malt Whisky 45%

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Is this whisky Scottish? French? Belgian? Spanish???

Michel Couvreur is Belgium. He and his team do not make whisky. Instead they buy “clearach” (a high proof distillate) from Scottish distilleries, import it to Bouze-les-Beaune, Burgandy, France where they are matured in small sherry casks (Pedro Ximenez and Palomino) from the Andalusia region of Spain, that have been “impregnated” with 25 years aging via traditional soleras.

The result? A most peculiar dram indeed…

First off, before we get to the tasting notes, you see that red wax cover? It took us considerable effort to chip away to remove… to discover a cork that required a corkscrew to pop out… like a bottle of wine.

Michel Couvreur Special Vatting Malt Whisky 45% (Bottle No 0941)

  • Nose – It was like peat and red wine collided, the tight red berries, spicy, then the aromas practically vanished to return quite sweet almost sugary
  • Palate – Plum, very sweet, a spice hit then mellows, black cherries, luscious taking on a very sweet quality
  • Finish – Dry, bitter, spice

We gave it some time to see if the character shifted… to find it settled into a super sweet yet light on the nose and a slightly odd quality on the palate. It was frankly a confusing whisky, one to have a conversation and pause with… shifting from being like red wine to white wine. Many couldn’t make up their mind whether they actually liked it… however the general consensus was we didn’t dislike it.

Described as being made by blending 3 peaty single malts from Scotland, “raised up” with sherry oak cask and then bottled in French Burgandian caves. For us, the peat was only there at the very start and then practically disappeared.

This whisky was picked up by one of our Whisky Ladies during her many globe trotting jaunts and opened in December 2017.

What all did we sample in our Après-ski:

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Whisky Ladies Après-ski

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With December, one often thinks of winter, skiing, coming in stomping off the snow, peeling off toque, scarf, mittens and many layers, settling down in front of a roaring fire to enjoy a drink, food, great company… all the while making merry.

Our Whisky Ladies decided to embrace a decidedly northern theme of “Après–ski” with European whiskies where one can also enjoy winter sports, even though it remains a balmy 27’c in Mumbai.

We began our evening with mulled wine made by our Swedish host and lebkuchen smuggled in from a recent trip to Germany… then quickly shifted gears to a rather remarkable line-up with a few whiskies anchoring the session with full pours and a couple of small shared samples picked up by a Whisky Lady while backpacking around Austria!

Here is what we tried:

*While matured in France using European barrels, strictly speaking the new make spirit is from Scotland… with the  most annoyingly difficult wax on the cork which required a ‘proper’ corkscrew to pop open. How peculiar! As is the whisky too…

As for the others, just click on the links and read what we thought!

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BMC’s Bourbon – Jefferson’s, St George, Blanton’s, Stagg

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Our Bombay Malt & Cigar (BMC) gents are definitely going beyond the borders of Scottish Single Malts… the latest in this flirting with other drams was an evening devoted to bourbon… with an American single malt whiskey thrown in for good measure!

So what did we sample?

You can also find more North American whiskies in the “US & Canada” page!

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“O Canada!” 150 years Whisky Celebration

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Most folks know I’m Canadian… though I’ve called India home for more than a decade.

And with Canada celebrating its 150th anniversary, it seemed fitting to have an evening devoted purely to Canadian whiskies…. before it was the  end of 2017!

What made the final cut are two whiskies I’d tried before and two which were completely new to me!

Followed by a wee nip of Barrel of Sunshine Liqueur 30%, courtesy of our friend’s at Shelter Point.

So there we were, middle of December, Christmas lights twinkling, glasses clinking and merriment all around.

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Peat Unusual – Ailsa Bay 48.9%

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1st up in our Peat Unusual session was Ailsa Bay…

This Lowlands distillery is part of the Girvain complex, owned by William Grant & Sons. Most of the output makes its way to blends however there was a recognition that a single malt expression should also make it to market.

What did our cigar chomping gents think?

Ailsa Bay 48.9%

  • Nose – Sweet and peat, raw bacon, honey cured ham, black pepper then cinnamon spice, smoked paprika, very sweet
  • Palate – Nice light spice, dry oaky candy, acrid smoke
  • Finish – Long bitter then turns sweet…. long
  • Water? Sweet toffee, butterscotch, no bacon and almost syrupy, even more sweet on the palate, still a bitter long finish

We set it aside to revisit… much more enjoyable however still more on the sweet side, not much variety, could even be described as ‘linear’ with a wintry quality.

Overall we thought not a bad start but not one we would run out to grab another bottle immediately.

So  what do we know?

Alisa Bay is purported to find balance between sweet and peat… which they strictly adhere  to 21 PPM for the peat then also measure the ‘sweet’ side too with their SPPM – at a level of 11 SPPM. They also use a ‘micro maturation’ process with the new make spirit filled into Hudson Baby Bourbon casks (25-100 Litres vs standard barrels with unto 200 Litres) for 6-9 months for an ‘intense rapid maturation’ then transferred to a mix of virgin and 1st fill American oak casks.

And Alisa Bay’s  tasting notes?

  • Nose: FRESH WOOD SMOKE WITH NOTES OF SMOULDERING DAMP HEATHER AND AN EXTINGUISHED BONFIRE. FOLLOWING THE SMOKE IS A WAVE OF OAKY SWEETNESS AND HOT BUTTERED TOAST WITH AN INTRIGUING HINT OF CARAMELISED APPLE.
  • Taste: AN IMMEDIATE PUNCH OF PEAT IS QUICKLY BALANCED BY A BURST OF VANILLA OAKINESS. THE FLAVOUR MEANDERS BETWEEN SMOKE, FRUIT, CREAMY TOFFEE AND BACK AGAIN. WITH EVERY SIP THE COMPLEXITY OF THE WHISKY DEEPENS AS LAYER UPON LAYER OF FLAVOUR IS REVEALED.
  • Finish: AN INTRIGUING BALANCE OF OAKY SWEETNESS AND PEATY DRYNESS.

Would we agree? Mostly… however complex? Not what we found.

While I can’t definitively confirm, I suspect this particular bottle made its way to us via The Whisky Exchange where it can be purchased for approx £55.55.

Our “peat unusual” whiskies….

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