Thursday 9 May 2019 Smögen Distillery will release their 8 YO whisky! Quite cool that the young Swedish distillery “already” has an 8 YO!
Smögen 8 YO was distilled in March 2011, the year after they started production, and then matured in four First Fill Sauternes cask (barriques) #4&8-10/2011 made of French oak until April 2019, which makes it 8 YO. It is bottled at 57,8 ABV into 1628 bottles. The whisky is, as always from Smögen, heavily peated.
I usually find the combination of heavily peated whisky and Sauternes casks to be really good, at least if the peat is nicely integrated. Read my opinion on Smögen Single Cask 7/2011 Sauternes and Kilchoman Sauternes Cask Matured.
Sweet peat on the nose. A warm fruitiness of baked apples and ripe peaches. Spicy with ginger, nutmeg and the sweetness from white pepper. A hint of bouillon mixed with eucalyptus(!). Rich and peaty on the palate! Wow! A massive whisky with the peat well integrated. The peat dominates at first. Then the sweetness appears again with baked apples and cantaloupe – and some caramel. Still spicy. I get black pepper, cardamom and nutmeg. The whisky lingers with a peaty and warm sweetness. White pepper and caramel. A bit dry.
My score: nose 21 / taste 22 / finish 21 / balance 22 = 86
-Tone
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