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| Hi, this is one of our (almost) daily tastings. Santé! |
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December 2, 2025 |
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The World Sessions,
today Whiskies from France to the Southern Hemisphere |
As usual, we’re kicking off this little journey around the world (or almost) from France.
(La Buse's flag, 18th Century) |
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Bows 2021/2025 (45.5%, Version Française by La Maison du Whisky, French oak cask, cask #B106, 206 bottles) 
A distillery based in the Aude region offering here a blend of 80% maize and 20% malted barley. Even though there’s no rye whatsoever, we ought to be edging rather close to a bourbon… Colour: dark amber. Nose: heavily varnished and nicely acetic to start with, showing firm notes of balsamic vinegar, then roasted peanuts, dark nougat and wee touches of baked aubergine. Everything holds together marvellously on the nose. Basaltic impressions. Mouth: a little fruitier, a little more resinous too, yet that roasted peanut comes further to the fore, backed up by liquorice, more of that balsamic tang and even a slightly acidic espresso note. Finish: fairly long, considerably drier, quite peppery, leaning much more towards coffee, extra-dark chocolate and green walnut liqueur. The aftertaste is delightfully bitter. Comments: forgive me, but we’re rather closer to one of those new American ‘craft’ malts than to any classic bourbon. The whole thing works like a musical score, especially if, like me, you’re fond of bitterness.
SGP:461 - 87 points. |
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Northmaen ‘Cuvée 1110’ (48%, OB, France, batch 1/2021, 1,000 bottles)
A vatting put together by our friend Grégoire ‘Greg’ Sarafian. Northmaen is a small brewery in Normandy. This single malt was matured in both oak and acacia. Colour: gold. Nose: unusual but rather lovely, perhaps it’s the acacia wood speaking, faintly reminiscent of certain Westland bottlings from much further west. Wee hints of Marmite, fir needles, a mint-and-eucalyptus combo, spruce, preserved lemon and, increasingly, semillon and citron. Very attractive nose—if the palate’s up to par, we might be dealing with a wee prize-winner here. Mouth: starts off most charmingly, slightly medicinal (toothpaste) but with pink pepper, citrus fruits, then once again that mintiness mixed with white wine and a splash of fir bud liqueur. One might have wished for just a few more volts. Finish: fairly long, consistent, slightly more marked by the wood—likely the acacia—but everything remains crisp and fresh. Comments: it stood its ground brilliantly after the excellent Bows, offering a fresher, brighter profile. Vive la France! (come on, S.)
SGP:551 - 87 points. |
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La Roja ‘Silencio N°1’ (56.4%, OB, Switzerland, +/-2025)
A roughly 3-year-old Swiss single malt drawn from a single cask and a single field. The distillery is located in the canton of Vaud. Colour: white wine. Nose: this is very close to the barley, to the field, to the earth, with chalky soil and touches of limestone, then green apple gradually shifting towards lemon. No need to tell you we’re fond of this sort of very natural development. What’s more, it’s an organic whisky. With water: plenty of damp soil, which we’re always partial to. This baby brings to mind some of those Nordic malts. Mouth (neat): very good, with apple and pepper forming a rather unexpected and punchy duo. Subtle honeyed notes. With water: excellent again, along similar lines but now also showing sweet roots. Finish: nicely long, with a slightly oilier texture. Barley syrup and hints of fresh turmeric. Comments: very good indeed, though one does wonder why they called it ‘Silencio’, as it seems anything but silent to us.
SGP:551 - 85 points. |
Come on—let’s switch hemispheres… |
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Old Sey Wisky 10 yo ‘The Family Reserve’ (43%, OB, La Buse, Seychelles, +/-2025) 
The sort of whisky – though they write wisky on the label, which is intriguing, let’s admit it, perhaps it’s Creole? – that one enjoys discovering and tasting, a bit like those legendary curiosities such as Ankara in Turkey, Old Havana in Cuba, or countless others from across the globe. In any case, I rather doubt the government of the Seychelles has formally regulated a ‘Whisky of the Seychelles’ category, so one might expect anything, including grain alcohol sourced from places like India, along with the addition of more local spirits, rum included. Still, the label does state clearly ‘Distilled, blended and bottled in Seychelles’. Come on then, let’s be brave, it’s for our noble cause… Incidentally, this Old Sey is offered by a firm called La Buse, and La Buse, aka Olivier Levasseur, was a very famous French pirate in the Indian Ocean during the 18th century. That might explain quite a few things… Let’s have a go? Colour: gold. Nose: this is far from your usual whisky, more like a kind of pine or resinous liqueur, with a dash of aniseed and some very prominent cinnamon. If that is indeed cinnamon, all the better – there are plenty of cinnamon trees in the Seychelles. Mouth: very sweet and even more marked by the cinnamon, with touches of Underberg or other very herbal… and sugary… drinks. Finish: medium in length, slightly more earthy, which again pulls it even closer to cinnamon. Comments: a sort of liquid cinnamon drop, not entirely unpleasant in itself, but it has absolutely nothing to do with whisky. Perhaps in Seychellois Creole, ‘wisky’ simply doesn’t mean ‘whisky’.
SGP:660 - 50 points. |
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Thomson ‘Manuka Wood Smoke’ (46%, OB, New Zealand, +/-2025) 
It’s true we’re far more accustomed to manuka honey than to malt whisky smoked with manuka wood. Generally speaking, it leans rather towards eucalyptus, but let’s see what gives, shall we… Colour: gold. Nose: fairly odd, briny gherkin juice and burnt rubber, a bit like a gang of Hell’s Angels doing burnouts on their old shovelheads. The strange thing is—it’s not unpleasant in the slightest. Lovely notes of pickled samphire, tiny onions and lemons. Mouth: really quite strange, salty, again with heavy burnt rubber, green pepper, fir ash and something akin to certain types of shochu. Still, we rather enjoy all this quirky business. Finish: same story. That ‘burnt tyre impression’ lingers right through to the end of the aftertaste. Pencil shavings too. Comments: bags of fun, even if it’s about as far from whisky orthodoxy as you can get.
SGP:373 - 84 points. |
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The Gospel Straight Rye Whisky (45%, OB, Australia, +/-2024)
We’re in Melbourne, Australia this time, and this is 100% rye. Colour: amber. Nose: this is a soft and well-mannered rye, as all Australians tend to be, don’t they. Lovely notes of lightly buttered rye bread with one’s pinkie raised (why not), then speculoos, pumpernickel, pinecones and a touch of geranium. It’s not complicated, but it’s very precise and utterly charming—provided you like rye, of course. I do. Mouth: fruitier now, on ripe strawberries with black pepper, orange zest, gingerbread and faint hints of lavender pastilles. Still just as charming, with the oak feeling less prominent than in most US or even EU ryes, or so it seems. Finish: medium length, more on herbal sweets—somewhere between Fisherman’s Friend and Ricola. Comments: to be honest, I like this a lot. It’s fresh and rather singular.
SGP:561 - 85 points. |
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Sullivan’s Cove 25 yo 1999/2025 (47.8%, OB, Australia, American Oak second fill, cask #HH0010) 
A celebratory bottling straight from Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. We’d tasted some excellent 2000-vintage Sullivan’s Coves back in the day (WF 85–87), but that was over a decade ago. I don’t believe I’ve ever tried a 1999 before, mind you. Colour: gold. Nose: highly unusual, starting on Alba white truffle (€4K a kilo!), game birds and exhaust fumes, then the citrus begins to shine through and everything settles beautifully, shifting towards pink grapefruit and fresh mango, with just a few whiffs of camphor and a trace of mild curry. It’s not often you get a nose evolving this much in, what, thirty seconds flat? Mouth: citrus and spice locked in a near-endless brawl before collapsing into each other’s arms. Cinnamon, nutmeg, grapefruit, oregano, kumquats, grey pepper, paprika, Seville oranges… Finish: and it just keeps going… A hint of ashes, raw cocoa and stout in the aftertaste. Comments: I love it. This little gem also reminds us how much time truly remains an essential ingredient in great whisky. Cheers Sullivan’s Cove! And long live the truffle…
SGP:562 - 89 points. |
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Sullivan’s Cove 25 yo 1999/2025 (47.6%, OB, Australia, American Oak ex-bourbon, cask #HH0056)
We were expecting a touch more impact from the American oak… Colour: pale gold. Nose: well then, once again we stand corrected. Yes, it’s a little rounder, a little more honeyed, more polished, but also fruitier, on mangoes, mirabelles, quinces, and nicely overripe bananas… The truffle and exhaust fumes have all but vanished (just to be clear, we’re terribly fond of exhaust fumes in our whisky). In truth, this baby’s far more classical, and without doubt considerably less of a ‘bad boy’ than its sibling. Mouth: indeed, more classic, still spicy but also showing a comforting fruitiness, full of zest, tropical fruits and tiny salted preserved lemons, very much in the Italian style. Pepper and rather pronounced notes of hops round off the composition. Finish: long, with an unexpected return of the faintly ‘foxy’ notes we found in the previous one. That’s the truffle for you… Comments: I do have a slight preference for the second fill, as it’s a tad more ‘deviant’, in the best possible sense, but not enough to score them differently. Truly great whiskies from Downunda, as our dear old mate Craig D. might say. Cheers, Craig!
SGP:662 - 89 points. |
We’ll wrap up this rather exciting little session with another distillery from Downunda that we’re absolutely in love with… |
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Hellyers Road 10 yo 2014/2025 ‘The Narrow Road’ (58.1%, La Maison du Whisky Ex-Libris, Itinéraires, Australia, oloroso sherry cask, cask #14129.09, 141 bottles)
A tribute to Australian writer Richard Flanagan and his The Narrow Road to the Deep North, which, according to some AI, ‘follows an Australian surgeon captured during WWII and forced to work on the Thai–Burma Death Railway, exploring guilt, lost love, and the lasting moral scars of war’. (Editor’s note: let us never forget the immense role played by spirits in wartime medicine, right up to the present day, faced with the new barbarians around us.) Colour: rich gold. Nose: yes and no. Yes, because of that superb bready spiciness, and no, because the zesty, vibrant side of Hellyers Road’s otherwise flabbergasting distillate seems a little ‘buried’ beneath the sherry blanket. With water: brilliant, though perhaps a shade less stunning than those bourbon cask versions that blow your hat off. Mouth (neat): stunning blood oranges paired with interstellar ginger and peppery cherries of the superlative kind. It’s just so ‘immediate’. With water: exceedingly difficult to pin down. It’s magical, though that inexplicably ‘cherried’ side of the sherry (no joke) slightly muddies the waters for this distillate we’re so fond of. I know, I’m labouring the point. Finish: magnificent. Comments: I truly don’t know what to make of this über-fruity youngster. Still, love Hellyers Road regardless—more of those coming very soon on WF.
SGP:751 - 87 points. |
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