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| Hi, this is one of our (almost) daily tastings. Santé! |
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April 17, 2026 |
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The World Sessions,
Another small world tour of whisky |
Always a pleasure, all the more so as there are plenty about at the moment. We’ll begin in France, then wander wherever the mood takes us, with no real logic to it. All we know so far is that we’ll start with France and finish with South Korea, if you agree.
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Domaine des Hautes Glaces 2017/2025 ‘Episteme B17P25 Gabert’ (45%, OB, single malt, France) 
A parcellaire whisky offered at a rather civilised strength, which is just the ticket to begin this session. Colour: white wine. Nose: pear, fresh marzipan and hay speak first, which is altogether logical, then we move towards fresh bread dough, which is no less logical. Finally, a few touches of caraway and anise appear, is there caraway in the fields of the parcelle Gabert? Mouth: very lively, very much on white fruits and lemon, almond milk, earth, chalk, while the pear remains, which we rather like of course. Barley too, it is all pure and fresh. Finish: good length, on similar notes, always fresh and ultimately rather mountain-like. Right. Comments: it is the purity that we like most here, along with those slightly earthy pear notes. We are great fans of DHG in any case.
SGP:551 - 88 points. |
On the subject of fields… |
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London Distillery ‘Release No.1: a field in England’ (50%, OB, England, The Golden Union, hogshead and barrel, 973 bottles) 
Colour: pale gold. Nose: it is perhaps no surprise that there are similarities with the DHG, yet here we are closer to barley, cereals, damp earth. It is true that in England the earth is often wet (clever that, S.) A little coconut from the American oak. With water: touches of very fruity varnish and a family-sized bag of liquorice allsorts. Mouth (neat): pear of course, but also little fruit sweets of all kinds, especially citrus. Lemon drops. With water: it continues on a pleasing balance of fruit sweets and slightly earthy barley. The pear lingers around. Finish: not immense but balanced, still on those fruity notes. Comments: typical of a very young malt, rather light yet very well made. It will gain in complexity with time, but it will not necessarily require many years for that.
SGP:641 - 84 points. |
Let’s linger in England a bit longer… |
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London Rye 2018/2023 ‘Chardonnay’ (57.6%, OB, East London, England, cask #57) 
45% malted rye and the rest is Maris Otter barley, both from Norfolk. We learn a great many details about the production on the bottle, except the origin of that famous chardonnay. English chardonnay? Colour: gold. Nose: earthier than the others, more rustic, with a slight rubbery side and flint. The rye is not hugely expressive for now, apart from a very faint curry note. It may be the high strength. With water: flint and vanilla with menthol touches. Mouth (neat): we prefer it by far on the palate, thanks to this very fine mix of lemon and pepper that takes the lead for now. With water: there we are, the rye asserts itself, the chardonnay remains relatively discreet, the whole becomes really rather lovely and more streamlined. Finish: fairly long and really quite pretty with water. Comments: it adores water. You will tell me, this is England (now that was even poorer, S.)
SGP:561 - 85 points. |
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Smögen 11 yo 2014/2025 (60%, OB for The Whisky Blues, Sweden, cask #12, 280 bottles) 
There is probably not much to say at this precise moment, so we shall tell the tale of the Swede from the far north sawing wood, when a Native American chief arrives and… forget all that, we believe it is rather a Canadian joke. Colour: white wine. Nose: olives and smoked almonds, well now! Then a fireplace full of yesterday’s ashes, early in the morning. At this strength, we do not push too far. With water: a little fresh paint and fresh putty, linseed oil, and above all that peat as precise as a Swiss watch. Mouth (neat): the perfect Smögen peat, sharp as a blade. The olives linger around. With water: everything maritime comes rushing in, oysters, whelks, seaweed, plus a tiny touch of chilli. Finish: the same for quite a while. Lime. Comments: top European peater, but everyone knows that by now. We must admit we had our score in mind even before the first sniff, all the more so as this was a classic cask, not P’X in mizunara’. Right.
SGP:466 - 91 points. |
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Amrut 8 yo 2016/2025 ‘Triple Distilled’ (60%, OB, for LMDW, India, bourbon barrel, cask #3976, 120 bottles)
Colour: full gold. Nose: very pretty, curiously rich on the nose, then it starts firing off very ripe mangoes coated in vanilla cream, and even a rather lovely mix of white mulberries, white chocolate and pink pepper. With water: more vanilla, quite simply. Mouth (neat): a real treat, filled to the brim with ripe sweet mango, passion fruit, pink pepper, blood orange… all of it rather concentrated in fact. With water: a little livelier, less, shall we say, liqueur-like, and more on citrus. Pink grapefruit arrives. Finish: fairly long, with unexpected saline notes, probably triggered by some molecule or other. Comments: what a magnificent and rather explosive fruitiness, typically Amrutian.
SGP:751 - 88 points. |
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A little break before moving on to the next, bottled at a significantly lower strength… |
Puni ‘Vina’ (43%, OB, Italy, Marsala, +/-2025)
Here we are in the Italian Alps, with one of the most extravagant packaging of recent decades, apart from the decanters of those super-deluxe-premium-de-la-muerte malts by pushy brands, of course. Colour: light gold. Nose: improving, that is certain. Cakes, breads, barley, stewed apples, fresh walnuts, a touch of liquorice, in short all is well. Mouth: apple cake, with touches of lemon juice and a small bowl of porridge alongside. The wine is here a dry and fortified ‘vergine’ Marsala, so all is well on that front. Finish: not immense but consistent with the rest. Comments: we even find a slight dry grillo character from a great house, such as De Bartoli, right. Well, it is really rather good now, nothing to complain about, bravo Italy.
SGP:451 - 85 points. |
| Let’s go a bit further north… |
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Heiligenbergfeld 4 yo 2021/2025 (58.7%, OB, for Whisky Blibliothek, Germany, 1st fill amontillado, cask #1, 238 bottles)
A new whisky from Bavaria! And bravo, the name is even more complicated than those of Bunnahabhain and Bruichladdich combined, which must surely be a good sign. To simplify matters further, the distillery is located in Herrsching-am-Ammersee, on the shores of the eponymous lake, to the west of Munich. Colour: deep gold. Nose: enough joking, here is a very fine nose, on toasted hazelnuts, Breton-style butter cake (kouign amann) and walnut liqueur. Nothing to complain about at this stage. With water: more of the distillate emerges, on cereals, bread and even, dare we say, pumpernickel. Since we are in Germany, after all… Also touches of leather polish, for the lederhosen perhaps. Mouth (neat): the amontillado does its job and does it well. A great deal of green walnut liqueur (nocino) with a serious dose of crushed pepper and very dark chocolate, at least 80% cocoa. With water: more singular, with touches of curry, pepper sauce, roots… Enzian? Finish: long and a fine summary of all that came before. Comments: the level is really rising everywhere, it is splendid.
SGP:361 - 86 points. |
We’ll end in Korea, though we’ll quite literally have plenty more whiskies from around the world in the weeks ahead. Indeed, whiskies ‘from the rest of the world’, as our dear Scottish friends would have said only twenty years ago… |
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Kimchangsoo 2021/2025 (50.8%, OB, Korea, travel exclusive, 1st fill European oloroso sherry quarter cask, 138 bottles)
71% malted barley, 29% malted rye. We very much enjoyed the first whiskies from the small distillery in Gimpo, South Korea, so let us try this new K-whisky. Colour: copper gold. Nose: do not ask us why, we immediately think of Millstone, this one being only a little lighter. Metal polish, walnuts, orange peel, farmhouse bread, grapeseed oil, then once again pumpernickel. An extremely fine nose indeed. With water: fresh walnuts take control. The rye seems relatively discreet to us, yet it is there, let us not forget it has been malted. Mouth (neat): excellent, on chocolate with pepper and walnuts, then a gentle arabica note but also some cardamom. Toasted pine nuts. With water: absolutely superb. Bitters, walnuts, amaro and so on. Finish: long, with a return of the metal polish and the arrival of touches of fresh strawberries. Never underestimate strawberries; they are often there, subtly, discretely. Comments: it does not absolutely require water to be enjoyed, yet in any case it is a little beauty crafted with care. It would of course be sacrilege, but we rather fancy trying it as a Campari-orange. We mean, as a Kimchangsoo-orange. Perhaps this evening… In any case, we absolutely love it. We shall have more Kimchangsoo soon and we already look forward to it.
SGP:562 - 90 points. |
The days when we tasted ‘world whiskies’ with our noses pinched, knocking back litres of water between each dram just to get it down, are well and truly behind us. A very long way behind. |
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