Fary Lochan Danish Single Malt Whisky

Spirit Name: Rating:	Fary Lochan Danish Single Malt Whisky (Cask Sample, No 2010-03) ★★★★★
Score:	86/100
ABV:	51.3%
Region:	Denmark
Body:	Medium
Intensity:	High (dry and piercing)
Texture:	Medium
Balance:	Superb
Best served:	Neat
Theme(s):	This is a young whisky bottled at 51.3% ABV, and yet it offers a friendly Danish demeanor that shines with some impressive complexity and very pleasant sweet notes that intermingle with some oak influence and the beautifully crafted distillate. This is a very dry whisky, reminiscent in some ways of a cask strength English style cask strength rum but with a wet dough theme.
Tasting notes:	All the way from Denmark comes a sample of Fary Lochan straight from the cask! Nose: Young and yet, pleasant. This whisky does not have the unpleasant notes that accompany new spirit, though it could use with some more time in the barrel to develop some more complexity and mellow the piercing hit of alcohol. This is fine distilling! There is a very mild wet dough made from white flour as the sweetness of ripe mixed berries develop with anise seed and the crunch of fennel with gentle earthy bay-leaf. The sweet berries develop into red and black jelly beans, as the piercing dryness offers notes of vanilla and sweet dates. The sugars are beautiful, bursting on the nose like a freshly opened bag of lollies/soft candy. Taste: Gloriously powerful and beautifully balanced, the sweetness does not dominate as cardboard intermingles with the dough; very similar to when some cardboard sticks to the bottom of a soggy pizza. There is a dense piercing sweetness that with a splash of water releases an earthy grain rich, almost “organic”, foray of multi grain bread layered with orange peel and grape seed marmalade. There is a very pleasant note that is difficult to identify, but it shines with a fruit confectionary sweetness that is encased in rich grain and creamy alcohol. The character explodes on the tongue, and bursts into a dry cloud of steamy alcohol. Finish: How beautiful it is to taste this distillate, with its energy swirling on the palate as it spits out its complex raw materials; beautiful work from Fary Lochan. This is what European whisky should be, young and energetic with beautiful sweet notes and complexity but without the unsavoury “stench” that I have found in some other European whiskies.
Likes:	Despite its obvious youth there is pleasantness about this whisky that makes it very drinkable.
Dislikes:	This whisky could be a little more complex, but it is young and this seems to follow a trend in European whisky. Fary Lochan is one of the best European whiskies I have tasted so far, because while it is young it still has some complexity but without the unsavoury new spirit notes. Taste this with an open mind.
Price:	N/A