Kategoriarkiv: Box

Box, High Coast, Sweden

High Coast Silent Mills Collection 04

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ABV: 51 %
Origin: Sweden
Type: Single Malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 2/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is sweet oak and mild peat. At first there’s a sharp sourness coated with honey and vanilla. There’s an immidiate oakiness connected to the vanilla. It sits together with a mild and moist peatiness. The whole thing feels young and a bit prickly. There’s a slight ripe note underneath but most of the flavours are drowned by the boring, fresh oakiness. There’s a minty note on top and a fresher fruitiness somewhere within as well. This is a so-and-so nose. It feels unbalanced and over-oaked.

Mouth: It starts out with a big spicy kick and a sour maltiness. The oakiness is not holding back and covers the edges and soon most of the palate. There’s a mix of ripe fruits, a wet peatiness and vanilla, but everything feels detached from the oak. The flavours within do put up a better fight on the palate than they did on the nose, but everything still feels like it’s too young with a rushed cask maturation. There’s bitter tang in the back as well as sweet liquorice but it makes the profile more confusing rather than contributing to the whole.

Finish: The transition begins with an increase in spicyness and the oakiness starts to become dry and astringent almost from the get-go. The ripe assorted fruits and the way too mild peat hide in the back with the bitter and sour notes. The oakiness spreads out over the palate and creates an entire woodshop. The late finish sees some bitterness in the back as well. This isn’t the best of whiskies. It lacks balance, age and feels a bit over-engineered.

Additional information
This whisky was aged in a mix of ex-bourbon barrels (75 %) and ex-port casks (25 %). The whisky is between 6-10 years old. 6200 bottles were released. It’s unchillfiltered and has natural colour.

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Box, High Coast, Sweden

High Coast Harbour Collection 02 – Bönhamn

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ABV: 51 %
Origin: Sweden
Type: Single Malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 3/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is sweet and fruity. At first there’s a sweet vanilla and oak center part and a bright fruitiness, with a sour accent, surrounding it. It’s a bit harsh and spicy from the get-go and it needs a good amount of time in the glass to settle down. When it settles a mild peatiness is available. There are also notes of ginger, cinnamon, honey and lemon. Baked pears and marzipan slowly seeps through from the back as well. This is a great nose as long as it gets time to breathe.

Mouth: It starts out with an oakiness out on the edges of the palate. Soon there’s a sweet mix of peat, vanilla and honey building up in the center. There’s bitter dark chocolate in the back which increases in intensity throughout. It’s not as fruity as on the nose and the lemon note is almost gone, but the baked fruits are still in there. The oakiness moves in towards the center and it feels a bit crowded in the middle. The flavours seem to be a bit mismatched. The ginger also return after a while which adds to this notion.

Finish: The transition increases the spicyness a lot. Otherwise, the dark chocolate bitterness in the back just keeps on ramping up. The fruitiness shows up around the edges and the peat is there as well, but it almost feels forgotten at this point. It adds an earthy note to the oakiness though, which finally do beat the dark chocolate note. It leaves a string of bitterness behind though. The oakiness left behind is a decent one but, with everything else in disarray, it almost feels like it’s there to salvage what’s left. It’s a decent oakiness though with a mix of new and old attached to it. This is a good whisky with a great nose. It’s a bit too busy and nothing seem to sit in the right spot.

Additional information
This whisky was aged in a mix of ex-bourbon barrels (80 %) and ex-cognac casks (20 %). The whisky is about 8-9 years old. 5536 bottles were released. It’s unchillfiltered and has natural colour.

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Box, High Coast, Sweden

Sweden Rock 21 – Ny Amerikansk Ek (Box)

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ABV: 40 %
Origin: Sweden
Type: Single Malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 1
Impression: 2/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is sweet and oaky. At first there’s a big hit from the charred oak with vanilla and a dry charcoal smokiness. Underneath lies a thin layer of red berries and a fresh sour lemon as well. It’s got an initial bourbon character which mellows out with time in the glass which gives more room for the distillate to shine through. After a while a thin butterscotch note emerges from the background. This is a decent nose but it feels a bit over-oaked which hides the nice flavours underneath.

Mouth: It starts out with a very prickly spicyness coming from the wood followed by the heavy oakiness. The charcoal is less noticable on the palate. It’s actually quite unpleasant at first. When it settles a bit there’s a lemon note in the back as well as a feint butterscotch note. The red berries do come through for those who wait long enough. The distillate comes through as a bit flat due to the low ABV, but the wood spices are already attacking the palate enough.

Finish: The finish starts out with a mix of ripe red berries and butterscotch coming through from the back as the wood spices take a much needed brake for a second or two. They return once again though and together with the wood obscures most of the flavours all the way through the finish. The charcoal returns in the late finish. This is a so and so whisky which is way too oaky and spicy. It feels unbalanced and leaves a lot of the nice flavours obscured by the heavy oakiness. This should do well as a base for longdrinks and cocktails though.

Additional information
This is a limited edition swedish whisky made by the Box Distillery and blended by Agitator whisky maker for the Sweden Rock festival. It’s aged for at least 5-6 years in a mix of heavily charred new oak casks and ex-Oloroso sherry casks.

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Box, High Coast, Sweden

Box Dálvve

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ABV: 46 %
Origin: Sweden
Type: Single malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 4/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is young and peaty. At first there’s a menthol layer sitting above a fresh herbaceous peatiness. There’s vanilla and some green fruits starting to come through after a few seconds. There’s also a small hint of play-doh floating around in the middle of everything. The peatiness evolves slowly towards ashes and burning tobacco and the smoke mixes with the menthol. It becomes sweeter with time in the glass. This is a nice and interesting nose.

Mouth: It starts out quite spicy with a fruity bottom layer. The peat arrives right away and it’s creating an outer layer together with honey and vanilla. It’s still herbaceous with a side note of tobacco. In the middle there’s a maltiness and a savory note. There’s also a bitter black coffee note and freshly planed oak. It still feels young and unsettled, but there are a lot of flavours seeking attention.

Finish: The menthol returns for a quick but substancial visit and then just sort of lingers through the entire finish. Next to come through are both the peaty outer layer and the honey sweet and malty core. The fruitiness is still there, but never really breaks through the big flavours up front. Eventually the oak shows up and it’s nice enough, but feels a bit characterless. The bitter coffee note is not as pronounced in the finish as it is in the mouth. This is a great, albeit young whisky with a lot to offer.

Additional information
This whisky is matured for about 5 years in american ex-bourbon barrels. The distillate is made from 24 % peated malt and 76 % unpeated. The peated malt has a ppm level of 39. It’s unchillfiltered and has natural colour. This is batch 003.

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