High Coast
HAV
Hav Whisky is
part of a collection of 4 beverages that are dedicated to the location of the
distillery, its history and its geographical place. This is the Origin series.
Hav means sea, in the majestic landscape of a
world heritage site, the High Coast distillery is located where the beautiful
river Ångermanälven flows into the sea. Here the river is about to reach the
coast and slowly disappear into the world, just like our single malt whisky. (From the distillery's website).
So we have a
Single Malt composed of 76,82% of unpeated whisky and 23,18% of peated whisky.
This is where Belgium comes into play because part of the peated malt comes
from the Malterie du Château, the oldest malt house in Belgium and one of the
oldest in the world, located near the splendid castle of Beloeil.
But for whisky,
you need barrels; here too they have given themselves free rein and had a great
time with the barrels.
66.85% matured in
small Hungarian and Swedish oak barrels for 5 months and then transferred to Kentucky
Bourbon barrels for an average of 6.09 years.
30.84% matured
only in Bourbon barrels.
2.31% was
finished in 40 liter Hungarian oak barrels.
But let's get
down to business, Denis serves us a tasting glass.
On the nose, I
have a sensation of sweet caramel, nutmeg and clove all accompanied by a light
peat.
The inscription
on the bottle informs me about a rate of 48% Alc, which is not bad for a single
malt.
But I am
surprised by its sweetness in the mouth despite the pepper, the chili that are
well coated with fruits like apple and peach. We can find here and there
ginger, star anise and always our smoked note. The oak is also very present
when we take the time to taste it well and to cover the mouth with the
contribution of saliva because as Richard Paterson says: If I see one swallowing his whisky dry, I'll shoot him in the ass.
On the other
hand, when it comes back from the mouth and when it passes through the throat, the
alcohol content is quite present.
Well after this
first tasting, I still have that clove and vanilla flavor in my mouth but the
peaty smokiness is completely gone.
The tasting was
done on 3 glasses of a Swedish whisky drawn at 48% Alc and a 70 cl bottle.
In conclusion:
Thank you Denis for this beautiful discovery, I think I will have a copy of
this range in my cupboard and as my future grandson will have a name of Swedish
origin, I will share it with his other grandfather to celebrate the birth.
Price at the time
of writing: 53euros.