Säntis Malt Edition Dreifaltigkeit
Swiss Alpine whisky. On beer casks.
"Have you ever heard of Säntis Malt?"
I still remember the question. I was hosting a tasting at my house for some neighbours and they asked me this question.
The answer was yes, I did hear about this Swiss whisky, but no, I did not try it yet.
A couple of months passed and my wife let me know we were visiting those same neighbours for coffee.
At that coffee meet, I was gifted this bottle of Swiss whisky: Säntis Malt. The Dreifaltigkeit edition. An "Appenzeller" Single Malt.
With almost 10 years of working in cheese shops, the only Appenzeller I knew was this Swiss cheese that is a great flavour maker in a good fondue.
But it is a place in Switzerland, close to Liechenstein, just south of the Bodensee.
And in Appenzell, you have a beer brewery called Brauerei Locher that makes Appenzeller beer.
And yes, from beer it is a small step to distilling whisky!
Ok, on to the whisky. Since the brewery had oak beer barrels available, it should not be a surprise that this whisky has been aged on those ex-beer casks. Bottled at 52% Vol, this whisky was bottled cask strength. Non chill filtered.
Now normally this is where I go into details on color, nose etc.
Not this time, at least, not all.
The color is a very dark reddish brown, it is the natural color of this dram. The whisky will stick to my glass after swishing it through the glass and leaves thin but thick legs dropping down.
And this is where I'll divert from my normal process. To get to the point:
This whisky is a hit or miss. You'll either like it, or you'll hate it.
Let me explain: The first time I tried this dram, I had a flashback to my teenage years, arguing with my father about eating a pack of Schwarzwalder Schinken almost daily. That is German for Black Forest Ham. If you know that ham, you'll know it has a certain smokey flavour that is very recognisable.
On the nose I encountered something sour and some honey, next to some tannines like wet leather and old tobacco. But already some funky smoke notes.
With the first sip, I got something I can only describe as liquid smoked Schwarzwalder Schinken. And not much else since I can't get past it. Insane.
The finish leaves a fresh, spruce smoke-like menthol note, which I like.
It must be the Alpine moors peat that has been used, but on the taste it is all I get: Very intense liquid smoked ham. And I love that. However, a buddy of mine tried it and found it to be disgusting. So, Like I said, this might be a hit or miss.
Thank you Joanne and Jeroen, for this very interesting dram that is right up my ally.
I'll share some with you soon!