Fary Lochan is the 5th Danish distillery to release a young whisky within the last 2-3 years or so. The sample i got was of a 3yo whisky, But is supposedly the best whisky yet to come out of Denmark.
Fary Lochan was founded by Jens-Erik Jørgensen, who also works for the Danish customs and the distillery is a side project of his in his spare time.So far FL produced 25 casks a year from and from 2010 Fary Lochan makes 4 different whiskies, named after the seasons:
Autumn: Smoked to 1.5ppm. Ex-bourbon matured, married in ex-sherry.
Winter: Smoked to 13ppm. Ex-bourbon casks (supposedly aged in some ex-Laphroaig casks as well)
Spring: Smoked to 7ppm. Ex-bourbon.
Summer: Ex-bourbon. No smoke.
The source of the barley used is is home made smoked barley with nettles as “fuel”. The undiluted homemade barley is 50ppm.
This is the first official release and it’s the autumnal kind and is a vatting of quarter casks married in a sherry butt for 5 months. The outturn was 511 50cl bottles and 555 5cl miniatures. I got a 50 ml miniature with the help of Steffen Brauner , a well known Danish whisky lover, blogger and enthusiast, who is also quite proud of this Danish distillery- thank you Steffen!
Fary Lochan Efterår Batch 1, 48% abv, 3 year old
Nose: Very sweet and spicy too with fresh green bananas, some pine wood notes as well as well as cinnamon, bubble gum, vanilla and white pepper.
Palate: Oh. that feels very strong, with loads of vanilla, malt and cereal and a certain vegetal note i can not put my finger on.Biscuits and mulled wine.
Finish: Fruity, lots of sugar and spice.
It’s obviously very young, yet shows promise. should be very interesting in say, 4-5 years time, and indeed tastes like real whisky, and far better than a few other Danish whiskies I’ve tried in recent months, which is really good news! This is a whisky without blemishes or odd flavours or aromas and that is very cool indeed. The only downside is the price since the operation is very small, but hopefully prices will drop once the distillery produces more spirit in the future.
Score: 76/100
Official sample provided by Fary Lochan. Again, many thanks to Steffen for helping spread the word and whisky.
Slainte!
Tried it and felt bitter and aggressive tanning in the whisky and little else apart from a woody smell and taste. In my opinion better wood management is required.