Inspired by the prestigious French oak region, Limousin is a Swedish single malt whisky that combines our classic elegant Swedish whisky character with a deliciously ripe rich vinosity.
The flavours of the region are essential for this whisky and are highlighted by the use of French Limousin Oak casks that previously held Cognac from renowned Cognac House Ferrand.
To emphasise the fruitiness, we complemented the recipe with older Oloroso casks, as well as casks saturated with berry wine (Swedish cherry wine and forest raspberry wine) to add intrigue, complexity, and a touch of freshness.
Whisky Pioneer
Appearance
Mid gold with an orange hue, with a medium to thick swirl line and dropping slow medium legs and thick syrupy teardrops.
Nose
Straight off I’m getting a healthy dose of aromatic wood, and for 46% ABV it is quite punchy on the nose. There’s almost a smokiness here for me, mixed with sweet stoned fruits and red apple skins.
The nose does slowly develop, and it does become very red berry jam and pastry, jam tarts and Jammy dodgers very much come to mind. There is a fresh mineral water aroma too, and the integration between these red berries and wood is lovely.
More time and there are elements of a forest walk coming through, and yet strawberry lace sweets continue to bring the fruits out.
Palate
The palate is a big one initially, lots of spices, which I wasn’t expecting but are very welcome. Ginger and cinnamon, black pepper, and red liquorice throw themselves at me, chilli’s add some more spice before the fruitiness starts to take over.
Yes more red berries and fruit pies pile in, cranberries come with a little drying, with raisins and milk chocolate. Greengage comes through eventually, and green grapes too.
Finish
I’m finding dark chocolate, star anise, darker fruits that I’m presuming come from the Sherry cask portion, and it never dips below a warming spiciness, the finish is long side of medium in length.
My thoughts
I have to say that i do get excited when i know it’s time for the Whisky Pioneer monthly sample to come through my door, and i don’t like to know what it is before it does. I was aware of this release as my whiskey chaps partner has a sample sent to him by Mackmyra in Sweden, and i was so pleased that i was going to be able to try it.
Iv’e now been fortunate enough to taste over 600 whiskies, and Mackmyra are one of the distilleries that iv’e tasted most whisky from, and iv’e thoroughly enjoyed all iv’e tasted from them. At this point i’m wondering if the next one is the first that i don’t like, it certainly isn’t a problem with this bottling, i really like it.
For me it’s one of those slow developers, though it’s instantly spicy and palate filling, which is lovely, it takes sitting with a dram for a while to get the super fruity notes that are inside. I had a feeling of what to expect from the cask types, it took waiting with it to open up to access it all, slug it back and you’ll miss the show.
I very much like it, and would gladly have a bottle in my whisky cupboard.
This is the April 2022 release from the Whisky Pioneer whisky subscription, Whisky Pioneer can be found here.
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