Hven Tycho's Star

Let’s remain in Sweden some more and try a malt from Spirit of Hven. The distillery can be found on the island Hven in the strait between Sweden and Denmark. None other than astronomer Tycho Brahe lived on this island in the 16th Century (his museum is just a few kilometers south of the distillery). In 1572 Thycho discovered a supernova in the Cassiopeia constellation. This whisky was named after that and is distilled from unpeated and heavily peated malt and matured on American and French oak.

A lovely, dark and sweet scent with smoke fills the nose. Leather, honey, dried fruit, (over)ripe plums and tobacco. Chocolate with praline filling, but also loads of earthy notes and roots. It has a green edge, if you know what I mean. Even some tar, albeit in the back, but unmistakable. Very good nose.

The mouthfeel is rich and round, almost creamy. Again dark and sweet (some baked apples kick in), but with a lovely bitterness from the oak and liquorice. Coconut? Midpalate some maple syrup joins the fray, but it is mostly elderflower and honeydew that take the lead. This is very interesting. The peat is very outspoken, making this quite the smoky malt.

The finish is short to medium long, smoky sweet and quite herbal.

My first encounter with the Spirit of Hven was a very pleasant one. Thank youj, Fréderic, for the sample.