Langatun Old Bear 2009

In 1857 Jakob Baumberger founded a distillery and brewery in Langatun (nowadays Langenthal, Switzerland) on the farm of his father. The logo was a bear. As an homage Baumberger’s kin now distills Old Bear, a peaty whisky that has matured on former wine casks from Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Langatun also produces a non-peated whisky under the banner Old Deer. Old Bear is launched in yearly batches, both at 40% and at cask strength. My buddy Marc D provided me with a sample at drinking strength.

Lovely nose on gooseberries, Turkish Delight, orange peel and a bit of smoke. Juicy flower honey. Green wood, snapped young twigs. Red berries after a while. Pleasant.

It is very soft on the palate. The smoke quickly grows to impressive proportions, but the malt also turns very sweet all of a sudden. Candy-like sweet and even a touch chemical. The red berries re-return, as doe some green grapes and honey. The peat is completely non-medicinal, of course.

The finish is fairly short and suddenly shows some oak bitterness. It remains sweet and smoky until the end.

The nose was the best part of this whisky, but in the end it was much better than I feared. I’ve had much worse Swiss whisky, for sure. Thanks, Marc.