Wambrechies 5 Year Old Pure Malt

Let’s trek across the border to France to try a young malt from the unknown (to me at least) Distillerie Claeyssens de Wambrechies. It’s a distillery with Belgian roots. It was founded in 1817 by Joseph Claessens who ran away from (what was soon to be) Belgium during the Brabant Revolution. He bought the watermill at Wambrechies and turned it into a geneva distillery. Geneva is today still the core product of the Claeyssens family. During the World Exhibition in 1935 in Brussels, their geneva was even awarded the Diplome de Grand Prix. In 1998 the distillery was taken over by the family Depasse, distillers from Charleroi. They though adding whisky to their range was a good idea. The offerings are limited to a NAS release and four with an age statement: 3, 5, 8 and 12 years old. I will try their 5 years old Pur Malt today.

Barley, stable scent, hay and sour milk… that’s a painful nose if you ask me. Something that reminds me of the crust of young cheese, a tiny sweet note and that’s it.

It’s lightly oily on the palate, but offers little of taste. Some vanilla, malted barley and flowers. Only with the second sip do you realize you are actually sipping a grain geneva in disguise. This does not make me happy.

The finish is mercilessly long, but piquant on white pepper and drying.

Well… this is not something to drink for your pleasure. Avoid or mix. Thanks anyway, Marc.