Review 247. Why I love indies so much (Northern delights, part 3 of 3)

To conclude the series on Scandinavian whisky, I’m taking the opportunity to not just declare my love for indie bottlers, but also elaborate as to why I love them so much, as I’ve got a feeling many of you will relate. In that regard, I feel as if  today’s review may almost be ‘circumstantial’, although that wouldn’t exactly be fair on the whisky itself. But more about that later.

Now of course, there are plenty of reasons why we embrace and love independent bottlers. I’m guessing one of the main reasons is that they provide us with whiskies that would otherwise be pretty unavailable to many of us, either due to lack of distribution of official releases or because there simply isn’t much in the way of official releases. Also indie bottlers tend to offer us unique takes, almost like snapshots in time, on distilleries by releasing bottles that are straying away from what official releases tend to be.  The beauty of it is that scale doesn’t really matter here. Whether you’re a small, family run business like Watt Whisky, O Connel or Dràm Mòr offering small batch / single cask expressions or a larger scale operation like Signatory, Berry Bros & Rudd or Cadenhead’s with larger outturns: at their core they are all doing the same thing, filling gaps in the whisky spectrum for us to enjoy.

On a deeper level, there’s also the personal connection. Be it at festivals, be it at tastings: whenever you’re in direct contact with these indie bottlers, particularly the smaller ones, chances are you’re taking to the very folk who’re responsible for nearly everything that’s going on. And while we all love and respect those brand ambassadors who are indeed going the extra mile, know what’s what  and radiate love and enthusiasm for what they do and for the brands they represent (the likes of Julie, Jenny, Shilton, or closer to home, Chris, Jürgen, James and so many others), I’ve encountered plenty of situations as well where “ambassadors” were little more than hired help, going trough the motions relying on a rehearsed script.

On yet another level, there are those indie bottlers who don’t shy away from going really niche, offering us something we probably didn’t even know was out there to begin with. That’s when a bottler becomes more than the already commendable provider of filling gaps, as they indeed become a guide, even illuminating hidden corners and spots to show us just how much is possible. Today’s sample (again kindly provided by my fellow Belgian barfly and Italian expat Yuri) is a very good example.

The Whisky Jury is a Belgian bottler that joined the scene in 2019, and pretty much from day one made a name for itself by releasing very good to excellent single cask bottlings.  Everything from ‘well-established’ distilleries to ‘somewhat’ niche stuff all the way down to downright oddball / obscure stuff. A lot of their releases carry impressive age statements and while indeed that makes these bottlings on the expensive side of the spectrum and often a bit out of my comfort zone, there’s something for everybody in their back catalogue when talking pricing. Point in case: today’s whisky.

Agitator Swedish single malt whisky (2019 – 2024). The Whisky Jury. ‘Wave Stave’ cask. 185  bottles, 58.4% ABV, app. €80/£70

What we’ve got here, tickles my whisky geek senses in more than one way.

For starters, I had never encountered anything from this Swedish producer before- in fact I hadn’t even heard of them until receiving this sample.

Second: the whole ‘wave stave’ thing is of particular interest. It could well be more common than I know, but I do believe it’s the first time I’ve ever seen it being mentioned on the label.

And thirdly: when doing some googling, it turns out that this distillery uses vacuum distilling. Again this could well be quite common practice for 21^st century distilleries, but we only ever see it getting a mention every once in a while.

At least one of these techniques was likely to give the SWA a rather big headache as recently as 2019 when they updated (and broadened) which casks could be used to mature scotch whisky, so let’s pause a bit and see what this means.

Wave staves casks are essentially oak casks/barrels using specifically designed staves with a ‘wave like’ contour, where a pattern of grooves are cut into the staves. This is said to enhance the overall surface area by as much as 20%, allowing for a significantly increased ‘contact’  and interaction between wood an liquid. The general idea obviously is to allow for more (and faster) extraction of flavour compounds from the wood into the spirit. Upon milling the wave pattern is applied on the interior surfaces of the staves. It’s often combined with (infrared) toasting (allowing to toast the waves more deeply into the surface) and charring.

Vacuum distillation then, is another technique aimed at efficiency and flavour.  I guess it’s comparable with cooking water at high altitude: because of the air pressure being lower at a high altitude, water doesn’t boil (or evaporate) at 100°C, but at a lower temperature. At 3000 m (app. 9000 ft), water starts to boil at 90°C. When applied in a distillery, the obvious benefit is an increase in energy efficiency, but as said,  it impacts flavour as well.  By lowering the pressure in a distillation unit (a still), the boiling points of certain substances a distiller is looking to separate are  reduced, thus allowing compounds with a high boiling temperature to evaporate at a lower temperature. This makes the ‘separation’ easier and prevents possible decomposition which would obviously ruin those flavour compounds you’re looking to capture. When applied in a controlled environment like a still house (or at an oil refinery as that’s where it’s usually applied at an industrial scale), you not only prevent degradation, you also can increase yield and purity. Ethanol boils at 78°C, so it will evaporate way before water molecules start to boil. By vacuum distilling (if I understand this correctly), you can essentially start to evaporate ethanol at an even lower boiling point, which has the benefit that this leave some desirable flavour compounds formed during the fermentation process (esters) intact which otherwise would’ve been cooked/burnt/disintegrated. Ergo: your distillate has more flavour. I’m sure I’m cutting a few corners here, as I am anything but skilled or knowledgeable when it comes to organic chemistry, but that’s more or less the general principle behind it all.

So let’s see what this means for this 4-5 yo youngster…

Nose

Fruity: apples, oranges, tangerines; a fair bit of woody elements with wax and polish notes and pencil shavings. Overall it suggests density and viscosity and it’s very, very inviting. Adding water highlights those wood wax and  pencil shaving notes.

Palate

The ABV kicks in immediately. It’s still fruity – woody -oily but rather more in a general, much less defined way. With the added water I’m picking up mild spice notes from clove, ginger and possibly also a hint of nutmeg, but mainly a nice mixture of slightly sour notes (granny Smith apples) and wood notes.

Finish

 Long, spices with a touch of pepper before a  for a drying, woody echo.

Final thoughts

I can see how and why some (purists) would have issues with these techniques being applied to whisky making and – maturing, but I also, respectfully, would disagree. I’ll argue that there should always be a certain amount of  leeway for producers to experiment and innovate, in order to make their product as good as it can be, whilst also keeping a firm eye on efficiency. Traditions are there to be loved, respected and acted upon, but the moment they start becoming shackles deterring innovation or progress, I feel we need to put forward the idea that both aren’t by any means mutually exclusive and that when done right, as  they can of course exist alongside each other and even strengthen each other. Particularly in colder climates like the one we see here (Agitator whiskymakere is located in central Sweden,  roughly halfway between Karlstad and Uppsala, on the same latitude as the halfway point between the northern Orkneys and the southern Shetlands), you’d expect the maturation (by which I mean the interaction between spirit and its wooden container – the cask) to take longer compared to warmer locations, using techniques that aren’t exactly shortcuts but perhaps could be considered ‘boosters’, can help getting desirable results without having to wait aeons.

In this instance, I think it worked – to some extent. It’s pleasant stuff and I’ll argue the nose is genuinely impressive but also disguised the youthfulness on the palate a bit. That said, if they can pull this off already after 4 to 5 years in a humid northern continental like Sweden, it bodes well for things to come.

To conclude on the topic of indies: I love it when an indie can throw a bit of an oddball in our general direction. I’m not suggesting indies have  the realm exclusively to themselves here, as some distilleries do indeed make a bit of a point in releasing limited releases, single cask or small batch expressions, quite often showing some willingness to experiment a bit – I’m thinking about Loch Lomond, here, but also the likes of Kilchoman, Glenallachie, and obviously Ardnamurchan. But by and large, it’s the indies that tend to offer us singular, special takes of what comes out of a distillery. Bringing something new and unknown into your cabinet is exactly where they can excel, and  - provided you’re whisky curious like me –I’m happy at taking that punt. Obviously in one way or another, the whisky still needs to deliver, but even if it deliberately takes the risk of not aiming  to please everyone all the time, I feel we still need to acknowledge them for broadening our horizon and expanding our understanding of whisky and everything that comes with it.