Thijs described his review as ‘mustard after the meal’. That is a Dutch saying meaning that you’re late in such a way that there’s no use anymore. Another saying for that is ‘eggs after Easter’.

But here I am reviewing this another four days later than Thijs. Of course, with Serge having reviewed this a couple of days before I got my sample in, there was no way that I was going to be on time for a review before it sold out. A 91 point review from Serge (not listed, somehow), 89 from Ruben and another 91 from Thijs made me quite enthusiastic to get to it, and so I did.

Smögen is a Swedish distillery that is known for making crisp, peaty whiskies (at least they are to me). I don’t have too much experience with their product but I do have a sample lined up somewhere, from Berry Bros. & Rudd second release of The Nordic Casks.

This one selling out instantly is a bit of a bummer, but there should be another sister cask coming my way from Kirsch and Wu Dram together. Not 91 points from Serge, but 90 and that is still quite the score!

Let’s find out whether my palate agrees with the aforementioned dudes.

Sniff:
Extremely clean peat. Very fruity with apple, pear and star fruit. Some lemon as well. Fresh tropical fruits, greenish peat with smoldering mosses and plants.

Sip:
The palate brings a lot of heat. Dryness, chili pepper, wood shavings. It mellows after a little while, but has lots of coastal notes and lemon. Very, very clean, and not unlike some Port Ellen I’ve had.

Swallow:
A very long and gentle finish, with lemon, shammey leather, coastal smoke.

This, in a way, reminds me of some of the cleaner Port Ellens that were distilled in the early eighties. It doesn’t have the age and maturity, but it does have a similar note of lemon and chamois/shammy leather. On top of that, there’s a huge fruitiness and incredibly ‘precise’ smokiness to it. This truly is a tremendous dram and I regret not getting one even more after trying it…

90/100