Fifty-five years of maturation spread across five drams! In this day and age, where less and less whiskies are bottled with double-digits on the label, that is a respectable number for any tasting line-up. It is all the more impressive, however, for a five-piece from a distillery located in an up-and-coming whisky country like Denmark. With their warehouses jam-packed with younger and older casks alike, the fine folks of Fary Lochan composed the sample set for their final online tasting in 2023 entirely from malts matured for 10 years or more! As the live stream, in the course of which these precious gems were savored, was held in Danish language, I could hardly understand a word. But that did not take away any of the fun. On the one hand, the drams really spoke for themselves. And on the other hand, my wife Dini and I hooked up with her sister Nicole and my brother-in-law Aaron (Drams United) via Zoom, sharing our impressions within this small but good-humored dramming circle.

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We started with a Cognac-finished Vintage 2012 made entirely from unsmoked Danish barley. If I’m not mistaken, I already had a drop sourced from this cask in a virtual tasting half a year earlier. Be it the additional months in the casks or my form of the day, but I found it even fruitier and more memorable this time than the time before. Besides lots of pastry, chocolate, and caramell, this one also brimmed with sweet and juicy citrus fruits (oranges, tangerines, and jellied lemon slices). In the nose and on the tongue, the offered notes were most alluring and delicate; during the very long finish, the flavors got more aromatic and intense. At this point, hints of chamomile and tobacco became apparent, too. My enthusiastic verdict: I absolutely loved every second of this super-stimulating fruit explosion!

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On position number two followed the oldest malt of the evening, a Vintage 2011 that was initially matured in an ex-Bourbon barrel and then refined in a PX cask. It was rich with the sweetness of marzipan, heavy with the weight of cookie dough, fresh with a kick of mint n’ ginger, and immensely fruity with a rush of lemon, orange, cherry, and grape skin. In between this tasty mix, I also found some classic PX-evoked notes like syrup or raisin. Unlike the more dominant flavors mentioned before, however, those played bit parts rather than lead roles in this well-assembled, multi-faceted composition.

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Dram number three featured a proportion of malt smoked over burnt nettles – a technique that only Fary Lochan uses in the whisky world. After ten years in an ex-Bourbon barrel, this Vintage 2013 had developed a most exciting profile: It served nicely balanced amounts of wood, ash, fruit, moss, and stone with a delicate sweetness underneath. Towards the end, these offered sensations got a bit more bright and brisk. And ultimately, a green n’ grey cloud of nettle smoke came along and enshrined the other tastes in its midst. The following Vintage 2012 was smoky as well. But it did not get its fumes from nettle-dried barley; it got ’em from a finish in a former Islay cask! The nosing of this finger-licking good drop provided cocoa, popcorn, hazelnut, brittle, and buttermilk. The tasting offered orange, ginger, dark chocolate, and even chili pepper – all accompanied by a peaty puff. The lengthy aftertaste emphasized on a fiery mix of hot and sweet notes enriched with a newly added mineral quality, too.

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To finish the tasting in style, the Fary Lochan team had selected a very special farewell dram: a Vintage 2012 drawn from an Amontillado hogshead that previously contained peated Scotch from the Isle of Islay. When I first read the information on the label, I thought that this whisky came from one of almost 100-year-old Amontillado casks the distillery had bought a while ago from their cooper in Spain. But this one’s different as it wasn’t sourced from Southern Europe, but from Scotland. The effect it had on the liquid inside was still awesome, of course: The dram we had here stood out with a unique mix of apple crunchiness, peanut saltiness, and earthy smokiness. Furthermore, it had a citrusy tartness and a toffee stickiness. And, last but certainly not least, I also got lots of chocolate with rum and raisins in the closer of this out-of-the-ordinary online tasting.

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This, no doubt, was a very special and riching experience. While I had some double-digit drops from Fary Lochan before, I never had a whole flight of ’em back to back. Based on this dramming session, I would say that the distillery’s heavy, oily spirit has a tendency to get more fruity with age – a quality that was especially apparent in the first two glasses we sipped. If I had to pick a fave from the evening’s five-piece selection, I think it would be the Vintage 2012 Cognac. But the other four whiskies were total treats as well! Being a Fary Lochan super-fan, I didn’t really need further confirmation of this, but nevertheless I am happy to say it one more time: We will still have tons and tons of fun with all the superb casks that are currently sleeping in Fary Lochan’s on-site warehouses, gaining years and developing greatly!

by Tobi

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The drams

Vintage 2012 Cognac (Single malt / Denmark / 11yo / Cognac finish / Non-smoked / 59%)
Vintage 2011 PX (Single malt / Denmark / 12yo / PX finish / Non-smoked / 59.1%)
Vint. 2013 Nettle Smoke (Single malt / Denm./ 10yo / Bourbon cask / Nettle-smoked / 61.4%)
Vintage 2012 Islay Cask (Single malt / Denmark / 11yo / Islay finish / Peated via cask / 58.9%)
Vintage 2012 Amontillado (Single malt / Denmark / 11yo / Amont. finish / Peated via cask / 54.1%)

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Fary Lochan @ Web: https://farylochan.dk/
Fary Lochan @ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/farylochan
The tasting video @ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/farylochan/videos/313886984902203

*** The tasting was streamed publicly. I got the
samples for free from Fary Lochan. ***