EtOH Arbejd

Nose: Fruity and rounded, sherry notes, honey, crisp peat smoke, maritime brine. Palate: The arrival is sweet and centred on lemon, preserved ginger in syrup, and honey – it’s curiously like sweetened lemon and ginger tea. It has a short entry followed by short development in which the smoke notes appear. The flavours are mild, soft and not as prominent as the aromas on the nose. The development progresses into spice, mint and fennel towards the finish. The mouth-feel is pleasant, but a bit weak. Finish: Medium. Smoky and sweet with spice notes trailing into the aftertaste. I was given this to taste blind at a local liquor store yesterday and challenged to guess its nature. I thought it was a young Scottish malt of 8-9 years, the distillate being fruity and honeyed in character but given a massive finish of some sort. Imagine something Bill Lumsden might make, like a young Glenmorangie finished in casks that had formerly held a big sherried peaty whisky. In fact, this spirit is Scottish peated new-make aged for nine days. Yes, that’s right – nine days. It is produced by EtOH Spirits, a small Danish company founded by Tobias Emil Jensen who is an inventor, food scientist and brewery engineer based in Copenhagen. Jensen has developed a rapid maturation process that combines ultrasound with chemical additives (don’t panic – just substances like citric acid) under pressure and heat. If I had tasted this as part of a blind tasting line-up of Scottish and world malt whiskies I would not have been able to point the finger and say “that’s not whisky”. However I would also certainly not have singled it out for special praise. It is of good quality, very drinkable, and equivalent to something like Glen Moray Classic Peated - but this is a lot more expensive than that particular single malt. Once it has been perfected, rapid maturation will be a big thing, it’s inevitable. It will very likely become a standard process used by the big distilleries and I can see the day coming when mass-market blended scotch and bourbon are largely phased out in favour of new categories of “aged spirit” and I would have no objection to using such a product for my Coke ‘n smoke. Whether this process, or any similar one, will ever be able to replicate the qualities of long maturation in a good cask is another matter. EtOH Spirits are certainly not at that point yet, and theirs is by far the best and most convincing rapid-aged spirit I’ve tasted so far. Would I buy a bottle of this? No, not at the current price, but I'd happily accept another pour. However if the price came down to equal that of Loch Lomond Reserve then sure - I'd buy it then. “Good” : 83/100 (3.5 stars)