Hammerhead 1989 23 Year

84 N: sud, jemně vanilka, čokoláda, jemnější celkově 20 T: Dřevitá, jemně hrušky, sud, jemně vanilka a čokoláda 21 F: Trošku palivejsi dojezd, ale jinak se hezky na jazyku drží vanilka se sudem 22 B: Mohla by být lehce komplexnější na těch 23y, ale jinak slušný balanc 21

As I drink this I think I’m drinking cognac definitely a bit sweeter than I thought it would be.

2 stars for the history behind this dram and full respect to anyone who tried to develop a whisky batch behind the iron curtain. However ... 0 stars for the taste.

This whiskey has an interesting tale indeed. The distillery was founded in 1929 as part of Leonello Stock’s Austro-Hungarian empire, selling spirits to Central Europe and the Balkans. It specialised in making local spirits and herbal bitters, like Fernet Stock. In the 1980s under the iron curtain it expanded into whiskey in the belief there was a mkt because very few imported brands were allowed (bar Cuban rum). One Mr. Vaclav Sitner had a good crack but he relied on old books for instructions and not surprisingly ended up doing some bizarre things like a double distill, first in a column still and then in a pot still (even I could have told you that wasn't the best idea!) and buying their wash from an external source. He even managed to get in a shipment of Highland peated Barley in 1989 (I get zilch of that in this dram). It got worse for old Vaclav as weeks after he laid down the casks the Berlin wall came down and voila he was competing with the rest of the world. I can tell you know drinking this that this is not the dram to do that. It reminds me of a blandish grain distillery output. Thousands of barrels lay there until 2007 when another company bought the distillery and started exporting it (as Tullimore Dew is apparently the Czech whiskey of choice now). Flavour profile is a weak vanillish marzipan type affair with an odd aftertaste.