Linie Aquavit Original

A very soft but overall interesting spirit. I can’t help but note that it has a very soft and gentle herbaceous about it. Caraway and Anise are forefront but it gives way to Vanilla, salt, and seabrine. To me it is very akin to a Vodka

N: Mostly anise, but there are hints of vanilla, caramel, baking spice, cooked vegetables, and wet earth. Might be a dash of sea spray and salt, but I might be imagining that based on the story of how this is made. P: Anise again - I mean, I think that's basically the point. But there's a lot happening behind that: caramel, vanilla, lemon cough drops, baking spice, barrel heat, chalky mineral water, black licorice (more candy-like than the anise). Mouthfeel is soft and creamy. Finish is relatively long with anise (obviously), cream, cinnamon heat, and chili pepper heat. My dad's side of the family came to the U.S. from Norway about a 100 years ago. I got curious one night and wondered, had things gone differently, what would I drink if I grew up in Norway instead of Minnesota? What do my distant relatives over there prefer? The internet tells me this is it: a potato based spirit that's flavored with anise, caraway, and other spices, and then is barrel aged on a slow boat from Norway to Australia and back. Obviously, I had to try that. There's nothing I can fairly compare this to. This is my first aquavit, so can't compare to another. It's not a whiskey, despite being aged like one. It's not a vodka, despite being potato based. It's flavored like a cordial, but it's also 80 proof, the starting point for the harder liquors and more than most cordials. This is really just its own thing. And I like that about it. The profile on the whole strikes me as grown up and well developed. It stands on its own - there's enough going on behind the anise for it to work and be interesting. It's not going to replace my shelf of bourbon, scotch, and Irish whiskey, but it's a nice change of pace that might find a permanent home next to all the others.

One of my favorites

Rating: 15/23 I've never tried aquavit before. I dig that this one ages on ships. It's not very expensive. It's pretty well known. Seems like a good place to start. N: Dry herbal on the grassy side with some spearmint and sweetness. I can pick out to caraway. I start getting a bit more of a rye bread note here and the mint becomes a bit sharper. Not a very complex nose, but an intriguing one. I'm pretty worried about the spearmint, but at least I didn't pick up a big alcohol bite. There's a faint meatiness at the end that concerns me too. P: Caraway, black licorice, spiciness (ginger, clove, some related stuff), some grass, something just sort of sweet, wafts of rubber/tar, and faint suggestions of spoiled meat. There's maybe a tad of tartness and really faint nuttiness, but I really need to reach to find anything that tastes like oloroso in here - and even the barrel flavor is hard to find. I have really mixed feelings about this. There's lots of life, which I rally like, but some of the elements here are a bit off. Oh, I'm starting to get the spearmint now. I can't tell if it constitutes the entirety of the tar flavor, or if it just ties in with it. F: Spearmint and caraway, then faint rubber and meat. Still a bit of sweetness going on. - Conclusion - This is an odd one. I'm having trouble figuring out what to think. I like the caraway and spices and licorice and so forth, but there are some problems. I think I like the category, but this execution could use some work. To compare with another not-gin, this is similar in quality to Bold Genever, but very different in style. Bols Genever is richer with fewer flaws, but it also is more muddled. To compare with gin, this is about on par with Ford's. Both of those were 15s, so I think that this is a 15 too.

Very much not into that.