Nordic Whisky #123 - Isle of Lime Shareholders Edition 2016

Isle of Lime Shareholders Edition 2016, 3 YO, 47 %

Hurrah! Another Nordic distillery has now released its first ever proper single malt whisky. This time it is the distillery Gotland Whisky, using the brand name Isle of Lime, that joins this exclusive club of distilleries. The release in question is the Isle of Lime Shareholders Edition 2016. This is a limited run of 5000 bottles.

The spirit making up the Isle of Lime Shareholders Edition 2016 comes from 7x 200 litre bourbon barrels, 9x 96 litre American oak char, and 2x 96 litre American oak heavy toast. The spirit was distilled in weeks 11, 26 and 39 in 2013, and the whisky was bottled late 2016. Local barley grown on Gotland has been used in the production. The barley was malted at Sigdes farm in Rone, Gotland. The malt has been dried over peat for 9 hours.

This whisky is not available to the general public. As the name suggests it is only available to buy for the distillery shareholders, and they number around 2100.

Nose: Vanilla, toasted oak, golden syrup, mustard seeds, white pepper. Hints of citrus (not Lime, though, incidentally...). Not very sweet on the nose. I find no traces of peat here.

Taste: Smooth and light mouthfeel. Sweet oakiness, mixed with barley juice, white pepper and ginger. Milk chocolate and vanilla. Powdered sugar, but all in all I would say it has medium sweetness. Still no traces of peat, but that's quite OK.

Finish: Medium to short finish. The sweet oaky notes linger, along with ginger chocolate.

Comments: Very well balanced and cohesive for such a young whisky. Well, colour me impressed. I want more whisky from the Isle of Lime!

Score (83/100)

Sláinte! - Thomas