Whisky Advent Day 6: Spirit of Hven Seven Stars no.2 Merak

Right guys, it's my Saturday night, I'm not long back from work and I am going way off piste with today's dram, this isn't Scottish, or Irish, English, American, Japanese or even Indian. Today my Whisky Advent dram is bloody Swedish!

And, and not only is this pretty out there in terms of origin it's also pretty pricey at £93.95 a bottle... It better be good.

This dram is from the Hven distillery, founded in 2008, and they use local organic barley. Merak is the second release from the Seven Stars range, it is bottled at 45%, non-chill filtered and has been aged in a mixture of American, French and Spanish oak casks.

On the nose there is some confection, candied fruits, apple, pear drop, vanilla and the lightest touch of smoke mingled with green citrus. The nose is really soft and rounded, it doesn't leap out at you, but washes over you with a lovely sweet fruit mellow.

The palate is thick and oily with a great mouthfeel. There is the same fruit sweetness as on the nose, but ginger and pepper soon take over before the sweetness returns with red cherry and fudge. The finish lasts forever and is dominated by pete smoke and black pepper. There is really nice balance to this dram and there is decent depth and very nice development throughout drinking. This is really nice and I would drink it, but not at the price, more like £50.

If you would like to buy a bottle of Spirit of Hven Seven Stars no.2 Merak it is available for £93.95 from Master of Malt