Today we’re looking at the inaugural release from Sall Whisky distillery
Sall Whisky Distillery is a Danish distillery located in the small town of Sall in the Jutland region. The distillery was founded by a group of seven individuals who shared a passion for whisky and a desire to create a high-quality, organic whisky made from scratch. The founders were:
- Lars Egelund, a farmer who grows the grains used to make the whisky.
- Thomas Holm who is in charge of cask quality and sales at Sall Whisky.
- Thomas Rye, a civil engineer in technical geology.
- Kåre Gyldeløve, a cand. mag. in Archaeology, and the one that pitched the initial idea for Sall Whisky with Martin. Kåre is a dedicated craft brewer / home brewer, and as such is the Mash Specialist.
- Mathias Broch then is also a cand. mag. in Archaeology. He is the distilleries yeast specialist.
- Yet another Archaeologist on the team is Martin Sejr. He oversees the Floor Malting and Craft.
- Finally we have Snævar Albertsson, who has a Master's degree in Culture and Aesthetics. Snævar is the project manager and is in charge of communications.
The idea for the distillery was born in 2016 when the founders launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise funds for the project. The campaign was a success, and in 2018, the distillery opened its doors.
Sall Whisky Distillery's inaugural release is a 3-year-old, organic single malt whisky. The whisky was created from organic barley, grown on his fields of Mosevang and Stadsgaard. The barley was mashed by hand and fermented for 120 to 168 hours before being double distilled slowly in direct fired copper pot stills. The whisky was then aged for three years in ex-bourbon barrels.
Sall Whisky Inaugural Release 3yo
Region: Denmark
ABV: 52.2%
Price: £165.00
The first release consists of only 1,295 bottles. The whisky has been bottled at a cask strength of 52.2% Vol.
Nose
We're met with custard tarts, sponge cake, creamy vanilla moving into a little bit of fresh citrus, lemon zest, shortbread and a slightly dusty aroma as you get deep into the glass. The alcohol is well balanced, it's not too punchy but still makes an appearance. You do get a bit of the younger spirit character showing through, but it's quite a floral and fruity spirit which works well with the bourbon cask.
Palate
The palate begins with caramel shortcake, fresh vanilla bean, a touch dry of tree bark, lemon meringue and some boiled sweeties - apple and pear flavour more specifically. It starts off quite sweet and fresh, then the palate moves into richer oak and ground ginger. It's not particularly spicy, but there's a nice warmth coming through. The mouthfeel is good, not overly textured but not thin either, and the dram has a medium length finish with more of that younger spirit character coming through.
Nose (with water)
We're getting creamier notes, somewhat cakey as well. Brioche buns, sugar dusted doughnuts and more of that vanilla custard aromas are coming through. It does have a drier sawn-wood sort of aroma appearing now as well.
Palate (with water)
The reduced palate has a little more spice after the addition of water, white pepper mainly, moving into a drier oak flavour. The finish seems to have gotten a little shorter and the water hasn't brought out much more flavour so we'd avoid dilution here.
Conclusion
In a sea of inaugural releases, this is pretty good. The cask does a good job of masking a lot of the younger spirit character without overpowering it with spice or wood, it gets a lot of the sweeter bourbon notes instead. We'd be interested to try some other expressions from this distillery to see how the spirit matures over the coming years.
Score: 7/10
- 10 - Perfection. A whisky that we’ll remember forever.
- 9 - Amazing. We’d pay through the nose for a bottle.
- 8 - Great. Pick this up at RRP.
- 7 - Good. Happy to have a dram or two but wouldn’t buy a bottle.
- 6 - Passable. Would accept a dram, but wouldn’t seek it out.
- 5 - Poor. Would drink if it was the only option.
- 4 - Bad. Maybe it can be saved by ginger beer?
- 3 - Awful. It can't be saved by ginger beer.
- 2 - Pour it out
- 1 - We’ve never tried a whisky rated this low and hopefully never will.
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