Säntis 10 Year Old (Boutique-y Whisky)

Single malt whisky from Switzerland, produced at Säntis and bottled after 10 years by That Boutique-y Whisky Company.

Säntis began in 1886 when the Locher family took over a brewery in Appenzell. In 1999 they started producing Säntis Malt matured in beer casks, brought to the market in 2002. Their barley is grown at high altitude in Switzerland.

Säntis 10 yo (51,4%, That Boutique-y Whisky Co 2019, Batch #1, 916 btl.)

Nose: a lot of leather, brown sugar, hints of vanilla. Also plenty of freshly shaved wood. Berries, orange peel and toffee underneath. Dried bananas, baked apples with cinnamon, pepper. Really nice, although it is probably closer to American bourbon than to Scotch single malt.

Mouth: sweet and spicy, slightly funny now. It has oranges with cloves inside, hints of vermouth (artemisia and other herbs), plum wine and aromatic Szechuan pepper. Earthy wood notes, or rather rye whiskey. Dark chocolate, hazelnuts. Kind of a mulled profile, intense but it works.

Finish: long, spicy and warm, with a berry sweetness in the background.

A very unlikely single malt, with active wood that brings it close to American (rye) whiskey, but you know, the world is our village so why not? A surprising and pleasant introduction to this distillery. Available from Master of Malt.

Score: 85/100