FLÓKI Icelandic Single Malt Whisky / 47% / 70cl.

FLÓKI Icelandic Single Malt Whisky 47% / 70cl.

Three-year-old single-cask reserve.

FLÓKI is Iceland's first whisky, handcrafted by Eimverk Distillery from 100% organic Icelandic barley. The Icelandic barley is grown at the Arctic Circle, as such we need hardy grain variants that tolerate the short cold summers, this results in lower starch content and we need to use 50% barley per bottle, giving on the other hand a strong spicy undertone from the barley. We further emphasize this in our production by not removing the grain, we ferment with grain in and distill from it in our first distillation.

Flóki has 4 basic ranges, first, we have our standard range from malted Icelandic Barley and then our Sheep dung smoked reserve. Using peat for smoking/drying has an environmental impact, and peat is in short supply. However, Iceland has a long tradition of smoking food with sheep dung and plenty of sheep dung to spare.

Each of those ranges then has two main variants, our young malt, stored on new American oak for 1 year plus, and our single malt stored on used barrels for 3 years plus (used by our young malt). This way we are playing with two things, on one hand, the practical issue of getting a controlled supply of good used barrels, which are hard to find, and then also we find our whisky works very well in this new oak shorter aging style. We are also located in the middle of the Atlantic with influences from both sides and it makes sense for us to borrow from both European and American styles.

Today Flóki Young malt is available in bottles and will be followed by Flóki sheep dung smoked young malt later this year and Flóki Single Malt Whisky in 2016.

Tasting notes for flóki young malt.

Aroma: Toasty and fresh barley with buttery oak, caramel shortcake, nutmeg and pastry.

Taste: Dry toasty oak, leather, and brown bready maltiness with caramel shortcake, honey, and vanilla.

Aftertaste: Buttery oak with black pepper and cinnamon spice.

Overall: Youthful but not too exuberant with attractive buttery oak.

(tasting notes; Diffords Guide, 14/12/2014).