200 up? Let's go to Belgium!

As many of you know I've been blogging, tweeting and more importantly tasting whiskies since the beginning of the year and last night I managed to hit to 200 mark!

I decided that for the occasion I'd do something a little different and decided to share a recent drample swap from @Dram_Gazette with @Maltman_Mike and do a live Hangouts session to 'virtually' sample the dram together.

A few weeks ago I was talking to @Dram_Gazette about our shared love of old grain whiskies and as he hadn't tried the wonderful DL Strathcylde 25yo I offered to send a sample. As usual these things gain momentum and we ended up swapping three drams. Noting the strange regulations of our wonderful post office I dispatched my samples under plain cover (!) and a few days later received three dramples from @DramGazette. In amongst these were two Belgium whiskies which, as well as having never tried, I'd never even heard of.

The first dram, my 200th, was the Gouden Carolus Sola Jerez - 3rd Anniversary Edition from the Stokerij De Molenberg and is described as a limited edition in connection with the 3rd anniversary of the stokerij (Distillery). This whiskey is a special blend of their 1st distillate from 2010 and several test distillates that were already produced in 2007.

How's your Belgian?

"The whiskey features soft-sweet fruit keys with apricot, orange, fig and raisins hanging from the first fill of Bourbon barrels and the Oloroso sherry barrels where the whiskey has been received. All in all, it is a sunlit whiskey with the taste of Spain. This whiskey consists of first distillates Stokerij De Molenberg 2010 (33%) matured in Oloroso sherry barrels and tasting distillates 2007 (67%) matured in first-fill Bourbon barrels (6 years) - Oloroso sherry barrels (3 years)" - an interesting combination!

The second dram, my 201st, was Sunken Still, a 4yo rye from Graanstokerij Filliers. This has an interesting back story - "Sunken Still Whisky is an ode to the brave Filliers Distillery workers who drowned our pot still in the nearby river Rekkelinge during the Great War. Doing so prevented the Central Forces from disassembling it and using the raw materials for the war effort."

It's described as being "left to mature on Bourbon barrels to create a smooth and balanced whisky with sweet and fruity flavours. Distilled in traditional copper pot stills at the Filliers Distillery. This whisky is our interpretation of a legend."

So - what did they taste like?

Distillery: Stokerij De Molenberg

Whisky : Gouden Carolus Sola Jerez - 3rd Anniversary Edition
Characteristics : 500ml, 46% ABV
Colour : Old Gold
Nose : Floral, fruity with some toffee notes
Palate: Sweet, quite dry with fruity hints - mainly apricots and currents, a little spice on the sides of the tongue
Finish : Medium length - quite spicy
Overall : A really impressive dram - the spice builds up gradually, none on the nose, a little on the palate and a lot on the finish - yummy! My first Belgium whisky and definitely worth hunting out!
Link : Sola Jerez

Distillery: Graanstokerij Filliers

Whisky : Sunken Still
Characteristics : 500ml, 45% ABV
Colour : Pale Gold
Nose : This is a rye whisky but on the nose it was exactly like a gin, some floral botanicals and berry notes come through - but all very nice!
Palate: An interesting oily creaminess with spice all over the tongue!
Overall : I really enjoyed this one as well, an interesting nose gave way to a typical rye spiciness - some nutmeg and pepper - which went down really well.
Link : Sunken Still

Many thanks to @Dram_Gazette for the dramples and @Maltman_Mike for sharing my 200th dram!