King of Sweden – Agitator Chestnut Barrel
There are a lot of new whisky distilleries out there which are doing something different. Yet, the combination of vaccum distillation and chestnut barrel ageing at least was new to me.
First, the folks at Agitator grind the grains wet with brewing water. After the fermentation the wash is distilled at two different style of stills. During distillation on vacuum stills the temperature is reduced by 30 °C in the wash stills and 10 °C in the spirit stills. While Agitator use a lot of different barrels, the most special ones might just be the chestnut barrels. The ageing of whisky in chestnut barrels is prohibited for Scotch. Yet, the barrels work supposedly well for whisky ageing.
Different, but same
I do not know why, but the Agitator Chestnut Barrel reminds me of American Whiskeys. At the same time, you can find quite a lot of fruit notes in it, almost like a sherry cask Single Malt. All in all, the whisky is smooth and tasty with just a hint of new wood at the back.
Hanky Panky or Boulevardier?
For a cocktail with the Agitator Whisky, I wanted to mix up an Amaro cocktail. Just recently, I had bought a bottle of Elisir Novesalus in Italy and thought that this would be perfect here. – It is undrinkable for me neat… A drink which very well masks intense flavours is the Hanky Panky. So, I just replaced everything besides the vermouth and we were ready to go!
1 Bsp. Capeletti Elisir Novesalus
3 cl Vermouth Blend**
Garnish: Orange Twist;
Song: Future Islands – King of Sweden;
**Mix 50 % Mancino Vermouth Rosso, 40 % Yzaguierre Reserve and 10 % Mancino Chinato.
Yes, you can still taste the Elisir Novesalus, but its bitterness is tamed by the whisky and the vermouth. The chocolate bitters also work very well with the rest of the ingredients. Apart from that, the whisky adds and almost cherry like fruitiness. Certainly, this drink is not for the faint hearted, but at the same time it is not as aggressive as it might sound.
*The fact that I received a product reviewed in this article for free, did not – in any way – influence the rating of said product. The whisky and the bitters were provided by Charles Hosie.
