This is the first peated single malt whisky release for retail market by Valamo Monastery Distillery from Finland. Their story is interesting as they are a monastery distillery producing peated and unpeated single malt whiskies.
For example they’re making peated whisky matured in old church wine casks. I always like it when whisky makers combine smoke and sweetness. Given that church wine is usually quite sweet.
This batch 1 of Valamo Peated has been aged for 3 years, matured in small 30-40 liter new oak casks (Blood-tub).
The label looks cool when you put it against sunlight because of its transparent fonts
Unfortunately I have say that this Valamo expression was a disappointment. Overall I gave it a score of 78 points. I did score it 80 points at first but felt a bit biased. After all I’m a Finn reviewing a Finnish made whisky from an interesting brand.
I did find the first ever Valamo for retail market to be very promising but it was their unpeated single malt. I really hope that future expressions of peated Valamo can deliver a more suitable palate. And that I can manage to get my hands on peated whisky finished in church wine casks!
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