Personally I took part in a warehouse tasting where we got to taste five different casks and draw our own samples from the barrels. They were all whiskies of around 5 years, matured in bourbon casks, oloroso casks or PX casks.
After the tasting you could choose which dram you liked best and then fill your own whisky bottle. For the adventurous souls there was also the option of making your own marriage from the five different casks. I chose to take a bottle from their cask 44-2, a second-fill cask that previously held their Thy Whisky No. 9 - Bøg. That particular whisky was widely praised outside Denmark a few years back, and I certainly thought the new whisky in that cask had some lovely aromas, which is why I decided to take a bottle from that barrel home with me.
Beyond the tastings through the day, for Thy Whisky or one of the other distilleries represented, there was also a competition where you had to guess what was in an unknown bottle of whisky. The grain ratio, age, cask type or types and so on all had to be guessed, and whether anyone came close to the right answer is not yet known. I will say it was not an easy guessing competition.
As the afternoon went on, the various tasting sessions were held and the weather turned from rain to lovely sunshine, the evening ended with a shared meal and singing around the fire afterwards. While the fire crackled, the smoke drifted and the mood was at its best, a whisky tasting was held with the various distilleries all presenting their whisky. All in all a very well-thought-out and enjoyable day.
The festival could be seen as another celebration for Thy in connection with their new core expression, the newly launched design and plan for the distillery that came out earlier this year after a couple of years of thinking. Their new core expression sets out the fundamentals of their single estate approach and covers the three base whiskies "Thy", "Bøg" and "Spelt-Rye", which I have tasted this time round.
Thy Whisky "Spelt-Rye" at 50% has a brown, caramel-like colour. It smells lovely of vanilla, sweet stone fruit and apple with a hint of leather. On the palate you find fresh rye bread and oak. Beyond that it is spiced with some sweet aromas. The finish brings hints of citrus and pepper. A classic, lovely whisky from new oak casks, with the characteristics that follow.
"Thy" whisky at 50% has a more golden colour and smells of raisin, citrus fruit and malt. On the tongue you taste sherry and fruit notes. Otherwise it is vinous with a well-hidden touch of smoke. In the finish the sweet sherry notes are joined by a hint of vanilla. All in all a lovely dram where you get the good parts of the bourbon and sherry casks used in this whisky.
Thy Whisky "Bøg" at 50% has golden shades like the "Thy". The whisky smells of caramel, vanilla and has a mild aroma of peat and something nutty. The palate gives clear fruit notes with peated malt and campfire, which lingers into the finish.
All three whiskies clearly taste like whiskies made by people with passion and, by now, plenty of knowledge about how to make good whisky. As always, these whiskies do not disappoint, going by what you know from this beautiful distillery out in the countryside.
