How do you pair whiskies with chocolate? Find out in Whisky Wednesday No. 26

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Issue 26
A weekly exploration of the whisky world brought to you by World Whisky Day. Join us in celebrating the water of life on 21 May 2016. Scroll to the end for translation options.

Whisky shots

Dramatic drams: Loch Tummel in Scotland is one of the nine most spectacular places in the world to enjoy a whisky. Check out the rest over on the World Whisky Day blog and see if you can top them by emailing us at info@worldwhiskyday.com with your own stunning whisky pics. Photo by Islay Brown.

Around the world in 80 drams

FINLAND

ordic whisky has enjoyed something of an awakening of late. Sweden has been leading the charge, closely followed by Denmark. Iceland has even entered the fold, introducing its very own ingenious albeit unusual production techniques (forget peated whisky – both of the country's distilleries produce 'sheep-manured' whiskies).

But what of Finland? After all, the land of a thousand lakes has arguably the most deeply rooted drinking culture in all of Scandinavia. With its position on the 'Vodka Belt', it is of course no stranger to the art of distilling, and the production of quality grain plays a big role in the country's economy. Finland, however, has largely overlooked whisky.

There's every chance this is the result of an 1808 Russian order which prohibited state imports of neutral spirits, says Teemu Strengell in his blog, Whisky Science. Unfortunately for Scotland, whisky was considered such a spirit and so remained largely alien to Finnish palates. Even after the order was lifted and Scotch advertising took off, whisky didn't garner much interest. The nail in its coffin was delivered with the introduction of prohibition in 1919.

Or was it? As Strengell explains, the apothecarist in charge of Finland's consequent state alcohol corporation for medical, technical and scientific purposes "apparently did not wholly support the Prohibition". Evidently not – I. R. Lidqvist's collection of imported 'medical' beverages would have put the back-bar of the Ritz to shame. And it included plenty of Scotch.

In addition to whisky, other state monopoly products included vodka, cognac and Molotov cocktails for the Finnish military

Influence or not, the state monopoly Oy Alkoholiliike Ab (later Alko), which formed after Prohibition was repealed, began alcohol sales across the country, and whisky featured on its bill. The monopoly even tried its hand at manufacturing its own whisky, and successfully so, at least in local terms. Other Alko products included vodka, cognac and Molotov cocktails for the Finnish military.

Alko's attempts to grow the Finnish whisky market continued until production of its best-selling whisky, Viski 88, ceased in 2000. It wasn't the end, though. Since then, a handful of craft distillers have been modestly tapping into the Nordic whisky trend, most notably Teerenpeli. The distillery started life as a brewery, but owner Anssi Pyysing soon turned to whisky, importing a copper still from Scotland and former Glen Ord manager William Meikle to help commission the enterprise. To date, Teerenpeli has bottled several expressions, all produced from locally sourced ingredients, and all worthy of individual merit. New expressions are due out next month.

Similarly promising is the Kyrö Distillery which recently began producing whisky made from 100% Finnish rye. Both a young rye spirit and a white dog are currently available, with a fully-matured expression due for release in 2017.

Number of distilleries
Four active (several others producing on very small scales).

Recommended
Teerenpeli 8
Kyrö Verso (rye spirit)

When in Rome ...
Needless to say, a dram of Finnish whisky is the perfect round-off to a traditional sauna/lake bath ritual!

Did you know?
Finland hosts the annual 'Wife-Carrying World Championships'. The first prize is the winner's wife's weight in beer.

For richer, for poorer

Each issue, we recommend the best way to spend your whisky pocket money – on a budget and for a special occasion.

The Antiquary 35 Year Old – £261.03

Unveiled in the latter half of 2015, The Antiquary 35 Year Old is a limited edition expression made with very well aged malt and grain whiskies. A remarkable blend from a long-running range (The Antiquary was originally created by the Hardie brothers back in 1888). Just 800 bottled of The Antiquary 35 Year Old were produced.

George Dickel Rye Whisky – £53.94

Rye whisky from George Dickel, one of the few distilleries producing whisky in Tennessee. They use 95% rye and 5% malted barley in the mash bill, and charcoal mellow their rye, just like they do for their other expressions.

The perfect pairing

Matching whisky and chocolate with the Highland Chocolatier

he marriage of whisky and chocolate is a delicate task, and the wrong picks run the risk of marring the flavour. So how do you know which chocolates to choose? Last week's Whisky Wednesday interviewee Iain Burnett, of gourmet chocolate company Iain Burnett Highland Chocolatier, explains below.

When you get a whisky and look at the flavour notes from the master distiller or the noser you may recognise a citrus route, or a peaty smoky route perhaps, so there are key notes from that information. But, let’s say as an example that a whisky is described as having a “hint of grass”. You might actually find when you taste the whisky, what the “grass” really refers to is a herby note and you’re like “wow, this could go well with rose or lemongrass”, or the grass is just too subtle; it’s either non-existent or they might be referring not to actual grass but the fact that it’s fresh.

Depending on the terminology it might not be literal; it might be a reference or an emotion. Certain things you’ll pair can get to the point where even something referring to, say, a raspberry note more accurately refers to warm raspberry flavouring or the tang of a natural raspberry.

I had a recent experience where someone thought a particular whisky would work with my Raspberry and Black Pepper Velvet Truffle but it really clashed because the crushed raspberries we use are sharp and tangy, and what the whisky had was very round, warm sweet fruit notes, as opposed to a tangy, acidic red fruit. An Orange and Clove Velvet Truffle was the answer!

‟If a whisky is particularly peaty, this can pair with a much stronger chocolate”

When it comes to how you know what works – if something is particularly peaty – this can pair with a much stronger chocolate; some whiskies are very delicate, very gentle and quite complex actually. If they’re very complex I tend to put them with a chocolate with fewer ingredients, because when using gourmet couverture (chocolate coatings) and fresh cream from a single herd there is a subtle complexity.

It’s not just creamy – it’s grassy, it’s sweet, with vanilla notes and so on. So the cream is fairly complicated, and with a certain couverture, for example a rare São Tomé cocoa, its complexity can imbue the chocolate with intense cocoa, red fruit, peppery and ginger notes, so I might pair it with a more delicate whisky in that instance.

If you’ve got a delicate and complex whisky you want to show just how much it is by putting it next to an equally delicate and complex chocolate as opposed to a one hit wonder, which is the opposite of a lot of the peaty ones, where you are thinking that they are so powerful, so salty, that you might want to put them with a salted caramel, a Lemongrass Velvet Praline or maybe even a Cinnamon Praline? Because this is going to make a feast out of it, that strong, warm cinnamon note will play with the smoke and the peat, and it’s going to have the correct balance of strength.

We've teamed up with Iain Burnett to offer a 10% Discount to Whisky Wednesday readers. Just head over to www.highlandchocolatier.com and use the code WWDAY10 when ordering online to receive your discount.

Offer is valid until 30 November and does not apply to postage costs.

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