Santis Malt Snow White No. 6

”Here Comes Santis Claus”

Whisky Review # 920

Country: Switzerland

Brand: Santis Malt Snow White No. 6 - Limited Winter Edition - 2000 Bottles
Type: Single Malt Swiss Whisky - Bottled in 2018

Age: NAS (Said to be 6 Years)

Alcohol By Volume (ABV): 48%
Maturation: Oak Beer Casks (5 Years) with Cognac Orange Liqueur Finish (1 Year)

Chill Filtration: Yes

Price Range: US$ 75-90 (June 2021) - 500 ML Bottle
Price/Quality Ratio: 👎 Quite expensive for such a Young Whisky.
Buying Advice:🌲Should go well with X-mas Cake! Not your everyday Malt though!

Colour: Dark Amber with shades of Orange (Natural Color)

Nose:

A familiar waft of Fresh Oak, Glue and Varnish welcomes the Nose. I so often find this in West-European Whiskies. The Alcohol is noticeable as well. The Nose is quite Sweet with Fruity and Bakery notes. The Orange note is obvious. It's quite unlike your average Scottish Whiskly but certainly not unpleasant.

Main Aromas:

Malted and Toasted Barley, Buttered Toast, Buttery French Brioche Bread, Orange, Sweet Apple, New Oak, Varnish, Glue, Grass, Artificially-Flavored Lemon Candies, Menthol, Rubber, Yeast and Underberg.

Supportive Aroma Accents:

Demerara Sugar, Butterscotch, Pancakes with Golden Syrup, Honey, Toffee, Belgian Kwak Beer, Milk Chocolate, Apricot-Flavored Yogurt, Cinnamon, Aniseed and Green Plants.

Palate:

A little Thin despite the adequate ABV. But Creamy at the same time. The palate is a mix of Sweet, Bitter and Sour notes. The Orchard and Bakery are never far away.

Main Flavours:

Malted and Toasted Barley, Vanilla, Demerara Sugar, Caramel, Orange, Apples and Pears, Fresh Oak, Yeast, Puff-Pastry, Pepper, Cloves, Menthol and Licorice.

Supportive Flavour Accents:

Buttered Toast, Pancakes & Golden Syrup, Toffee, Honey, Slightly Sour Red Wine, Lemon, Salt, Plastic, Rubber, Tea/Stroh Rum and Aniseed.

Finish:

Middle-Long and Bitter-Sweet. A few Sour notes as well. The Orange note is quite strong and we're pretty close to the thin line between Whisky and Liqueur. I find Sweet Malted and Toasted Barley, Toffee, Caramel, Vanilla, Orange, Lemon, Apple, Pear, Sour Red Wine, Tea & strong Stroh Rum, Fresh Oak, Nut Shells, Cinnamon, Cloves, Pepper, Menthol, Aniseed, Licorice, Salt and Iron. The Alcohol certainly remains noticeable.

Drinking Advice:

I added a little Water and that helps calm down the Alcohol. A few drops work just fine here but don't overdo it. The Water further develops the Orange and Spices.

Rating: 82.5

Nose: 21.5 - Taste: 20.5 - Finish: 20 - Overall: 20.5

Drinking Experience Neat: Good, just Different.

Conclusion:

The Brewery in Appenzell (Switzerland) produces beer since around 1830 and was purchased by the Locher Family in 1886. Today they produce a wide range of beers, with or without Alcohol. In the year 1999 the Brewery started distilling whisky that was presented to the market for the first time in 2002. The core range consists of the Himmelberg, the slightly peated Dreifaltigkeit and the Sigel. A range of limited editions include the Alpstein and the Snow White.

Forget about Scotland before Nosing & Tasting this Swiss Single Malt. You should not compare them but just judge them by their own cover. This Santis is not a bad Single Malt but it comes dangerously close to being a Liqueur. Perhaps the Orange Finish was a little too long. And there's this very distinctive Fresh Oak flavor that you will mainly find in Mainland European Whiskies. Snow White # 6 did bring me in a Christmas mood though and that's the perfect time to enjoy this Swiss Single Malt together with a piece of Christmas Cake. Father Christmas arrived too early this year so Santis Malt should consider presenting him with a Swiss Watch!

Cheers!

Jan van den Ende                                                                           June 23, 2021

Santis Malt Edition Dreifaltigkeit CS Peated Review

Country: Switzerland

Brand: Santis Malt Edition Dreifaltigkeit  (Cask Strength Peated)

Type: Appenzeller Single Malt Whisky

Age: NAS (I would guess 3-5 years)

ABV: 52%

Date: 11/05/2013

Colour: Dark Ale

Nose: Smoked Ham! Did you ever visit a German Butcher Shop in a small country village? If you did, you know what I'm trying to express here! There's Peat as well but it's completely different from the Islay variety. It's more like Cold Charred Oak. I also get German " Rauchbier", a dark beer with a distinct Smoked Ham taste and on top of that German Dark Sour Bread. It's almost a Schwarzwalder Schinkenplatte, a plate of Black Forest Ham and Dark Bread. After half an hour or so the Smoke lifts a bit and I get some Malt, Red Fruit, Caramel, Aniseed, light Medicinal tones and Wood Spice. It sure does not smell like your regular Speysider but it's a very interesting experiment!

Taste: The Smoked Ham continues and is accompanied by Sweet Barley, Dark Red Fruits, Herbs, Pepper, Caramel and Dark Ale.

Finish: Quite lasting with some slightly bitter Oak, Cooked Red Fruits and of course the Smoked Ham! 

I added a few drops of Water and the Smoked Ham gets the more refined aroma of sliced Black Forest Ham of superior quality. A bit of Caramel and Sweet Barley as well. The Palate and Finish get more of the Cooked Red Fruit. You can certainly play with a bit of Water here.

Rating: 85.5

   

Nose: 21.5 - Taste: 21.5  - Finish: 21- Overall: 21.5

General Remarks: The Brewery in Appenzell (Switzerland) produces beer since around 1830 and was purchased by the Locher Family in 1886. Today they produce a wide range of beers, with or without Alcohol. In 1999 the Brewery started distilling whisky that was presented to the market for the first time in 2002. The Dreifaltigkeit uses water from the Alpstein Mountains and Peat from the Upland Moor. It matured in used Very Old Oak Beer Casks that were smoked with Oak Wood again. The Malted Barley was smoked twice over. Four expressions are named after Alpstein Mountain formations. They are Santis, Sigel, Dreifaltigkeit and Marwees. The Dreifaltigkeit is priced at around 75 US Dollars.

Drinking Experience Neat:  Very Different but Good. An experiment you're not likely to forget.   

Conclusion: This is amazing stuff. Quite an experiment! Certainly not your daily to-go-to whisky but it's worthwhile to give it a try. Even if it's only once in your life. This is probably a very young spirit but the combination of the very old (60-130 years) charred Beer Casks and the local Peat makes this a very powerful whisky. It makes you wonder what would happen to this spirit if it was allowed to mature for 12 years or so!

Jan van den Ende                                                                        May, 2013

Santis Malt Edition Cask 1130 Review

Country: Switzerland

Brand: Santis Malt Edition Cask 1130

Type: Appenzeller Single Malt Whisky

Age: 8 Years

ABV: 64%

Date: 20/12/2012

Colour: Dark Amber

Nose: The Cask Strength guarantees a strong Nose. There is quite some Alcohol there so give the dram time to relax and open up. After a while I get a very agreeable combination of Fruity - and Grassy tones. It's comparable to the Edition Germany but more sophisticated. I recognise Red Grapes, Plums, Straw, Wood, Malt, Caramel, Honey, Vanilla, Bourbon and Buttered Toast. This could have been bottled at a slightly lower ABV of around 50% in my opinion. But if you like strong Bourbons such as Knob Creek Small Batch 9 or Noah's Mill 15 you will love this Nose.

Taste: Strong Delivery as could be expected with Sweet Malt, Red Fruits, Caramel, Straw, Honey, Plums and Wood (Spices). A hint of Cocoa Powder. Palate and Finish of the Cask 1130 are significantly better than the (already very nice) Edition Germany.

Finish: Very pleasant and quite long with Red Fruit, Red Wine, Caramel, Plum Liqueur and Honey.

I added a few drops of Water and the Alcohol is of course subdued. The characteristics of the Nose do not change dramatically however although Caramel and Honey present themselves even more clearly. On the Palate the Red Wine notes and Spices become more dominant. You can certainly add a bit of water to this whisky. Personally I would prefer to Nose and Sip it neat as the various flavour components are nicely balanced that way.

Rating:  87.5  

Nose: 22.5 - Taste: 21 - Finish: 22 - Overall: 22

General Remarks: Cask 1130 is a special bottling of the Locher Distillery. Only 450 bottles of 500 ml were extracted from this old Pinot Noir Cask. Bottling took place on September 21, 2011 at a Cask Strength of 64%. This can't be a cheap whisky of course and bottles are sold at around 150 US Dollars. This whisky is only for sale at the Visitor Centre of the Distillery in Appenzell, Switzerland. It's Non Chill-Filtered and no E-150 was added.

Drinking Experience Neat: Very Good

Conclusion: This is an excellent and well-crafted whisky, no doubt about that. Some people might find it a bit on the strong side with an ABV of 64%. But the Pinot Noir Cask obviously was of excellent quality. The Red Grapes and Plums combine very nicely with the Sweet Barley, Honey and Bourbon-like Vanilla. The Finish is very pleasant and long-lasting. The Cask 1130 scored high in Blind Tasting sessions and deservedly so. I certainly hope that the Locher Distillery will take it from here and surprise us in the future with other well crafted, sufficiently matured and nicely finished Single Malts. 

Jan van den Ende                                                                   December 2012

Santis Malt Edition Alpstein Review

Country: Switzerland

Brand: Santis Malt (Appenzeller Single Malt)

Type: Edition Alpstein

Age: 5 Years

ABV: 48%

Date: 28/10/2012

Colour: Oloroso Sherry

Nose: The good quality Sherry Cask certainly did its job well. The Sherry is accompanied by Oak, Malt, Wood Spices and Buttered Toast with Fruit Marmalade. Think of Pear, Plum, Blueberries and Peach. There are some Floral tones as well. It would be quite difficult or even impossible to identify this Dram as a Swiss Whisky in a blind tasting. There are some similarities between the Alpstein and Irish Whiskey but I'm sure the Sherry Finish would "confuse" a lot of tasters. And that's a great achievement by a young distillery like Locher! I would be really curious to know what a couple of years more of Wood contact could do to this dram.

Taste: I was expecting lots of Fruit and Butterscotch on the Palate but that's not the case. In fact, the Alpstein is quite Dry and Spicy thanks to the 48% ABV with Malt, Oak, Herbs, Sherry, Licorice and Dried Fruits. 

Finish: Some Fruit returns together with Oak, Caramel, White Pepper and Licorice. Hints of Tea with Stroh Rum that I drank a lot in the late Seventies and early Eighties when skiing in Austria.

I added a few drops of Water and you get More Malt and Fruit on the Nose. Palate and Finish get a bit too spicy as far as I'm concerned but you can certainly experiment with a couple of drops.

Rating:  82.5 

Nose:  22 - Taste:  20 - Finish: 20   - Overall: 20.5

General Remarks: Alpstein is one of the new expressions from the Locher Distillery in Appenzell, Switzerland. The Alpstein matured for three years in Old Oak Beer Casks from the Locher Brewery and was finished for another two years in Sherry Casks. The Alpstein does not contain E-150 Caramel and is Non Chill-Filtered. Of this Edition, only 450 bottles were produced.

Drinking Experience Neat: Good

Conclusion: A very mature whisky from a very young Distillery. The Alpstein has a very pleasant Fruity Nose that can easily compete with Scottish Malt Whisky. Unfortunately, as happens so oft with whiskies, Palate and Finish don't quite live up to the expectations created by the Nose. This is quite understandable as the Alpstein only matured for 5 years. Imagine this dram after 10 years in Old Oak and a 2 year Finish in Quality Sherry Casks. I think a great after dinner dram would emerge. I really cross my fingers for the Locher Distillery. I hope they will get the chance to surprise the whisky world with fully matured Swiss Single Malts.

Jan van den Ende                                                                       October 2012