7 September 2021
Eaglesburn Distillery 2017-2021 Double Wood
Living under the smoke of Arnhem, how could we not have tasted the whisky that was founded in Arnhem by Bart Joosten? He might have thought the same, because he kindly sent us a bottle of the 2017-2021 Eaglesburn single malt, that had matured on bourbon casks, topped off with a virgin oak finish.
Eaglesburn Distillery was founded in 2015, their first single malt was released as soon as 2018. The 15ppm (lightly peated) malt comes from Belgium, but everything else is carefully crafted locally. Bart’s wanderings took him from Arnhem to Doesburg in 2016 and now he’s based in Ede since 2019. All places we know and hold dear. So we were very excited to taste this. The whisky we’re reviewing is bottled at a convenient 47% ABV:
Tasting notes
Nose
Wood smoke at first whiff, with lovely notes of cereals, sultanas, yoghurt and blackberries. A good breakfast in a bottle. But there’s more: mature cheese, cumin, oregano and pumpkin spice. Let’s make it a brunch!
Palate
The palate is slightly salty and smokey and contains heavy flavours like dark beer and rye bread, before opening up into vanilla and orchard fruits.
Finish
BBQ coals, foam rubber, leather and cedar wood make way for a tropical surprise in the form of mango, passion fruits and nectarines. Women’s perfume remains, with s slight hint of Dutch ‘poffertjes’ with butter.
For such a young whisky, this is pretty well done. You can clearly taste passion that Bart carries for whisky in general. The surprise, for us, is mainly in the finish, which is almost like we’re enjoying a tropical day on the Dutch coast. Which was very welcome, considering the bad summer we’ve had. But with a late summer that looks promising, this dram will be our perfect companion.
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