Earlier this week I visited the Thy Distillery in Denmark to write an article for the next Whisky Passion. As we’ll be deep diving into the story behind the distillery in that article, and I already wrote quite a bit of information about Thy during the Thy Whisky Week here on Dram1, I’ll keep the intro here short for today. For the trip I brought some Dutch treats to Denmark to share with the Thy team, and one of them was a bag of ‘Hopjes”. Upon tasting them Jakob and Andreas were immediately reminded of their”Thy Maltmod release. They poured me a dram and I just had to pick up a bottle. Unfortunately it was the very last one available, but perhaps you can still find it somewhere online! It’s divine. So, without further ado, let’s dive into the tasting notes!
Tasting Notes: Thy Edition 20 “Maltmod
Stats:
Distillery: Thy
Age: 3 years old
ABV: 53,4%
Chill-Filtered: No
Natural Colour: Yes
Nose:
Lot’s of green notes, such as fresh cut grass, fennel, and moss. Paired with a peppery spiceness, some lemon zest, and plenty of herbaciousness in the form of laurel, nutmeg, cloves and kardemom. To my delight I’m also finding some clear candy notes, in the form of Haribo cola bottles and peaches. Especially that cola candy note makes my mouth water for a taste!
Palate:
The cola note is back, at full force! But this time around it’s paired with intense notes of salmiak liquorice, ground pepper, charred tree bark, a hint of pine needles and plenty of caramel and vanilla. This Thy Maltmod has been created with “Caramel Malts”, somewhere between a classic malting and a chocolate malting (known from the Glenmorangie Signet). And you can really taste the influence of the darker malt here!
Finish:
The finish is medium long and some of the citrus from the nose is popping up its head again. Fresh lemon zest, marzipan, caramel and vanilla are by far the most dominant flavours here and suprisingly enough (as I was finding some on the palate) there’s next to no bitter influences here. Well-balanced and gentle.
Verdict:
There’s a good reason I picked up this bottle at the distillery. I absolutely loved it from the very first sip. It’s intruiging, it’s complex, and above all.. it evolves during the experience. And I absolutely love that. The intense candy cola notes brought back some happy memories from my childhood favourite. And though I did not necessarily get the Hopjes myself at first sight, I completely understand what Jakob and Andreas meant after tasting the candy. It’s a bit more caramel than coffee in my book, but the flavours of the candy are definitely there!
