Review #186 - High Coast Hav — Me, My Wife & Whisky

From Sweden, we have High Coast, one of the more northerly distilleries in the world. This bottle is Hav, an 'oak spice' forward single malt - the aging in ex-bourbon casks and virgin oak reinforces that expectation from the front label.

We get good presentation from this Swedish malt: there's no added coloring, no chill filtering, and we get a strength of 48% ABV. There's no age statement on the label, but this is supposedly comprised mostly of six to seven year old whisky.

High Coast Hav

Sweden - Single Malt

Price Paid: USD 55 (2023)

Current Locally Available Price: USD 55 (2023)

Age Statement: NAS

Strength: 48% ABV

Cask Makeup: Virgin oak and ex-bourbon casks

Details: Not chill filtered, no color added; batch 6

Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 4 times over 2 months; bottles at 100%, 90% (blind tasting), 80% (blind tasting), and 70% (blind tasting) fill levels at times of review. Tasted in a Glencairn glass each time, rested 10-15 minutes

Nose: A bit malty, and some decent oak spice, as the label suggests - cinnamon, light pepper, you can almost smell tannins. There's a good spread of fruit, though: pears, strawberries, golden raisins, and other citrus orchard fruits all appeared at times. Slightly spirity, and there's a hint of musty funk.

Palate: Interesting - changed a bit each tasting. Hints of peat, lots of oak spice with a nice mature feeling to it, but also young oak; spices of cinnamon, pepper, vanilla, and then some nougat; fruits of lemon, prunes, orange, apple, and pear. Later on, strong malty chocolate arrives, along with dark syrupy cherries. The mouthfeel has a medium thickness.

Finish: Medium length, with some oak spice, dry vanilla, nutmeg, and cinnamon - heavier on the wood notes. The orchard fruits like poached pears and apples (or applesauce) are softer, and there's an interesting mix of fizz, sassafras, and some old school spirit notes that linger.

Final Note: Nice and interesting, with a unique mix of young and old whisky notes. The virgin oak definitely adds some baking spices and mature character, but there's still some brighter spirit notes hanging around as well. Nice and fruity at times, too, despite the heavy oak flavors - this was a good introduction to Swedish single malts. Value is solid, as this is a reasonably priced bottle, and it's becoming more available all the time.

Our Average Rating: 6.7 / 10

In the current whisky landscape of increasing prices and variable quality, we've added a value rating to our reviews that relates to the score and the available pricing of each whisky. This roughly equates to a 0-10 scale; no reviews so far have exceeded a score of 10, although it is technically possible for the formula to produce a value rating higher than 10 with a high enough score and low enough price.

Value Rating: 6.93