Bit of an intro
You're not really in for a rough ride, I was just trying to be exciting. Linie Aquavit is quite an interesting spirit, so I'm going to have to give it a bit more of an in depth introduction than I'm planning to do with most reviews. I seem to be getting a bit long winded in general though, I'll try to keep it a bit shorter in future. Aquavit means "water of life" the same as "whisky" does, or at least "uisge beatha" which is where the word whisky comes from. There seem to rather a lot of distilled spirits whose names mean water of life. Eau-de-vie for example. The "Linie" part of the name is the Norwegian word for equator and I'll explain why in a minute. The traditional way to drink it is to knock it back immediately after finishing your beer. It doesn't sound like a very British way to drink if you ask me, but fortunately there are two other traditional ways to consume it. One is to sip it neat or with a drop of water (the same as scotch), and the other is the same, but you chill it slightly first.
Aquavit is is the native spirit of Scandinavia, and is usually a potato vodka flavoured with caraway. They use various other botanical as well, but mainly caraway because it's supposed to be good for the digestion. Apparently Sweden, Denmark and Germany also produce a version distilled from grain. As far as I can tell Norway sticks with potatoes and is also the only country where the spirit is aged in oak casks, and this is where the equator comes in. If you've ever investigated whisky production you've probably heard about how the changes is temperature and humidity cause the wood in the casks to expand and contract slightly, drawing in and squeezing out the spirit inside. In this interaction with the wood the flavour of the spirit is developed. The scotch way is to leave in in a warehouse for years and years. Linie Aquavit have found a bit of a short cut. To increase the speed and degree of change in the climate that the casks are stored in, Linie store their casks on a ship as it sails to Australia and back. Apparently it has to be the deck of the ship too, to ensure the spirit sloshed about enough inside the barrels. Kind of extreme if you ask me. Every drop of this stuff has crossed the equator twice, hence the name. The story about how they discovered the method is on their website and is quite interesting if it's true. Basically, a bloke called Heinrich had a ship full of normal, rubbishy aquavit which he tried to sell in various countries around the world. No one wanted it, so he sailed home and opened a barrel to drown his sorrows. He discovered that it tasted way better than it had when he'd set sail and started selling it. That was just over 200 years ago. The full stories on their website at www.linie.com. You have to be legal drinking age to enter the site, so sorry if you're a youngster. If you are a youngster, what are you doing reading a blog about alcohol? Go to your room!
I'm sure you found that interesting, but here's some slightly more practical information. Linie is aged in Oloroso sherry casks and is bottled at 41.5% abv. It's matured before it's four month trip, and when it gets home it's aged for another year or so. I couldn't find how long it's aged before the journey so I'm not sure how old it is, I'd say maybe three years, but that's a guess bearing in mind I'm fairly sure its not as old as whisky. I got a miniature bottle for 60 kroners, which is about six pounds. Or about ten dollars if you insist. I tasted a Danish aquavit a few years ago and it wasn't particularly nice, so I had some reservations about trying this.
Packaging
It's just a tiny bottle.
Nothing particularly striking about the packaging really, but it's just a miniature. Full size bottles come with the details of that bottle's voyage on the back of the label, but not the miniatures. The label has a fairly nautical theme which I would usually associate with rum (pirates!) but in this case it's a refernce to the maturation. It has tiny little caraway flowers on it too. There are little gold circles around where it says Linie, but I can't quite tell if they're portraits or coins or barrels or what. I'd have to get a full size bottle to tell, it's just too small. I had a quick look at the aquavit shelf in the official alcohol shop yesterday when I was picking up the Springbank and to be honest nothing on it really stood out. I think you'd have to go out to buy aquavit, I don't think it would catch your eye as you were browsing. Having said that, this one caught my eye as I was browsing. Well, I was looking at the miniatures while waiting to pay and it caught my eye just because it was something I'd never seriously tried.
Opening smell
On opening the bottle the first smell was aniseed. I think it was anyway, I have difficulty distinguishing these kind of flavours at time. I reckon aniseed is like caraway but kind of harsher, and it was a little harsh so I'm calling it aniseed. It mellowed out after a few seconds and became caraway smell. There was also a hint of oak and something quite vanilla-ish but not quite vanilla, which I think was probably the sherry influence.
Appearance
If it was a whisky it would be a very pale one, but it's not. After a quick glance at the other bottles on the aquavit shelf in Vinmonopolet (government offy) it's one of the lightest coloured aquavits. It doesn't look like any colouring is added to this one, but I don't know if the rules are the same as for whisky. In some lights it looks like a very slightly greenish yellow which I assume is from the botanicals used in flavouring it. Not a very sherry-ish colour for a spirit aged in sherry casks, but I don't think its in them all that long.
Neat
The notes I made while tasting weren't as simple and straight forward as I was aiming for, so I've used some of the phrases I wrote and then tried to explain exactly what I meant. Thought it would be interesting, and it was for me. You might not agree.
Nose - A surprisingly pleasant balance of caraway and sweet sherry smell ("balance" sounds a bit fancy, but I just mean both smells were there with neither being strong enough to mask the other), oak adding a bit of complexity (by which I mean I could smell oak but it wasn't as strong as caraway and sherry and made the overall aroma more complex, rather than making it smell of oak), lemongrass, maybe faint coconut, reminds me of Thai green curry. I could picture this smell in a Thai fish dish and I can see why it's considered to go well with pickled herring. Smell like paint thinner or maybe polystyrene cement clue, quite solventy.
Arrival - Caraway
Development - The caraway fading out and revealing an oaky taste (the caraway taste got weaker and I could taste oak that seemed like it had been there all along), green tree bark (I think), faint corriander
Aftertaste - gentle caraway, very vegetal, fresh herbs but not sure which ones, dry, maybe green tea
Water - about half a teaspoon
Nose - Still gentle caraway, grassier than when neat but warm (like a summer meadow, ha ha, bit of a cliche but it really was like grass and wild flowers and stuff being warmed in the sun), cumin, maybe turmeric, general indian spices, caraway waking up a bit more (by which I meant tasting stronger and a little harsher), but still balanced by the sherry sweetness (like the sweetness of the cherry stopped the overall taste being dominated by harsh caraway flavours), faint ginger - the kind used in thai food, which after a minute of googling I think might be siamese ginger root.
Arrival - Aniseedy, slightly more lively aniseed flavour (by lively I meant it was a bit stronger and fresher tasting), reminds me of some kind of sweets from my childhood but not aniseed balls. Not sure what.
Development - something savoury, almost meaty in the caraway flavour, wood, herbs, pretty sure fresh corriander again, something cakey, maybe angelica from the cakes at Granny's house - liquoricey and kind of sweet, but with a bit more of a grassy taste, bit of fresh mint leaf
Aftertaste - surprisingly long, dry, complex herbs, lingering carraway/angelica, green tea, sort of citrusy maybe lemongrass coming back in, ginger powder as it fades out.
Chilled
It said slightly chilled, so I put the glass in the fridge for a bit more than half an hour before pouring it. Nice way to chill a spirit I thought. It tasted and smelled pretty much identical to before. Slightly more refreshing I suppose. The only difference I noticed was it seemed a bit sweeter and stickier when I tried it neat. Adding water removed that and then it was just the same as last time.
A few more comments
I don't think it's been in the wood long enough to get the complex development that a good scotch has when you add water. It develops a bit, but I think the difference is mainly due to diluting the alcohol so it doesn't numb your taste buds quite as much. If you can, try a drop of Aberlour A'bunadh, add some water and sip it very slowly over an hour or so. Then try it with this aquavit and I bet you a quid you'll see much more development in the whisky. I think the complexity in the aquavit is mainly from the mix of herbs and spices used to flavour it rather than the maturation, but the maturation definitely adds something.
Conclusion
I was very pleasantly surprised by this spirit. I was expecting powerful aniseedy caraway flavours and was hoping water would soften those flavours enough to let something else through. If i was being subjective (describing taste in terms that I understand but no one else can relate to) I'd say aniseed type flavours are rather unfriendly. They find it fun to deliberately annoy you, even when you politely but firmly ask them not to. Best thing to do is have a word with their dad. The caraway flavour of this is influenced by the sweet sherry in such a way that it's like a naughty kid is hanging out with a friend who's a good influence on him and he's on his best behaviour. It ended up being very pleasant and quite refreshing for a distilled spirit. I agree with the tradition of eating this after particularly rich food, I think it would be a very nice way to de-grease your insides and freshen your palate. Would I buy it again? Surprisingly (to me at least), I would definitely buy this again, but maybe not a full size bottle. I think I saw half size bottles in the shop and I'd go for that. 60 kroners for a miniature seems like a lot, but the larger bottles are better value. I wouldn't buy full size because I don't think I'd drink it often enough for it to be worth it. There is also a locally produced aquavit called Jær Akvavitt which I think I would like to try before going for a larger bottle. Jæren is the area I live in and people are pretty big on local products here. It's some of Norway's best farm land and produces some surprisingly tasty potatoes. There's a general theme in the area of good quality, tasty food and drink, so there's a pretty good chance they're making a decent spirit. I've only seen one person give this any kind of score (I guess it's a bit obscure) and it got 14 out of 20. Marks out of 20 seems unusual. Here's what I give it on my standard one to ten scale: Very nice. A surprisingly pleasant spirit and an interesting change from whisky.
I think it's time to open the Springbank.
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