The Belgian Owl

In Wallonia, we got treasures and secrets. Today I would like to share one of them with you....

Let me introduce, THE OWL !!!!

Belgium has got a very long beer making tradition. There are over 500 different beers to chose from and that’s a lot. So it’s fair to say we know a lot about brewing barley... There was just one more step to take from making beer to making whisky but no-one had done it before Etienne Bouillon...

He had both the passion and the vision for this new product, in times when nobody believed in a new business ! So round 2007 his first Belgian whisky bottle was born ! Hooray !

Yeah but that’s not all...

Its handcrafted single malt has been ranked the best single-cask whisky produced in continental Europe by Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible, the authoritative guide to whiskies from everywhere from Glasgow to Moscow.

Now what is it like ? Well, let the specialists speak...

(source : http://whiskyforeveryone.blogspot.be/2011/01/have-just-tried-belgian-owl.html)

The colour of this three years old Belgian Owl single malt whisky is a pale gold. The nose is delicate and subtle with some lovely fresh aromas coming through - think of crisp green pears, vanilla, honey, lemon zest and more fresh fruit, this time reminiscent of greengages and unripe plums. These light, fresh aromas are backed up by increasingly distinct notes of malty cereal grains and dried grasses (imagine hay especially). On the palate, this whisky is tangy and very light to begin with. Here the three main descriptors are distinct cereals, grassy and fresh green fruits - these manifest themselves in notes of very malty/gristy barley, hay/straw and green pear/greengage respectively. With time, the number of characteristics again increase to include honey, vanilla, lemon zest and some hot, tangy spiciness (think of chilli-like heat). This heat carries on in to the finish, which is quite lively and zingy. The sweeter elements (honey and vanilla especially) appear, then fade to leave some pleasant dryness.

Finally... Let’s be honest, it’s a bit expensive. But the quality is there and I like to support local products.

For more information, follow this link :

http://www.belgianwhisky.com/en/home-1.html