I don’t know much about Thy distillery, but looked them up for a few minutes before enjoying this dram. Thy is an organic single-estate whisky, originally an 8-generation family farm turned closed-loop family whisky estate. They farm and process their organic grain and produce the whisky on traditional, often handmade, equipment in a process focused on craft and quality. Their story and practice elevates the experience for me.
(Image from whiskybase store)
Whisky: Thy 3 Year (2019), The Nordic Casks #2
Bottler: Berry Bros & Rudd
Cask: Quarter cask
ABV: 57.6%
Straight from the nose, this is very interesting! Licorice, cough drops, sweet florals, and herbal. The palate and nose are very similar, perhaps the palate giving a medicinal “zing” you get from cough drops — a bit like candy but it’s medicine and kind of quirky. It’s very well integrated, and I found the ABV to be about perfect. It was enjoyable with and without water. Apparently Thy’s grain is smoked with beechwood. Perhaps this is where some of those quirky notes come from.
On the finish, I get something like overripe papaya — fruity and melon-like but an off, funky note I find in this particular fruit. A light, pleasant smokiness wafts in the background. Again, very well integrated.
I don’t think the others who tasted this with me enjoyed it all that much, but I found this to be really interesting! I would definitely buy a bottle of this, and I’m hopeful to try more Thy whisky in the future. So take my rating with a grain of salt, but if you like quirky stuff this is probably right up your alley. I’d say it’s not just quirky, but quality whisky in general. It’s an excellent and interesting sipper whose quality of production shines, but it falls short in that it’s not mindblowingly interesting or complex.
Score: 4 / 5
Mental Image: Licorice field Wonka farmer.