This is a story about a distiller, Grassl, from Switzerland that moved to Mexico to start a luxury brand of tequila and mezcal, then ended up on Australia making a single malt barley dram from blue barley, because the Chinese think blue barley is unpure, even though the French, and others, think it is much better (sweeter, higher in antioxidents) – wow, Switzerland, Mexico, Australia, China, France… that’s a lot of mileage. Tonight, I’m practicing “botanical diversity against monoculture” by drinking a blue barley malt dram (as opposed to the white barley, which is obviously racist).
It opens thick on the palate, like melted butter, sweet gooey honey, and freshly-squeezed lemon, then enters the fruit-basket flavors of apple, pear, apricot, white grape, mango, and the spice of barley grain – almost rye-like spice, but without the unique rye flavor – with a light smokiness in the background. The buttery texture is quite unique – close to agave nectar – you don’t need to swallow, it just slides down the gullet. To say the legs are thick-and-clingy is an understatement – delivering a long sweet fruity spicy finish. The blue barley really delivers the sweetness, also similar to agave nectar. This is a unique dram that drinks like a liqueur.
Drink slow, drink long, drink a variety, drink often.