The Belgian Owl Whisky

On my whisky journey, I seek to obtain a bottle of whisky from every  whisky producing country in the world. I was fortunate to get my hands on a bottle of Belgium single malt – The Belgian Owl single malt whisky.

This single malt is the first to be produced in Belgium. It shows just how whisky creation has expanded around the world.
The Belgian Owl distillery is in the town of Grâce Hollogne, near the city of Liège. Etienne Bouillon and two partners founded the distillery in 1997. The original name of the distillery was Pure.

The barley for the whisky is grown in the fields around Liège, and the malting, mashing and fermentation processes take part in an old converted farm on the city’s outskirts. They filled the first barrel in October 2004.

The first 3 year old single malt whisky was bottled in October 2007 and called Identité.  From then, they have grown from strength to strength.

The Belgium Owl Identité whisky is matured for 3 years and then bottled in small batches at a strength of 46% ABV. The ageing takes place in 1st fill bourbon casks. The Belgian Owl whisky is unpeated and not chilled-filtered.

There is a great legend posted on the distillery website that tells how the whisky came by its interesting name.

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The Belgian Owl Whisky Review

COUNTRY: Belgium

ABV: 46%

COLOUR: A pale golden yellow. It is one of the lightest coloured whiskies in my collection. It is a medium oily whisky with some slow fingers on the side of the glass.

NOSE: Freshness and sweetness as soon as you open the bottle. There are hints of cereal and oak. The nose is quite subtle with fresh flowers and vanilla. The bourbon sweetness delicately comes through in the background.

PALATE:  Quite spicy with floral undertones. There are notes of green grass with hints of lavender flowers floating by. The palate also brings oak and barley, and the bourbon sweetness comes through very subtly. The whisky is creamy smooth and has a medium body.

FINISH: Medium length. It ends in spicy and oak notes.

RATING: EXCELLENT

For a 3 year old this Identité is an amazing whisky; one of the better whiskies in this young age group. It is not the most complex whisky, but it is easy to drink and quite spicy. So it should pair quite nicely with some young creamy Dutch cheese.

Unfortunately, the bottle is 50cl volume, which means I will drink this very sparingly, as it is not available in South Africa as yet.

I will be looking out for more expressions from this Belgium distillery when we travel to Europe again.  It is a worthy addition to any collection.
The Whisky Bible 2015 chose the Belgian Owl Single Malt ‘64 Months’ as their  European Whisky of the Year (Single Malt).

I was fortunate to taste quite a few more of the Belgian Owl whisky and I have captured my tasting notes for the Belgian Owl Passion and the Belgian Owl Evolution Whisky.

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