FEW Single Malt Whisky

[12.15.2019] I've been drinking the for a few weeks but haven't had the time to post it. Bought it in the Windy City on a work trip 4 years back for a friend whose wife promptly put a retroactive hiatus on his habit. Kept waiting for a change but gave up after a bad week at work. Sweet, malty, smooth and easy at 93 proof (surprised me and I had to go back to the bottle!), this would be a go-to if it weren't for the price. As it stands, this is a mild mannered, palette pleaser overpriced in a market saturated with novelties. Best this about it is the uncut flavor and proof, complete with a malty taste u bastardized with synthetic smoke. If you need a bottle to complete a decorative set, pay me the shipping and I'll send it empty.

An intense, “grain to glass” Single Malt Whiskey by Paul Hletko founder of FEW Spirits Distillery in Evanston, Illinois. They air dry most of the malt naturally & smoke the rest over cherry wood. It has an aromatic birth with notes of fresh grass, earth, cream, sea-salt caramels & chocolate fudge; while a bold & spicy life adds notes of farmland, toasted popcorn, rye, apple, citrus, malt, smoke, cinnamon & more chocolate; that led to a long & toasty death with notes of malted barley, cherry & mop bucket water (rethink cleaning procedures). February / December 2020 / August 2022

The nose on this salsa is very simple, it smells like a brewery and toasted rye bread. I must be getting ready to run a marathon, because this nose is all carb loading. The palate on this is not too enjoyable for me, fragrance from the nose comes off on the palate almost in its entirity. There is a tiny bit of smoke that happens, but its basically all toasted rye bread. I have had a few Few products, and they all seem to have a similar kind of flavor. I have had a barrel aged gin that was pretty decent from this company, but this particular dram is a pass for me.

I give this some points for originality, but it just doesn’t really work. The aroma is really funky, with heavy notes of sawdust - not an aroma one usually gets from a whisk(e)y. The taste is VERY light and flat, although there are some decent bready and chocolatey notes on the finish. It’s just a weird experience - which is okay as far as it goes but I’d never buy a bottle of this or recommend it to anyone, really.

N: very astringent. Lemon, sawdust, vegetal. P: really not much depth to speak of. Bitter almonds, cough drop sweetness, some herbs. No rounded fruit or caramel flavors at all. F: continued cough drops, faintly menthol. I've never literally drain poured anything, but this is testing me. I would happily drink water if this was my only option for any alcoholic beverage.

So, imagine a bucket, on the ground, under a horse’s feeding trough. A heavy rain comes, soaks the barley and hay in the trough, then drips down into the bucket. Want a drink from that bucket? This whisky is not for me, stale, sour, mildewed grain and hay water from an old bucket.