Origin: Alto Adige (Italy)
Type: Italian Whisky
Strength: 40%ABVA
Ageing casks: Virgin
Chillfiltered: No
Added colouring: No
Owner: Roner S.p.A.
Average price: € 65.00
Official website: www.roner.com
Vote: 83/100
A family business and distiller for more than 75 years in South Tyrol, Roner is now in its third generation with sisters Karin and Gudrun at the helm of the distillery (while the fourth generation of Carmen, Eva and Elke is already at work), producing grappa, liqueurs and fruit distillates also from their own raw materials.
The first approach with whisky began with a collaboration with Slyrs, a single malt produced in Bavaria, which thanks to Roner was able to arrive in Italy.
The step from distributor to producer was a short one, and last year they launched their first whisky, created in collaboration with the Forst brewery: it is the latter’s brew (Forst Malt Blend) that forms the basis of the distillate, whose recipe is highly secret (and obviously free of hops).
Three is definitely a recurring number in this bottling, with the aforementioned third generation of Roner but also Forst’s homage to Luis Fuchs, head brewer since 1933 and third generation at the helm of the brewery (now in its fifth). And three are the woods behind the ageing in hybrid casks: oak body, cherry bottom and larch top.
Five years of ageing for a bottling that marks another step along the road of Italian whisky, which seems to have found fertile ground in the Trentino Alto Adige area, thanks also to Puni and inQuota.
Tasting notes
On the nose, wood spices (nutmeg, cinnamon) warm the nostrils accompanying vanilla, rye bread, toasted hazelnuts, barley coffee, plums. Over time, a full-bodied vegetal vein with balsamic and slightly bitter traits emerges with a caramel component. Straightforward and full-bodied.
In the mouth, the spicy part returns with the addition of pepper and a hint of ginger over sweet and roasted tones, in which coffee and cocoa predominate over nuts, Catalan cream and cooked pear. The vegetal and menthol note returns, with a hint of coconut. Light body but not elusive.
Not very long finish of cocoa, coffee, spices, pear, vegetal and balsamic notes.
Nice combination of roasted and vegetal notes, with well-balanced sweet/bitter notes, which just lacks some more body on the palate that would have pushed it towards excellence.