This is the big day for our short Fram Whisky Tour as we
will have the opportunity to taste both
the 21 and 25 year old Fram Expedition whiskies and make a purchase of either……
or both! And as if to foretell of what was to come, the sun put on a wonderful
display as it rose in the morning of this fine day!
Through the day we sailed on a pretty flat North Sea. Those
of us who know what the North Sea can be like were very grateful. We saw a few
seabirds long the way, mainly gannets.
The afternoon was the time for the tasting. We started with
some tunes by our pianist Bjørn and also from Beastie McGee (Bernie’s
wife). Then a surprise- the whisky
barrel entered the room and told us about his adventures with his brother on
board the Fram. He looked older than his 25 years, maybe because he has aged so
much during the voyage. His contents certainly had. Being sloshed around a
barrel rather than sitting quietly in a stone cellar, makes for an optimal
extraction of all the magical contents of the toasted wood barrel, that, by the
way, would have originally contained American bourbon.
Then the tasting began. With great anticipation, drams of
the straw-coloured 21 year old Fram Expedition Single Malt were served to all
our passengers (it seemed like the whole ship was up in our Panorama Lounge for
this once in a lifetime experience). Our Captain looked on like a father
waiting for his wife to give birth! He has had a lot to do with this unique
event. We carefully followed Bernie as he looked at the colour of the ambrosia
in the small glass, smelled it, and spoke to it- “Hello, how are you?”. Then the reward for all this effort- the
taste itself. The malt is smoother than
it should be for an “overproof” whisky at 51% alcohol- cask strength as it is
called. This is undoubtedly due to the extra aging provided by its long voyage
on Fram. The whisky is very complex as well, and of course will continue to age
in the bottle.
After, many took the opportunity to purchase a bottle, but
there are still many to go yet (about 190 bottles of each were produced and
individually numbered). This is the first time a scotch whisky has ever been
taken on a voyage to mature and no doubt there will be high demand for this precious
malt.
