Old St. Andrews Tweet Tasting: A review of the range

Recently I took part in an online Twitter Tasting to have a look at four of the Old St. Andrews range of whiskies. You may have seen these in tourist shops, they’re in the shape of golf balls and mini barrels… so if you like golf and whisky then they might be the xmas stocking filler pressie for you?!

Let’s take a look at the range…

Clubhouse – 3yo 40% ABV

Info: “The rich and fruity one”. Jim Murray gives this 90/100.
Colour: Golden, caramelly. The colour expected by many.
Nose: Sprightly and young, malty, sweet toffee and fruits.
Palate: Sweet, buttery barley youth, a touch of peat/smoke.
Finish: Grassy barley hangs around. Sweet and morish.
Thoughts: Surprisingly good, I wasn’t necessarily expecting it to be! General great value for the money. “Even though it’s stated as a 3yo, all the whiskies are at least 5yrs” we’re told.
Available: ASDA – £21. Green Welly Stop– £19.99*

Twilight – 10yo 40% ABV

Info: “The fresh and delicate one”. Aged in American White Oak casks. Jim Murray gives this 94.5/100. This is a malt blend, i.e. a blend of malts, no grain.
Colour: Light straw, bright and clear.
Nose: A bright grassy citrus nose, very Speysidey.
Palate: Buttery and easy going, smooth barley malt.
Finish: Fresh with barley malt and puffs of smoke.
Thoughts: Jim scores it a little higher than I would have, but it’s a damn good dram, slight tannin sourness at the end. We all decided that it is: #butterybiscuitbase 🙂
Available: DrinksSupermarket – £31.49. Green Welly Stop– £31.49*

Fireside – 12yo 40% ABV

Info: “The slightly smoky one”. Jim Murray says 88.5/100. Lightly smoked. This is a malt blend, i.e. no grain.
Colour: Light gold.
Nose: Lightly smoky, touches of peat, oak & cinder toffee.
Palate: Buttery smooth, sweet light mossy peat smoke.
Finish: Light moss smoke & ash. Fairly sweet, some fruit & fairly long with a very slight tannin sourness at the end.
Thoughts: Again, Jim is scoring well here… it’s a good dram, nice light smoke is easily accessible to folks new to whisky so think they don’t like peat.
Available: DrinksSupermarket – £34. Green Welly – £33*

Nightcap – 15yo 40% ABV

Info: “The rich honeyed oak one”. Aged in in European oaks casks. Jim Murray says 89/100. Malt blend as above.
Colour: Golden to light amber.
Nose: Similar to the description above, it’s rich, autumn fruits sweet with a honey tone and some oak influence.
Palate: Possibly the smoothest of all four whiskies tried. Very easy on the palate, smooth barley sweetness & fruits.
Finish: Quite long and sweet with hints of smoke and autumnal fruits sticking around, some spices at the end.
Thoughts: As the name suggests this is a good late evening dram, very nice, and well priced.
Available: DrinksSupermarket – £37. Green Welly – £36*

Overall Thoughts: I have to admit that I had the smallest touch of scepticism about these whiskies; the golf ball tourist type nature to them left me assuming that the whiskies may not be particularly of note. However I was wrong… the liquid is all well blended and good quality, so if you’re giving this to a golf playing, whisky loving friend then you can be sure you’re giving them something that’s enjoyable and more importantly, its affordable.

* For free UK delivery from The Green Welly Stop on these four whiskies use code: OSAWHISKY (valid until 22/10/14).

Thanks to Old St. Andrews for the samples.