Author Archives: Steve Prentice

Review: Littlemill 25 Year Old Private Cellar Edition

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littlemill25yobottleLittlemill 25yo Private Cellar Edition – 50.4% abv

Info: The Loch Lomond Group are releasing this 25 year old Littlemill, whisky from a distillery which has long gone, destroyed by fire in 2004 and now mostly demolished. Selected from a mix of 10 American and European oak casks which were then married together and finished in Oloroso sherry casks. 1500 bottles, bottle includes a mini.
Legs: Thick, slow, oily legs.
Colour: Autumnal bold, bright gold.
Nose: Fairly powerful nose, quite high alcohol vapours. Behind the vapours are sweet notes of barley, gentle hints of peat and stewed autumn fruits. There’s a rubbery quality, coming from the sherry influence. After a while there’s a nuttyness that comes out a little.
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Review: Glenfiddich The Original

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GlenfiddichTheOriginalBottleGlenfiddich The Original 40%abv

Info: Recreated and inspired by Glenfiddich Straight Malt’s taste profile that was first introduced in 1963. NAS.
Colour: Lightly golden to straw.
Nose: Much more of a wine-like hit on the nose to start with than I was expecting. Closely followed up by malt, a handful of nuts, touches of smoke (cask char? a tiny bit of peated malt?), and hints of cut grass and leather. Back to white wine type notes again before back to mashed malt and a fudgey sweetness which comes out after a while.
Palate: It’s medium oily on the palate, thicker than I expected for 40%. It’s very easy, fairly velvety with just a mere hint of spices followed by the grassy malt and some brown sugar sweetness. Not much of the wine found on the nose at first, although after more time in the glass and in your mouth it’s certainly there if you look, it’s rather nice.
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Review: Paul John Bold

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BoldPaul John’s “Bold” Whisky – 46%abv

Info: Peated single malt whisky from Goa, India. Non chill filtered, no colouring. Matured in American oak for 4 to 5 years, with the peat coming from Islay and being imported to India specially.
Colour: Golden, hints of ripe barley.
Nose: Peaty, an Islay style peat but with a background of heat, sundried heat. There’s certainly a slight sweet floralness about it, sometimes I’d associate that with an Orkey type tone. Some other tasting notes from Twitter have suggested condensed milk type sweetness.
Palate: There’s a gentle Islay style peat that is at the forefront but doesn’t dominate at all, behind that is a host of great flavours, subtly sweet barley and a dryness as if you were sitting in a dessert. It’s medium in thickness, remaining reasonably light and zippy. Hints of cracked black pepper & clove.
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Review: Bowmore Mizunara Cask Finish

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bowmoremizunarabottleBowmore Mizunara Cask Finish – 53.9% abv

Info: This has been made up of different vintages from the 1990s (so around 15-25 years old), and then finished in Japanese Mizunara oak which is the first time that Mizunara casks have been exported from Japan. There’s 2000 bottles.
Colour: Fully golden, setting evening sun.
Nose: Straight away there’s a great waft of coastal peat that you’d come to expect from Bowmore, although it seems slightly more at the fore than on general releases. However behind it there’s all sorts of goodies, and a sweetness that reminds me of Love Heart sweets. There’s also definitely a sour touch there as well which balances out the sweetness.
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Review: Battle of the Blends – The Judging

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Whisky Mag’s Battle of the Blends
in association with Master of Malt

Battle-of-the-BlendsSo, Dave ‘The Rummager’ Broom and Neil ‘Copper Dog’ Ridley have been set a challenge by the Whisky Mag along with Master of Malt… which of the two can produce the best blend… and it’s now time for selected blaggers judges to compare, contrast and submit their favourites. Want more info on the fight? Head to Master of Malt’s blog here.

As regular readers of my blog may have noticed I’ve run a small selection of blend reviews over the last few posts, so this seems a great way to finish that round up.

Annnd it’s on to my thoughts…

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Review: Label 5 Gold Heritage

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label5-800Label 5 Gold Heritage – 40% abv

Info: At the end of 2014 Label 5 (owned by La Martiniquaise who also own Glen Moray – the blend’s main component) released “Gold Heritage” to expand their range. It’s a blend containing a mix of whiskies including single malts up to 20 years old, the result being an exceptionally smooth whisky loaded with fruit, spice, warm vanilla oak and subtle smoke.
Colour: Spring sun gold.
Nose: Some grain top notes leading into a sweet fruity malt base. Touches of oak and sherry sweetness. There’s some quality malt backing this blend up for sure.
Palate: Instant honey sweetness with touches of oaky wood giving it depth to join the brown sugars and malt.
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Review: The Antiquary – Blended Scotch Whisky

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the-antiquary-blended-scotch-whiskyThe Antiquary – Blended Scotch Whisky – 40% abv

Info: This is the entry level expression from the Antiquary blended Scotch whisky range, owned by the Tomatin distillery after their acquisition of J. W. Hardie in 1997.
Colour: Orangey golden.
Nose: Much more interesting than I imagined it might be, there’s a peatiness to it along with younger oak notes and lemon drop sweets. The best flavours dissipate fairly quickly in the air leaving mossy malt.
Palate: Very easy and velvet smooth although not hugely thick. It’s nicely balanced sweetness comes through along with smoky puffs.
Finish: Slight bonfire notes stick around with sweetness to give your chest a little warming hug, very pleasant indeed. At the end there’s some younger notes coming out which belies it’s price point.
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Review: The Famous Grouse Mellow Gold (vs standard)

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FG_Mellow_HRThe Famous Grouse Mellow Gold – 40% abv

Info: The recipe has a higher proportion of sherry casks than standard Grouse to deliver a subtly sweeter, mellow flavour. More info here.
Colour: Autumn gold, a fair bit darker than the standard Famous Grouse blend.
Nose: Fairly sweet with quite a lot of sherry nuttiness about it. Vanilla along with red and green apples and a slight fudgeyness.
Palate: Actually a fairly thick mouthfeel leading to gently building spices, the red and green apples are there but held back somewhat.
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Review: Hyde 10yo

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Hyde10yoBottleHyde ‘No. 1 President’s Cask’ 10 Year Old – 46% abv

Info: Hyde comes from Hibernia Distilleries and is a single malt Irish whiskey from West Cork. It’s made from 100% malted Irish barley and matured in first fill bourbon and then finished in Oloroso sherry casks. Non-chill filtered. 5000 bottles.
Colour: Summer gold.
Nose: A nice mix of things on the nose, great to keep you smelling. There’s almost slight peaty whiffs, malt, some mossy oak notes, slight overripe fruits, stewed autumn berries and hints of a metallic nature. There’s a creamy vanilla custard there too.
Palate: A thick oily mouthfeel which is fairly easy going on your palate, there’s a small pinch of spices, medium sweetness with those stewed berries leading the way and the cream there too.
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Review: Ledaig – Dùsgadh – 42 Year Old

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Ledaig 42YO bottle onlyLedaig ‘Dùsgadh’ – 42 Year Old – 46.3%abv

Info: This contains some of the first spirit to be made at the distillery when it reopened in 1972. The old stills have since been decommissioned and used as part of the packaging. The replacement stills have now produced new spirit and in buying a bottle of this 24yo gets you a free bottle of 10yo in 2024 made from the spirit from those new stills. For the full PR info go here.
Colour: Deep and rich coppery gold. Old rusty tints.
Nose: Old and relaxed; a really smooth nasal delivery with a surprising amount of fresh papaya and tropical fruit notes coming through. There’s gentle smokey puffs and a leatheryness you get from old leather covered oak chairs. Some slight coffee notes followed by mushy plums, beeswax & honey.
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