Elements Of Islay – Pl1 (Port Charlotte), 60%.

Rich dark gold to copper in colour.

The trademark Bruichladdich buttery peated nose easily identified here, slight tcp notes poking through. Not as fruity on the nose as the colour may lead you to expect, but quite openly maritime, with some malt chucked in to the salt pot. The nose is fairly complex and keeps you there for quite some while and finally gives up damp smoky wood notes. Continue reading →

Bally Delicious (Balvenie) – 23yo/1989 – Master of Malt – 54%

Light straw yellow in colour.

A light, elegantly fragrant and accessible nose with light stewed fruits making an appearance.

Much stronger on the palate than the nose leads you to imagine, a spicy hit that tales straight off into a pleasantly warming experience. The wood is very up front, but adds an interesting aspect to the whisky which doesn’t over power it but leads to long slightly dry finish.
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GlenDronach Cask Strength Batch 1 – 54.8%

A deep golden colour lures in your nose for a sniff of this cask strength sherried treasure.

The nose is grown up, and although there is no age statement on this whisky it feels fairly well aged on first impressions. It seems to have an excellent balance of vanillary wood which neither dominates nor is out shined by the sweet sherry notes that come through clearly. There are orange zest and chocolatey notes amongst and assortment of other jelly sweetie notes.
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Benrinnes – Batch 1 – That Boutique-y Whisky Company – 48.9%

Fairly dark golden in colour. Sweet, heavily sherried nose, plump sultanas and nuts, top quality stuff.

The palate is huge, one of the biggest sherry monsters I’ve had yet, it must have come from an excellent first fill PX cask. An oily goodness covers the mouth with spices warming the back of the tongue.

The finish is long with a slow warming heat covering your chest. The slightly lower ABV makes I smooth and easy to drink straight. That, along with the way the palate feels tends to lead you to think that this bottle contained fairly well aged whisky.

A top dram that any sherry fan will completely love. It’s got to be well in to the 90’s for score.

All anCnoc Single Malt is distilled using traditional methods and aged on site at the Knockdhu Distillery in the village of Knock, Aberdeenshire. anCnoc 22 Year Old was matured predominantly in top quality American ex-bourbon casks but some Spanish casks seasoned for two years with Oloroso sherry were also used. The whisky is bottled at 46% ABV, non-chill filtered and presented at its natural colour.

Read on for my tasting notes: Continue reading →