Tamdhu, a Speyside distillery, closed in 2010, was then sold and reopened in 2011. This 10yo released in April 2013 marks the return of the distillery into shops… and as an entry level malt it’s at a good price point.
Although a little late to the party with release tasting notes, I’ve finally caught up. Keep reading for some quick thoughts.
Selected by BenRiach’s Master Blender Billy Walker, the twelve-expression Batch 10 from the Elgin distillery was bottled in June 2013 and all bottlings are available as of 17th July.
Batch 10 comprises sublime Speyside vintages ranging from 1976 to 2005. Cask types vary from Moscatel and Virgin American Oak Hogsheads to Pedro Ximenez Sherry Puncheons and Barrels.
I’ve been lucky enough to review four from the range, so read on to see my quick thoughts!
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Macallan – 18yo / 1995 – DB – 43%Colour: Dark golden, copper and orange tints.
Nose: Heavy, pungent winter fruits, malt and balanced old wood notes with toffee vanilla caramel coming through after a while. Very pleasant and keeps you sniffing!
Palate: Smooth and gently spiced, light to medium oils with winter fruits and baked cooking apples. Finish: Fairly long and warming, the Christmas cake fruits continuing nicely for a good while. A surprisingly fresh note left with you.
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The Devil’s Punchbowl Chapter II:You may have seen the recent news that Arran has released batch two of it’s Devil’s Punchbowl whisky, and if batch one’s release last year is anything to go by, then this will be a good one, well loved, and speedy to sell (and then hit the auctions).
So with those things in mind, let’s take a bit of a more in depth look at this dramming delight, made up of a batch of 27 casks of Arran malt whisky. Here’s my review…
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Tomatin created this special edition whisky to celebrate their (then) Master Distiller, Douglas Campbell MBE’s 50th year with the distillery and uses casks from each decade that have been selected by the man himself to create a unique single malt…. With 50 years of whisky to choose from you know it will be good!
The following casks were used to create this single malt:
1967 – Refill Sherry Hogshead
1976 – Oloroso Sherry Butts
1984 – Refill Sherry Hogsdeads
1990 – First Fill Bourbon Barrels
2005 – Fill Bourbon Barrels
Let’s crack on with the review…
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I was lucky enouogh to be invited to take part in a Glen Garioch Twitter Tasting, where we were able to taste the following four expressions:
1986
1995
12yo
A New Rare Find (an as yet unreleased new expression)
All hosted by the lovely Rachel Barrie (AKA TheLadyBlender), Morrison Bowmore’s Master Blender, some of her comments below represented with the tag RB.
Let’s take a look at the reviews in more depth… Continue reading
It was recently Grain Week at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS), and the folks there were very kind indeed to me and sent three great grain whiskies to review. They sent:
G10.4 (Strathclyde Distillery) – “A witch’s Christmas tipple”
G3.4 (Caledonian Distillery) – “Pride of Bengal”
G1.9 (North British Distillery) – “The palate gets a Ping!”
Before we review, can I just quickly recommend you check out the SMWS website, it’s a club worth considering joining, the amount of quality casks from every distillery you can think of is really quite astounding, I’m yet to have a bad dram bottled by the SMWS! For balance it’s fair to mention that there’s also plenty of other good quality fee-free independent bottlers around.
Right, let’s take a more in-depth look at the three drams… Continue reading
A wee while ago (back in April 2013) I was pleased to be able to take part in a blind tasting on Twitter of four different grain whiskies, hosted by The Whisky Wire, and provided by Arkwrights Whisky & Wines, my (best) local whisky shop, which is still nearly a two hour drive away, booo. See below for my notes on the four whiskies, which turned out to be… Cameron Brig, Greenore, Nikka Coffey and Invergordon. Continue reading
Wemyss is pronounced ‘Weems’ and comes from the Gaelic word for caves. They’re a well respected independent whisky bottler, and soon to be distillery owner with Kingsbarns Distillery in the building (as I write this).
I’ve been lucky enough to review three Wemyss Malts releases, a 2001 Bunnahabhain a 1996 Longmorn and a 1982 Inchgower.
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Laphroaig – Cairdeas 2013 Port Wood Edition – 51.30%Let’s call this a dapper golden pink in colour. Laphroaig on the nose, but just slightly restrained, gentle peat and fruit jostling together, not so much tcp. Smooth malty peat, slightly tarry as normal, but with a fruit sweetie nature behind it all. Fresh, sweet but well balanced finish. I really enjoy this, all nicely integrated with the port wood. A well priced session / drinking dram this.
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