Category Archives: Review

Quick Review: TWE’s Black Friday Whisky

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TWE Black FridayBlack Friday – TWE

Info: Single cask, single malt from Speyside. 54% abv.
Colour: Fully golden, fairly autumnal.
Nose: Full, strong, sweet. Sherry tones with oak wood and hessian.
Palate: Silky and oily, very full on your tongue. Marmalade, autumnal fruits, older malt tones and a sprinkling of pepper to keep it a bit spicy.
Finish: Slightly spiced sherry fruits. Long, a little floral and warming.
Thoughts: It’s a good whisky, at an amazing price, well done The Whisky Exchange! For me a drop of water helps reduce the spices to a level that makes it more relaxed, it brings out a floral tone.
Available: RRP £59.95. Sold out within minutes.

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Review: anCnoc Rùdhan

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anCnoc RùdhananCnoc Rùdhan – 46% abv

Info: Recently awarded gold medal at The Spirits Business Global Travel Retail Spirits Masters 2017 awards.
Colour: Very light and bright, a hint of straw.
Nose: Fairly powerful nose, plenty of spirit, and lots of sweet peat and green fruits.
Palate: Sweet, light and bright, oily and silky. Sweet peat greets you and then the green fruit flavours follow with maltiness in the background. Nice and easy to drink at this abv.
Finish: It’s slightly peppered with spiced earthy peat which lasts a long time and leads to a nice warming chest hug that stays around for a good long while.
Thoughts: I’ve no idea on the age of this, I assume fairly young, but that’s often the best way for peaty drams, and for this dram it works really well indeed; it’s tasty and fun, young and vibrant, excellent!
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Review: Big Peat Christmas 2017 & Feis Ile 2017

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Big Peat Christmas 2017 & Big Peat Feis Ile 2017

big peat christmas 2017 bottleBig Peat Christmas 2017

Info: The now traditional full cask strength Christmas release of Big Peat for 2017, coming in at 54.1% abv.
Colour: Very light indeed, just a hint of gold. Snowey!
Nose: Sweetness comes out quickly followed by a good dollop of coastal ozone breeze and coal tar peat smoke. Very alluring.
Palate: Lovely and oily, the high abv quickly builds on your tongue to make this a spicy number as the peat and sweetness mingle nicely together. The coal smoke is there all along.
Finish: Slightly buttery, and nicely peaty, this gradually reduces to earthy embers which keep going for ages on your chest.
Thoughts: Big Peat Christmas is always a treat, and this is too!
Available: The Green Welly Stop – £49

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Review: The Gauldrons

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The GauldronsThe Gauldrons – 46.2% abv

Info: The latest edition to join the Remarkable Regional Malts family, The Gauldrons is a “vatted” Malt exclusively from Cambeltown produced in very small batches and bottled without colouring or chill filtration.
Colour: Gentle golden straw.
Nose: Fairly strong and full, quite salty with hints of peat and green berry fruits.
Palate: Quite sweet with nice full oils on your tongue, followed by an interplay of salt, and then back to sweet notes, with some toffee creaminess and gentle fruits.
Finish: The finish is probably the most flavoursome part, and it lasts for a nice long time. The hints of peat means it’s good and warming. It’s slightly spiced, fairly sweet, and has a touch of oak tannins.
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News: Drinks by the Dram’s 2017 Advent Calendar selection

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Drinks by the Dram's 2017 Advent Calendar selectionDrinks by the Dram’s 2017 Advent Calendar selection

That Boutique-y Whisky Company's Advent Calendar (2017 Edition)Now in it’s 6th year, the Drinks by the Dram 2017 Advent Calendar selection has expanded to include even more goodies than ever before… now’s the time to grab yourself a booze filled Festive calendar before December hits!

Classic favourites are back including Whisky, Gin and Rum calendars, and are now joined by exciting new additions, including a Calendar packed with whiskies from renowned independent bottler Douglas Laing, and another filled to the brim with incredible gins from the world’s best distillers, bottled by That Boutique-y Gin Company.

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Review: The Glenturret Peated Drummond Edition

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Peated Drummond EditionThe Glenturret Peated Drummond Edition – 58.9%abv

Info: Distillery exclusive. This is cask 100, a refill hogshead cask filled on the 25th of March 2009, i.e. an 8yo peated Glenturret.
Colour: Light golden straw.
Nose: Sweet mellow peat amongst sweet distillery character. Light green fruits, green apples, gooseberries, and some gristy malt.
Palate: Surprisingly easy for such a strong dram. It’s fairly oily, nicely peated and tasty with the lighter green fruit tones coming through and malted digestive biscuits with almonds on them.
Finish: Almost fizzy, it’s long, slightly spiced and reasonably warming. Malty tones prevail to the end alongside a wee crack of white pepper.
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Review: Highland Park Valkyrie

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HIGHLAND PARK VALKYRIE BOTTLEHighland Park Valkyrie – 45.9% abv

Info: Released earlier in the year. Listed as “a slight departure from our core 12 Year Old whisky” this has had more peated malt used than the regular bottlings, around 50% peated malt. Natural colour. This release replaces Dark Origins but isn’t sherried like that was.
Colour: Fairly light and bright golden yellow.
Nose: Malty with honey heather coal peat tones, not at all costal, but high healthland peat. Behind that it’s a summer fruit cup of slightly ripe citrus fruits with lots of vanilla custard after some air gets to it.
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Review: Glenfiddich 125 Anniversary

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Glenfiddich 125 BottleGlenfiddich 125 Anniversary – 43% abv

Info: Limited edition released in 2012. Glenfiddich have used a combination of peated and unpeated whiskies aged in a large proportion of Spanish ex-Sherry butts, as well as American ex-bourbon casks. No stated age that I’m aware of.
Colour: Golden sunset.
Nose: Fairly well aged malty notes with slight waxy tints and hints of leather, a good nose! Small puffs of peat smoke that really give it a great background with slight grunt, yum.
Palate: Reasonably thick oils and easy going on the palate with enough background spice to keep it interesting. Quite earthy with gentle dunnage style oak notes. Reasonably sweet with late summer fruits and malt, again with just a hint of smoke.
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Review: The Balvenie Peat Week 14yo

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balvenie peat weekThe Balvenie Peat Week 14yo – 48.3%

Info: Peat Week has been aged for 14 Years, it’s 2002 vintage. 100% of highland peated malt (30ppm) used. Non-chill filtered, fully matured in American oak casks.
Colour: Bright gold with a slight autumn tint.
Nose: Fairly robust spirit on your nose. There’s a slightly early nutty note, backed up with gentle honey and oak, with hints of hessian. Fairly good amount of vanilla, and some milk chocolate notes. Slight puffs of fresh smoke, fairly restrained, and not coastal.
Palate: Reasonably thick on the palate, a fair amount of oils on your tongue. There’s interesting oak spices that hit the top and back of your palate more than your tongue. The malt notes are honeyed and just gently peated, they sparkle on your tongue a little bit.
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