Category Archives: Whisky

Review: Inchmurrin – TBWC Batch 1

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inchmurrin-that-boutiquey-whisky-company-whiskyContinuing a focus on some Master of Malt goodies, let’s move on to take a look at Master of Malt / That Boutique-y Whisky Company – Inchmurrin Batch 1, 54.7%.

Colour: Full golden going into copper with reddy tints.
Nose: Sherried goodies this way lie… A fairly light sherry, maybe Fino? Gentle maltiness and a fair hint of ashy smoke. Possibly slightly closed, water may open this up a touch.
Palate: Sweet and oily, a good mouthcoating which gets hotter the longer you hold it in your mouth. The malt and sherry are in good balance, some slight leathery notes.
Finish: Nicely sweet, warming and long with winter fruits sticking around for a good while.
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Review: Glenburgie – TBWC Batch 1

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glenburgie-that-boutiquey-whisky-company-whiskyRight, we’ve looked at quite a few blends now… so let’s head back to the land of single malt. Today we’ll take a quick wee review of Master of Malt / That Boutique-y Whisky Company – Glenburgie Batch 1, 49%.

Colour: Gold to straw yellow
Nose: Rich and fairly classic speyside nose, thick and oily, vanilla, slight touches of heather with some costal character and hints of smoke (probably from the cask).
Palate: Medium mouth feel that’s spicy and a little hot, yes it’s high ABV, but also maybe slightly young. Once you get past the heat (a drop of water will help), it’s really quite a sweet and slightly honeyed dram amongst the heaviness.
Finish: Fairly long, slightly hot, maybe a little young, slight sour wood notes right at the end.
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Review: Berry Bros. & Rudd – Blue Hanger 7th Release

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bluehangerwebWhile I’m reviewing a selection of blended whiskies, I thought I’d take a moment out to review Berry Bros. & Rudd’s Blue Hanger, 7th Release. A partly useless review for most of my readers, but for any of my US cousins it might be of interest because this has been released exclusively in the US travel retail market. Limited to only 3,088 bottles, Blue Hanger 7 is a blend of Bruichladdich 1990, Bruichladdich 1992, peated Bruichladdich Moine 2006, and Miltonduff 1997. Bottled at 45.6% abv, Blue Hanger is now available in US travel retail at an RRP of US$99.99. It’s natural colour and non chill-filtered.

Let’s take a sip…

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Review: The General (Compass Box) – Blended Scotch Whisky

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TheGeneral-BottleHere’s another excellent blended whisky in my little set of reviews; we’ve looked at very affordable, good blends, all the way up to this, an über premium blend, and price (it’s old!).

Official blurb: It’s been a good year for sourcing ridiculously rare parcels of extraordinary whisky. The provenance of these two parcels, blended together at a young age and then put back into cask for many years, was not important. They had matured into something extraordinary in flavour and were beautifully complementary. The result, bottled at cask strength, boasts an ‘antique’ character that lovers of old whiskies seek out. The associations of The General, however, are more akin to that of Buster Keaton’s classic 1926 film of the same name where the General is an old steam locomotive which Keaton takes on a long and wild ride to try to save the love of his life.  Only 1,698 bottles of this whisky have been produced. One parcel was 33 years-old and the other 40 years-old.

On to the review…

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Review: Scallywag – Blended Speyside Malt Whisky

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ScallywagBottleTubeFurther continuing my little series of reviews for affordable, good, blended whiskies, here’s my review for Scallywag, one of the new boys on the block from a great independent producer.

Here’s some of the blurb… Douglas Laing & Co have launched a new blended malt, not content with their Islay only Blended Malt “Big Peat” the team at Douglas Laing have now put together a Small Batch Speyside only Blended Malt, named “Scallywag”. It  is a Small Batch bottling created using only the finest Speyside Malts including – amongst others – Mortlach, Macallan and Glenrothes.
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Review: ‘The One’ – British Blended Whisky

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TheOneBottleFollowing on from my recent review of the new Black Bottle, today I’m reviewing “The One”, a British Blended Whisky from The Lakes Distillery, a new distillery about to take shape in Cumbria.

Official blurb reads as such: The One is a unique blend of exceptional whiskies from the British Isles, each has its own distinctive characteristics, resulting in a whisky of intriguing complexity.

There are now distilleries producing whisky across the British Isles, and this has led us to create an entirely new concept in blended whiskies – a British Isles Blend.
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Review: (New) Black Bottle – Blended Scotch Whisky

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BlackBottlePR Bit: Burn Stewart Distillers have unveiled the new Black Bottle Scotch Whisky – a return to the original blend and bottle design. With 18 months of development the new Black Bottle see a return to the original Scotch, more in keeping with its original north east recipe which the Graham brothers created in Aberdeen at the turn of the 19th Century. The result is a curiously rich and slightly smoky taste that maintains the distinctiveness of Black Bottle but adds another layer of depth to the liquid. Black Bottle is presented in new packaging, abandoning the regular green glass whisky bottle and re-introducing the distinctive black glass bottle, which was the original inspiration behind the name of the brand. This iconic bottle was used until the outbreak of the First World War after which time it changed  to a standard green glass bottle.

On to the review…
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Multi Review: Laphroaig 10yo, Quarter Cask, Triple Wood & 18yo

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LaphroaigLogo

I’ve been lucky enough to recently join a Twitter Tasting to review the four core malts of the Laphroaig range, i.e. 10 Years Old, Quarter Cask, Triple Wood and 18 Years Old. There’s many others out there, but these are the main stays of the brand and generally easy to find in the shops and at fairly affordable prices. Let’s take a deeper look…
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Review: Laphroaig 1998 / 15 Year Old / Sherry Cask / Signatory

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lrgsig1998v5Laphroaig 1998 / 15yo – 60.8%

Colour: Deep gold with reddy hues.

Nose: Damp, musty, earthy dunnage oake, smoke whiffs, gentle trademark TCP whiffs. Slightly closed by the high ABV with a sweet winter fruity background that takes a second to pick out because of the peat, but is there in lashings once you’ve caught on to it. Slight ash notes, from the cask no doubt, almost like cigarette ash (but in a good way – coming from a non-smoker).
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Review: Highland Park 40 Year Old

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hlpob_40yov1To compliment my recent review of the Warrior Series I thought it was time to crack open my Highland Park 40 Year Old sample to see just how good it is. And yes, it’s very good! See bottom of this post for PR blurb.

Highland Park 40yo – 48.3%

Colour: Autumnal deep full gold

Nose: Old! Heaps of old cask wood notes, leather, polish, bees wax, honey and restrained sweetness amongst Highland Park’s trademark and ever-present smoky highland heather hints and old malted barley.
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