Review: A pentalogy of Octomore (2.2, 5.1, 6.2, 10yo, Feis ’14)

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Octo2.2BottleOctomore 2.2  – Orpheus
61% ABV

Colour: Golden with red tints.
Nose: Thick, buttery, creamy and fruity all mashed together with elegant peat and smoke. Red berries mashed up, jelly like.
Palate: Thick, oily and smoky with elegant peat (no tcp), sweet berries and somewhat of a fizzyness on your tongue, like a refresher. Quite powerful with it’s alcohol strength.
Finish: Loooong, sweet with smoke, peat and some red wine and dark berries coming through and lasting for ages, some red apples there too.
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Review: Arran’s Devil’s Punchbowl III

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arran-devils-punch-bowl-chapter-iii-the-fiendish-finale-whiskyArran’s Devil’s Punchbowl III “The Fiendish Finale” – 53.4% ABV

Info: This final bottling rounds off the trilogy in great style. It’s a multi-age blend matured in Oloroso Sherry Butts and French Oak Barrique casks which gives the spirit a devilishly unique, deep flavour.  6,660 bottles available worldwide, 840 in the UK.
Colour: Light bright clear gold.
Nose: Abundant with malt, light, ozoney, almost a drop of coastal air / slight saltiness. There’s a faint nuttyness from the sherry, and a creaminess from the French Oak… overall the nose is just very slightly closed, I think a drop of water would help open it up.
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Review: Kininvie Batches 1 (17yo) and 2 (23yo)

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KININVIE-Graphic-825x762

Kininvie – Batches 1 (17yo) and 2 (23yo) reviewed

Let’s talk Kininvie…. Certainly a less well known name, but a single malt scotch whisky I’ve been keen to try for quite some time; I’m chuffed to finally get the opportunity to taste it.

Kininvie is owned by William Grant & Sons, the same folk that own Glenfiddich and Balvenie. All three distilleries are located on the same site in Dufftown, and Kininvie and Balvenie are in fact so close they share quite a bit of production equipment, shared mostly all the way until the stillrooms which are separate. It started producing in 1990, and ended production in 2010. Some of it’s product is used in the blended malt Monkey Shoulder.

William Grant & Sons have now released two bottlings, Batch 1 is a Travel Retail only bottling, and Batch 2 is now available in the UK market, both of which I review below…

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Review: Rumbullion! XO 15yo

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rumbullion-xo-15-years-old-rumRumbullion! XO 15 Years Old – 46.2%

In Cognac terms “XO” means extra old, i.e. at least 6 years old (and as of 2016 at least 10 years old), although often up to 20 years old. With this Caribbean rum you can rest assured it’s 15 years old blended with vanilla, orange peel and fine spices.

Colour: A burnt orangey rust colour.
Nose: Altogether more grown up than the younger Rumbullions. Fairly old, woody, a gentle sweet undertone of spices along with the vanillery, orange citrus hints; almost mulled wine like.
Palate: Thick and very gentle, even at 46.2%… it builds slowly with the spices giving your mouth a tickle. It’s creamy, caramelly and rich with a slight oak charcoal backnote.
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Visit & Reviews: Somerset Cider Brandy

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SCBlogo[For 9(!) reviews of Somerset Cider Brandy’s range, please see below…]

At the time of posting this story I had previously visited 42 distilleries around the UK… but most obviously I had missed visiting the distillery that’s based in my own backyard, The Somerset Distillery / Somerset Cider Brandy Company Limited not far from Yeovil in Somerset. It was more than time to put that right, and I’m really pleased to say that my 43rd visit was finally sorted recently; I was driving home and passing close to the distillery, so it would have been rude not to pop in really wouldn’t it?!

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Review Ardbeg 10 Year Old

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ardbeg-10-year-old-whiskyArdbeg 10 Year Old – 46%

It’s been a while since my last post, summer has kept my whisky drinking to a minimum in favour of cold beers and ciders. However, continuing my wee series on affordable, mainstream, ‘standard’ distillery offerings that I’ve purchased myself, let’s take a look at Ardbeg’s 10 Year Old, a perfectly good dram for late on a summers eve.

Gossip (which I’ve heard direct from the horses mouth as it were – i.e. it’s true) is that back when stocks were low whisky up to 17 years old was used to keep this 10 year old in the shops. I guess those good old days are now far behind us and we’re now back to whisky that’s much more of the 10 year old mark, as you’d rightly expect!

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News & PR: Chivas Masters Cocktail Competition announces the First Chivas Master

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299-chivas-regal-new-logo-mdChivas Regal Announces the First Chivas Master

The CHIVAS MASTERS 2014 New YorkAmerican bartender, Masahiro Urushido, has been revealed as Chivas Regal’s first ever Chivas Master, winning the iconic whisky brand’s inaugural bartender competition in style at the NoMad hotel in New York (15th July 2014).

Urushido was announced as the winner following a tightly-contested final which saw him impress an international panel of judges with his ‘The New Pal’ cocktail to secure victory over the 12 other international competitors. He wins the opportunity to work in partnership with Dave Arnold, inventor and co-founder of Booker and Dax, a food science development company and lab dedicated to finding solutions to real world food, beverage and cooking issues. The partnership will see Urushido and Arnold collaborating on an inspirational concept which will be revealed at the next Chivas Masters final in 2015.

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Review: The Green Welly Stop: Their own branded whiskies

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The Green Welly Stop

On your holidays in bonnie Scotland and travelling from the east side of the country to the west side? There’s a reasonable chance you may pass The Green Welly Stop in Tyndrum during your journey. If you do, why not take a little stop for a break, it’s quite the stopping place, petrol, food, gift shop, and most importantly a great little whisky shop at the back of the store. They have a couple of their own branded whiskies… Let’s take a quick look at them…

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Review: Balblair 1969

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blbob.1969v2Balblair 1969 (OB) – 41.4%

One of Scotland’s oldest distilleries, Balblair was founded in 1790 by John Ross.

The 1969 was bottled in 2012 after spending 43 years in ex-bourbon remade hogsheads, 999 bottles of this extraordinary whisky were produced. This spirit was distilled at a time when the distillery malted its own barley on site and the stills were still directly coal-fired.

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