ScotchB78

Picked this up during a holiday to the Inverness area in 2017. Unfortunately I did not have the time to take in a tour at Tomatin, but this more than made up for it. Age Statement  - 12 years Cask -  Oloroso Cask 5221 Bottle 12 Region  - Speyside Served  - Neat ABV  56.9% Colour  - Chestnut brown. This stuff has the thickest, slowest legs I've ever seen Nose  - Dates, Figs, Sultana, Stewed Apple, Christmas Cake, Granny's baking a fly cemetery, Treacle, Brown Sugar, Cinnamon Palate  - Same as the nose, sherry spice and lots of it, thick, chewy, warming by the fire, more dark fruit, sherry, lots of Oloroso dryness, oak in the background struggling to rise above the sherry flavoured onslaught  Finish  - Long, just finished a christmas pudding type of thing,  Conclusion  -  Spectacular whisky, wow. A sherry bomb of the nuclear kind. Slainte

I won this in Master of Malt's Whisky Santa in 2016 (yes he actually does exist!) and finished it a few months ago. In the time from opening to then I learned that age isn't everything.. Age Statement  - 22 years Region  - Speyside Served  - Neat, ABV  46% Colour  - Chestnut Nose  - Burnt sugar, toffee, red fruits, chocolate orange Palate  - Thick, raisin, sultana,dark chocolate, marmalade Finish  - Christmas cake, harsh orange bitterness, cherry Conclusion  - I'm grateful for winning this and it's not a bad whisky by any manner of means but I was expecting something astounding, not just decent. Not worth the price tag (Around £130 at the time) in my opinion and I'd be a bit gutted if i had splashed out on this. I get the feeling the whisky wasn't what was expected after 22 years so it was flung in some Moscatel casks in an attempt to improve it.  Score - 82/100 Slainte

I attended a Bruichladdich tasting in November 2018 held at Artisan Restaurant, Wishaw, Scotland ( artisan-restaurant.com ). These nights are always popular and I've been lucky enough to attend most of them over the last three or four years. However this was the first where a 100mL sample of whisky, namely Bere Barley 2010, was given to each punter as a "carry oot".  Overall, six drams were up for tasting including the new Octomore 10.3, which was named as a cask sample for some reason. Bere Barley 2010 Label Made entirely from Bere Barley grown on Orkney.  The provenance is strong with this one. Age Statement  - 8 years old Cask  - American Oak Casks Region  - Islay Glassware  - Glencairn Served  - Neat ABV  50% Colour  - White Wine Nose  - Sweet, barley sugar, straw bales, Irn Bru (!?), bit of lemon, sweet and sour sauce. Palate  - Melon, lots of melon for me. Very clean/pure. Pears, Sweet, H...

Age Statement  - NAS Cask  - American oak casks, Quarter casks and Pedro Ximénez casks Region  - Islay Glassware  - Spiegelau Served  - Neat, ABV  48% Colour  - Burnished Copper Nose  - Red fruits burning on a campfire, sweet wine like, iodine, old leather satchel Palate  - Sweet, peat, smoke, spice, pepper, aniseed, oily Finish  - More sweetness and smoke, salt, long Conclusion  - Quarter cask with added sherry sweetness. I personally love it. Score - 88/100 Slainte Whisky Journal  from One More Dram

Another one I picked up on a visit to Bruichladdich in April. My girlfriend didn’t need much convincing that £120 on a bottle of whisky was an ok price as she had spent the previous two hours on The Botanist tour (recommended). I’m a sucker for wine cask matured, smoky whisky so the Octomore 07.2 which combines a 208 PPM peated spirit matured in Syrah wine casks sounded right up my street. Age Statement  - Five years Cask  - American oak/Syrah Wine Region  - Islay Glassware  - Norlan Served  - Neat, non-chill filtered, no colouring, 59.5% abv Colour  - Gold Nose  - Peat, sticking plasters, dry red wine, cereal. Nothing overwhelms, all very well balanced. Lot of things going on here even a bit of wet dog. Palate  - Initially sweet, more red wine then the peat takes over. Oily, thick, smoke. Finish  - Long with more peat. Dark fruits, tannic red wine aftertaste. Conclusion  - Very well balanced, I love the peat ...

Picked this up on a visit to Bruichladdich in April. They alway have two casks available for hand fill. One unpeated and one Port Charlotte. After trying them both I went for this one. Bottle 367/436 from cask 1739. A Barolo cask matured nine year old Port Charlotte. Cask  - Barolo Region  - Islay Glassware  - Norlan Served  - Neat, non-chill filtered, no colouring, 59.9% abv Colour  - Gold/Amber Nose  - Initial sweet syrupy nose i'm guessing from the Barolo (never actually seen, let alone tried it before). After a couple of minutes the smoke takes hold. Charcol, burning leaves, oily old shed where my lawnmower is. Nearly a chemical, tar like smoke. Not boding well. Palate  -Woah! Acrid smoke and alcohol burn. Needs water. After a splash becomes very rounded, ashy, cigar smoke like Finish  - Long, bit of oak, dry. Mouth feels like i've just had a large cigar Conclusion  - Initial nose of syrup and sweet smoke promised ...

Ah Laphroaig. My favorite distillery and a long held dream to visit Islay which i finally realised In April of this year. I did the Distillers Wares tour, essentially the standard tour but with an extra tasting of three single casks at the end and the opportunity to hand fill a 250 mL bottle from one using a Valinch. After a lot of sampling, deliberation and then some more sampling I settled on Cask 667. An 11 year old Bourbon cask matured in the traditional damp, ash floors of Dunnage Warehouse 8. An unforgettable day and one i hope to repeat in the near future. Cask  - Bourbon Region  - Islay Glassware  - Mini Glencairn Served  - Neat, non-chill filtered, no colouring, bonus cask char, 59.8% abv Colour  - Gold Nose  - Sea air, new tyres, sweet peat, medicinal Laphroaiginess, black pepper, an old bicycle repair shop, oily. Palate  -Sweet smoke, medicinal, anticeptic, oaky charr, peppery spice, a warmth but no alcohol burn. Hides it...

Lagavulin 8 year old a limited edition released for their 200 year old anniversary in 2016. Can't be that limited as there are still plenty of bottles available a year later. Still that's a good thing as this is a cracker. Cask  - Refill European and American oak casks Region  - Islay Glassware  - Norlan Served  - Neat, non-chill filtered, no colouring (I think, please correct me if I am wrong), 48.% abv Colour  - White Wine Nose  - Light, clean, hint of rubber, sweet, pineapple, cereal, old garage, hint of coal, smoke (obviously) Palate  -Smoke, peat, slight spice, not as overpowering as i'd expect at 48%, big flavours, drying into finish. Finish  - Long, smoky, drying, hint of kippers, new tyres, very very long with a hint of barley. Conclusion  - A big whisky which is far better than the 16 year old in my opinion. Cleaner is a good description, refreshing even which is strange for Lagavulin. Please keep m...

Review number two from me is a bottle I have had since earlier this year and is now nearly finished. A Glenrothes matured for 12 years in a sherry butt from Douglas Laing's Old Particular series. Concensus among most of the whisky geeks I have spoken to is that indy Glenrothes bottlings are superior to the originals and I tend to agree. Cask  - 1 of 490 bottles charged from cask DL11170 Region  - Speyside Glassware  - Norlan Served  - Neat, non-chill filtered, no colouring, 48.4% abv Colour  - Tawny Orange Nose  - Rich, sherry, cigar box (definate tobacco) oak, get a feeling of warmth, inviting (pretencious?). Icing sugar, fudge, toffee. Pretty complex. Palate  -Sweet, spicy, dark fruits like raisins and sultanas, thick and chewy though the olorosso cask dominates everything. Finish  - Find it a bit drying, strange salty sensation at the side of the tongue. perhaps my taste buds are off? More oak. Conclusion  - Decent...

Region  - Speyside Glassware  - Norlan Serving  - Neat Colour  - Gold/Amber Nose  - Peat, heather honey, think i can pick up some grassy element. It's not overly complex. Palate  - Opens light and delecate then BOOM. Big peat hit, smokey but not a huge amount to my taste, very spicy, peppery. Finish  - Very medicinal and long. I get a strange hint of a newly opened plastic paddling pool (in a nice way if there is such a thing), old shed storing open tins of wood stain?? Conclusion  - Nice, i like it. Not as in your face as an Islay peated malt, more subtle. For the price i paid (£31) it's a great deal. Score  - 84/100 Hopefully i have made some sense in my first review. I enjoyed spending time thinking about what i was nosing and tasting and actually jotting down my thoughts on the way.  Slainte