Strathclyde 11 Year Old 2005 (cask 11952) - Old Particular (Douglas Laing)

-
I had tasted this before at Glasgow Whisky Festival and remember the overwhelming smell and taste was espresso.  I say remember, because I was half cut at the time and my judgment might have been clouded a wee bit. Luckily, Master of Malt had the same whisky in sample form so let's try it again in isolation, and not after 15 other drams..

Age Statement - 11 years
Cask - Sherry butt
Region - Lowland grain
Served - Neat
ABV 55.5%
Colour - Amber/Gold
Nose - Coffee, yep it's there but not espresso this time. More like coffee flavoured Revels, waxy, digestive biscuits, pencil shavings. Once it's sat for a while more spicy notes appear, chilli powder, cumin and some other spice rack type things.

Palate - Very sweet and more of those spicy notes from the nose, sherry, fruity, slight espresso/coffee coming through
Finish - Longish, sherry sweetness, flower stems, bit of oak, lingering chilli spice
Conclusion -  A very nice grain, not as big an espresso shot as i remember from the first time however i would happily buy a bottle of this

Slainte

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bowmore - Vaults Secrets Tour

-
Image
Wednesday, April 10:30 am. Not the usual time to be enjoying a dram (maybe it is for some folk) but here I am sitting sipping a Bowmore Vault First Edition in the distillery bar overlooking Loch Indaal. This is the the Bomore Vaults Secrets tour and already the signs are it's going to be good. It started when the Father in Law and I were called by our guide, Kim, for the tour to find we were the only two on it. A private tour round Islay's oldest distillery? Sign me up! The tour started with us being issued our own Bowmore branded lanyards and Perfect Dram glasses (always a good sign of the amount of whisky you can expect on a tour when you get a lanyard) which were promptly filled with a good measure of Vault First Edition. A nice wee opener and a welcome reward after the grueling 500ft or so walk in the sunshine from our accomodation to the distillery. After the drams, Kim took us from the bar to the Malt Barns which are situated over three levels in a building
Read more

Tomatin - Distillery Hand Fill - Oloroso Cask 5221

-
Image
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
Read more

Daftmill 2006 Winter Batch Release

-
Image
I've been interested in trying a Daftmill release for some time but the opportunity hadn't presented itself. I was tempted to try one in The Pot Still one night (can't remember the bottle details) but it was £30 or so for a dram and I wasn't rich (or drunk) enough to splash that sort of cash. Enter  @stewedwhisky  who, after a wee Twitter exchange, very generously sent a sample of the 2006 Winter Batch Release for me to try. Granted a licence to distill in 2005, Daftmill didn't rush into releasing whisky after only 3 or 4 years, instead choosing to wait a fair while longer with the Daftmill 2005-12 Year Inaugural Release. Located near Cupar, Fife the distillery itself  is built in a old converted farm building  and has a maximum production capacity of 20,000 litres of spirit per year, making it a very low volume/highly desirable whisky. So, is Daftmill worth the hype? Daftmill 2006 Winter Batch Release  ABV 46% Nose - Autumnal orchard fruits.
Read more