ScotchB78

Another bottling from my growing  Chorlton Whisky  collection . A blend of sherry matured single malts where the Island, Speyside, Highland and Islay regions are all represented in the mix. The latter component is pretty old (The name means five decades in Scottish Gaelic). Age Statement  - 17 years Cask -  Sherry Butt ABV  46.5% Colour  - Brass Nose  - Very fruity, strawberry milkshake, red apple peels, Christmas cake, grapes, spicy notes. All happening in a damp musty dunnage warehouse Palate  - Quite thin, gentle with no alcohol burn. Fresh, orange, bit of ginger, spicy wood Finish  - Medium length, honeycomb, cinder toffee, pine needles Conclusion  -  A delicious blend of old whiskies which for the £75 paid is a bit of a bargain. It only comes out on special  occasions now. Don't just take my word for it, here's a  #MiniTasting  write up from Brian at  Malt Musings  with a couple of other Chorlton drams sampled for good measure.

I found Chorlton whisky ( chorltonwhisky.co.uk ) after reading a post on Malt Maniacs FB group asking for independent bottler recommendations. After checking out the site, reading some positive reviews of the various bottlings on other blogs and being a sucker for the amazing label artwork I decided to take a punt on this Bealach Ruadh 10 year old. Luckily Master of Malt had stock and I had a Christmas gift voucher burning a hole in my pocket. So where's this from? Google Maps might give us a clue: Might be something in it though I've not (knowingly) had anything before from Caol Ila so can't really make a judgement, Age Statement  - 10 years Cask -  Bourbon Hogshead. Undiluted, uncoloured, unchilfiltered Region  - Islay ABV  57.1% Colour  - White wine Nose  - Extinguished bonfire, charcoal, smoked malt, lemons, crushed gravel, mineral, wet stone. tar Palate  - Starts sweet, then lemon, more smoke, ash  Finish  - Soot and ash from last

I didn't set out to buy this one when visiting Kilchoman, but they had just ran out the distillery only bottling so my thinking was this was the next best thing. Distilled solely from  barley grown and floor malted at Kilchoman, I decided to complete the process by buying it there as well. Cask -  A vatting of 23 bourbon barrels and 7 oloroso sherry butts  Region  - Islay ABV -  50.% Colour  - Gold Nose  - Vanilla, pineapple, citrus, clothes you were wearing at last nights bonfire, something mineral like in the background Taste - Gentle arrival, quite bitter, lemons, limes, orange pith. A lot of malted barley, ash and some pepper Finish  - Medium length, gentle smoke, slightly dry, green apples Conclusion -   Good but not great. A lot going on, maybe too much so. Very strange combination of bitter/sour fruits with an ashy background. Maybe I need to try more Kilchoman. Gus's Distillery Visit Review No dogs allowed - 0/5