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Showing posts from November, 2019

Glenfarclas 9 year Old - Southport Whisky Club Bottling

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Glenfarclas. Not a distillery I have sampled a great deal from before.  I've never owned any either, a part from a half bottle of the 105 received as as a gift a couple of years ago, which I really enjoyed. Not sure why, they have just never really caught my attention. Perhaps its the old school branding or maybe because their online presence is practically non-existent. Granted, both are poor excuses for not exploring more of "Probably Speyside's Finest Distillery" range, as it should all be about what's inside the bottle should it not? However, these things matter and Glenfarclas might be missing a trick here to draw more people in for a dram or two. Anyway, on to the dram in hand. This Glenfarclas is 9 years old and 1 of of 300 bottles produced especially for the @SouthportWhisky Club and  Vino , an independent wine and spirit merchant in Edinburgh. How did I get one? Thanks to my Malt Mate  @jwbassman , who heartily reccommended the whisky an...

Daftmill 2006 Winter Batch Release

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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 frui...

Glen Moray Tweet Tastings

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Time for another  TweetTasting , and one which has become a bit of a special, annual event on Twitter for us whisky geeks. Four 100 mL  Glen Mora y samples arrived from  Steve at The Whisky Wire  with all participants invited to share thoughts on the drams during the night.  The presentation of the drams has to be commended, with the sample size and the packaging all of the highest quality. Well done Glen Moray, it is very much appreciated! So, on to the whisky.. Rhum Agricole 3060 of these bottles have been produced. The Rhum Agricole Cask Finish Project is  finished in cane rum barrels from Martinique.  Age - NAS ABV - 46.3% Nose - On the nose the Rhum Agricole initially offers up bananas and some coconut in the form of suntan lotion. Very buttery, deep flavoured rum and raisin ice cream. A larger sniff releases some menthol and eucalyptus notes too. Taste -  The Rhum Agricole in the mouth is warming and spicy ...

Whisky Works Tweet Tasting

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I was fortunate enough to be picked for the Whisky Works Tweet Tasting event in October. All particpants were issued with four very generous samples from which we were to tweet our thoughts in a live online tasting event organised by Steve at The Whisky Wire   . The Whisky Works are a small bottling and blending company run as an independent arm of White and Mackay. Their whiskies are catagorised into Classic -  aged, rare whiskies and Modern Experiments -  the use of uncommon maturation methods. Two from each range were included as part of the tasting all four  whiskies are still available at the time of writing. King of Trees This one is a ten year old blended Highland malt coming in at 46.5% ABV. A portion of the blend has been matured in a cask manufactured using wood from 200 year old, wind felled Scottish oak trees. Something of a rarity in whisky maturation. Nose -  light and delicate, green fruits, apples and pears in a vanilla sauce. T...