ScotchB78

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 ...

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...

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  Finis...

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 Revi...

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 ...

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