Hunter Laing Hepburns Choice Macduff 2008 (6 year old) 46%...

A.D Rattray Glendullan 2000 (14 year old) 54.6%

Bourbon, re-racked into Sherry/ Cask: 9417/ Dist: 2010 Btl: 2015/ Tasted: Feb 2015

A nose of chunky, coffee’d sherry with plenty of herbal notes which display a light juniper edge. The sherry isn’t too overblown and it allows hints of white fruit and dusty barley to appear.

The palate is soft, opening with coffee-caramel and barley. It has a gentle sherry sweetness along with a touch of earth and developing tannins. Good length with the alcohol masking the finish a little but the lightly mentholated coffee lingering.

With water the nose becomes...

Arbikie Highland Estate Potato Vodka 43%...

Scapa Distillery is known as ‘the other distillery’ on Orkney. Their neighbor Highland Park Distillery is definitely more of a household name in the whisky world. The reason for this is partly that Scapa is a much smaller distillery, and they released their first single malt (14 YO) in 2004. Scapa has always been closed […]...

Mackmyra Sommartid, NAS, 46,1 % On maj 8, 2015, the Mackmyra Sommartid (Summertime) was released. This is the fourth release in the Seasons series from Mackmyra. Previous installments in the series are Midvinter (Midwinter), Midnattssol (Midnight Sun) and Iskristall (Ice Crystal). These releases from Mackmyra often have a special finish, or include some unusual casks […]...

Hey, remember that coffee-finished whiskey from Bowman I posted about back in mars ? Distiller Brian Prewitt was going to decide whether to bottle it or not, after tasting it.

Well…he did. It came out as Abraham Bowman Coffee Finished Bourbon, and all of it was sold at the distillery in Fredericksburg, Va. I got a sample, and while the coffee aroma isn’t that present, the coffee flavor in the whiskey is solid, and pure, and — to this coffee drinker — right tasty.

But it’s gone, as most of the Abraham Bowman line is. This set of bottlings is designed...

If you’ve met Bruichladdich’s Jim McEwan, or even heard tales of him, then you’ll know that he’s not a man to do things by halves. His final Islay Festival tasting at the end of last month packed more than 400 people into the distillery’s warehouse, with crowd-surfing the only way to get out once it had started, and he spent the rest of the day surrounded by crowds wanting to get a photo.

Jim McEwan’s final toast. For now…

Now that his retirement is less than a month away, the last releases of his tenure as Bruichladdich’s all-round whisky guy are appearing....

The BenRiach 35 Years Old , according to the distillery, is designed to compliment its award-winning 25 years old which came out in 2006, as a replacement for the 30 Year Old.

If we count back in time, the casks used for this whisky must have been filled in 1979 or earlier . Excellent years for The BenRiach (which was owned by Glenlivet back then), so I have high expectations.

It is a mix of bourbon and sherry casks.

BenRiach 35 yo (42,5%, OB 2014)

Nose: pretty wonderful. A big fruity core of ripe banana, dried apricots, oranges...

This is the second new Signatory bottling for The Bonding Dram :  Dailuaine 1997. The yield is shared with Maison Baelen, Toby Vins and restaurant De Cluysenaer.

Dailuaine 17 yo 1997 (52,1%, Signatory Vintage for The Bonding Dram 2015, hogshead #7188, 215 btl.)

Nose: fairly naked and malty, with sweet apples, meadow flowers and linseed oil. Subtle spices. A bit of heather honey. Slightly overripe oranges. Also hints of asparagus. Hmmmokay then. Mouth: fruitier and quite oily. Stewed apples and pears, oranges again, with lemon candy. Some biscuity notes (vanilla) with candy sugar before moving onto strong spices (quite...

Fllowing yesterday ‘fight’ between two Glenlivet whiskies, today will bring you a fight between two expressions from another speyside distillery – Glenrothes 1998 Vintage (10 years old but was bottled in 2014) against Glenrothes Alba Reserve .

It was one of the pairs I tasted recently at Dramming.com age vs NAS bling tasting . This time it’s not a whisky vs its’ replacement but one of the regular Glenrothes vintages releases, although this 1998 vintage is the first bottling made with Gordon Motion as the Glenrothes Malt Master and we pit it against their all ex-bourbon (American oak) NAS release. 

Maverick Drinks Reference Series I 47.5%

Tasted: Dec 2014

Nose: Gorgeously tropical with squish banana, pineapple, cantaloupe and gala melon. Gently honeyed with some dusty, mature oak. With time some light grain notes appear along with hints of toffee. Water makes it more oiler and mutes the tropical fruit while emphasising the barley and herbal grain

Palate: Less tropical than the nose with more barley character. Quite intense and mineral with the alcohol masking. Dilution makes it watery and unfocused.

Finish: Long and spicy with hints of chilli pepper and coriander along with the lightly herbal grain nibbling.

Conclusion: A...

Tullamore DEW Original 40%

Tasted: Dec 2014

Nose: Dusty barley and apricot with plenty of herbal grain aromas. Hints of coffee and a developing green fruit note appear.

Palate: Soft and barley led with hints of fleshy apricot, mango and vanilla. A touch of unsweetened honey and some edgy grain notes come through on the middle.

Finish: Good Length with lingering spice and green fruit notes.

Conclusion: , A pleasant blend with the nose showing a little more complexity than the palate.

Tullamore DEW 12 year old Special Reserve 40%

Tasted: Dec 2014

Nose: Oily, dried fruit grain with hints...

Master of Malt 10 year old Blended Whisky 47.5%...

Wemyss Velvet Fig 46%...

Glen Talloch 40%...

Scapa 16 YO, 40 % Scapa Distillery is ‘the other’ whisky distillery on Orkney, or ‘the’ Orcadian distillery as they call themselves. We recently visited the distillery during our stay in Kirkwall on Orkney Mainland. A full review of the visit is coming up shortly. Today I am reviewing the one and only single malt […]...

Compass Box Great King Street Artist’s Blend, NAS, 43 % Compass Box blends whiskies. I have shared my tasting notes on their Hedonism Blended Grain earlier. Great King Street Our whisky line is named after a street in the New Town of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Great King Street has been home to the registered office […]...

Highland Park Thorfinn, NAS, 45,1 % Back in the spring of 2013 Highland Park Distillery launched The Warrior Series. The three first whiskies in the series came on sale at that time; Einar (Travel Retail), Svein and Harald. In the Autumn of 2013 they then released the last three warriors; Sigurd, Ragnvald and Thorfinn. These whiskies are all […]...