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  • Ghost Safari – Imperial strikes back

    Ghost Safari – Imperial strikes back

    Today I’m back where it all started for me with the closed distilleries: Imperial. Nothing new to say, so I’ll just take chance in this intro to review my hitherto progress of the ghost safari tour. Distillery Region Closing year Safari status Caperdonich Speyside 2002 🟡 sample acquired Imperial Lowland 1998 🟢 tried & reviewed…

  • Belgravia Barley from Glencraigs Farm

    Belgravia Barley from Glencraigs Farm

    One Springbank’s most anticipated (and hence hardest-to-get) annual releases is the Local Barley: The Local Barley is an annual release made from barley grown in or around Campbeltown. Each year a local farmer is commissioned to grow barley on our behalf to continue producing this ‘grain to glass’ limited edition. SB The last two editions…

  • Sherry shenanigans

    Sherry shenanigans

    One recurring thought in the collective unconscious of the whisky sphere is: what happens if I add sherry to whisky? It’s not such a wild idea. So much of Scotch is matured in whole or part in ex-sherry casks. Technically, such cask must be completely emptied according to Scotch rules, so that the interaction of…

  • Sampling the Whisky Loch

    Sampling the Whisky Loch

    The story goes that the whisky boom in the 1960s and 70s lead to an overproduction of Scotch, a veritable “Whisky Loch”, but with changing economics and consumer preferences in the 1980s, the industry had a hard time, with many now-revered distilleries like Port Ellen and Brora closed or mothballed. If market logic holds, one…

  • October Black Box — Nourishing Nc’Nean and nineteen seventy-nine

    October Black Box — Nourishing Nc’Nean and nineteen seventy-nine

    From my “Black Box” of identity-masked and forgotten sample bottles, here come the blind reviews collected in the dreary month of October: Nc’Nean | “Huntress 2024 – Orchard Cobbler” | 4yo (2019) | 48.5% | Official 🌐 Scotch single malt 🪵 66% STR red wine, 31% ex-Bourbon, 3% ex-Sherry 🔆 unchillfiltered & natural color 💲…

  • Ghost Safari – Brora, Port Ellen

    Ghost Safari – Brora, Port Ellen

    Brora and Port Ellen were among the many casualties of the deadly year of 1983, within the period of whisky-bust in the 1980s. In the last couple of decades, they became iconic and coveted among enthusiast (and traders), as mature casks of the old stock came into circulation. In the present whisky boom, both distilleries,…

  • Craigellachie x2, again

    Craigellachie x2, again

    I became quite smitten with Craigellachie a few months back. A rather immediate consequence has been the hoarding of additional samples, of which I now have about six. Time to get to work and knock them down before they proliferate further! For a middle-of-the-week tasting, I’ll restrain myself to two non-CS samples… Craigellachie | 14yo…

  • Bowies from three decades

    Bowies from three decades

    Back for some more of that Bowmore. The not-so-amazing core range was one of my first horizontals on the blog (#13-16), followed up by a special 25yo release (#32), and then over a year later some special Bowmore blends (and one not so special, #200). Tonight’s roster sports a rather random trio of 2cl Bowmore…

  • Ghost Safari – Rosebank, Pittyvaich

    Ghost Safari – Rosebank, Pittyvaich

    Halloween is approaching, so to get into the mood it’s time for some more ghost distilleries. First, a curious sample of Rosebank, only 8yo and presumably bottled in the 1980s. Then it’s one I haven’t tried before, as far as I can recall — Pittyvaich. This distillery was only in operation 1974-1993 and then demolished…

Hej, hiya, moin!

I’m Emil, a Swedish ex-resident of Scotland now living in northern Germany. This blog is my virtual memory for all things related to whisky (and other fine spirits) in my life: I write reviews, report on trips and events, contemplate the results of my own experimentations, and scribble down un-/semi-/quasi-qualified opinions and perspectives. Welcome to a taste of my whisky world!

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