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  • Glenwinnie

    Glenwinnie

    Elgin in Speyside, Scotland is home to a handful of distilleries, two of which are among my longtome favourites — Glen Elgin, and Linkwood, both owned by Diageo. The only regular official bottling is from the Flora & Fauna range (colored, chillfiltered, low ABV), but fortunately indie bottlers have me covered. Then there is Glenlossie,…

  • VT

    VT

    Another first for this blog — a cognac review! — but I’ve been enjoying good cognac for a couple of years now. Naturally, I simply skipped over the mass-market Remy Martin, Hennessy, Camus and their ilk — if bland whisky isn’t worth the time, cost and liver damage, sure as hell bland cognac isn’t either.…

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    The Black Box #1

    The Black Box #1

    Tasting blindly is so revealing and so much fun, as I learned especially from the whisky calendar tastings. And in WOLS we always did blind tastings, though on a known theme and in the good company of others and on a time budget, a super carful analysis of the taste experience was not really the…

  • The Helmsman and Smoky Two

    The Helmsman and Smoky Two

    At the back of the cupboard I have two driver’s drams that I picked up at Bunnahabhain distillery during the 2023 Islay trip. So they’ve sat in small sample bottles for a worryingly long time. However at some point (late 2023 perhaps) I sealed the cap lining with wax in a hope to reduce oxidation.…

  • A grainy day

    A grainy day

    Today’s tasting goal is simple: to etch the particular character of grain whisky so deep into my conscious that I’ll never mistake a single malt for grain (or vice versa) in a blind tasting ever again! Well, we’ll see how that goes. Usually, on the unusual occasion that I drink single grain, it’s in the…

  • Two Tullies

    Two Tullies

    I discovered Tullibardine no so long ago. It reportedly has an uncommonly floral and bready character. Today, I’ll investigate this character further. Notably no distillation occurred at the distillery between 1994 and 2003 due to mothballing and change of ownership. One should keep an eye out for the 20yo and 25yo at auction, which are…

  • Bowies and Laphies

    Bowies and Laphies

    One Friday night I was craving the thrill of gustatory exploration, but did not want to have the quantity of alcohol associated with a full comparative whisky tasting. So I blindly took one sample from the increasing pile of forgotten minibottles. It turned out (as I revealed to myself after the tasting) to be Bowmore.…

  • Armagnac: a malternative

    Armagnac: a malternative

    For the first time on this blog we venture beyond the comforts of whisky! As I remember it, I got lured into the French brandy universe by a bottle of Thompson Bros. 27yo “Early Landed Late Bottled” brandy (most likely Cognac) that I gifted my father with great success. Then I started reading more about…

  • New stop light scoring system

    New stop light scoring system

    I’ve spilt much time and ink on developing a non-standard grading system. What I’ve held onto for some time now is a hierarchy of Bad (❌), Unfulfilling (➖), Rewarding (✔️), Personal Favourite (❤️). I’m finding that almost everything I try ends up in the Rewarding category (because I’m spending my own money, and will rarely…

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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