Author: emil
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Ballindallochlea
Back at home after some days in Tuscany for a weeding. No whisky, but plenty of wine (from the Palagetto vineyard where the wedding was held). On the wedding night, some very boozy drinks. So tonight I’ll have the first drops of whisky in over a week. And why not get back into it with…
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Buy or pass?
Today I’ll try samples that acquired of two recently released bottles that have been on my potential-buy list. Let’s see if I’ll be convinced to pull the trigger… or put the gun away. Craigellachie • 15yo (2009) • 59.5% • Signatory Vintage Scotch Single Malt • First-fill bourbon barrel • Natural Colour & Unchillfiltered •…
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P C 7 8 9
Bruichladdich distillery was revived in 2001 by Mark Reynier, Jim McEwan, and partners, and they quickly built a cult following, with many creatively marketed limited releases. Much of the Bruichladdich story is told in the documentary The Water of Life – A Whisky Film. Port Charlotte is the name of the heavily peated whisky produced…
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197119781984
The theme of today’s tasting is Some 2cl Samples of Old Vintage Speysiders That I Need to Drink Before They Go Bad. The first sample, a Tamdhu from Creative Whisky Company, I brought from the Limburg Whisky Festival 2025, and the other two, 1970s Cadenhead’s Benrinnes and Signatory Miltonduff, I got from Simple Sample as…
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Ghost safari – Pittyvaich Trio
Pittyvaich — let’s say it’s not one of the closed distilleries people are mourning the most, but it’s still a pity that it’s gone forever… During its years of operation (1975 – 1993) it was a component of Bell’s blended whisky, a brand owned by Arthur Bell and Sons which owned also the distilleries Blair…
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Killing spree
Over the course of a couple of weeks I’ve killed off a good few good bottles. In recent reviews: the Ardnamurchan AD/ bottle (#338) and the lovely 24yo Glen Elgin from Asta morris (#333). And here come a few more: I though it would be fun (for me) to recall why I bought these bottles…
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More Tober
I’ve come a long way in two years, from barely having tried Tobermory, to considering it one of my favourite distilleries – especially it’s older expressions. At it’s best it delivers the fruity, dirty, funk my soul craves. So now at whisky shows I look out for it, and I returned from Limburg 2025 with…
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Black Box August
The month of August offered a diverse harvest of 8 blind-tasted drams! Glentauchers • 10yo (2011) • 63.6% • Elixir Distillers Scotch Single Malt • Natural Colour & Unchillfiltered • Part of Single Malt of Scotland Whisky Calendar 2022 Blind tasting notes from a 3cl sample bottle Before reveal Nosing Pastry notes (butter, sugar, and…
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A walk in the Park
Yes. Yes, I do. “Viking Scars”, “Viking Honor”, “Viking Heart”, “Dragon Legend”, “Twisted Tattoo”, “Loyalty of the Wolf”. Except, these bottles are no longer new (the post is from 5 years ago), but replaced by a new sleeker range, dispensing with the cringe. So before these grotesque bottles fall into the memory hole, I wanted…
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‘Spirit Drink’
Today we’re not having whisky. We’re having ‘spirit drinks’. The first, “Auld Alford’s” is, by all indications, a whisky that during the course of maturation shared a wee bit too much with the angels, and fell below the 40% ABV limit required to be legally called whisky in Scotland. With that backstory and the low…
DuckDrams 