Category: Horizontal
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Port Charlotte comes of age
Port Charlotte is no stranger to this blog: there’s been both the visit to the distillery (Bruichladdich) in the Islay trip and the sampling of the old PC range that showcased the effect of increasing age, but still in the single digits. Today we take a sip of the childhood (10yo), teen years (15yo), and…
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Another walk in the park
Quickly following up on my first HP horizontal, we now turn to the more well aged, and the single casks offerings. Highland Park • “Viking Pride” • 18yo • 43% Scotch Single Malt • Sherry seasoned oak • €150 • WB🔗 Tasting notes from a 3cl sample bottle Nosing Warming spices, well-integrated sherry notes, and…
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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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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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Ardnamurchan: Masters of the Multisensory Illusion
Ardnamurchan is a peninsula, and the westermost place in mainland Britain. Upon this peninsula sits Ardnamurchan distillery since 2014. Notably the distillery is owned by Adelphi, that highly regarded independent bottler. And the distillery has won renown too, winning the “Best New Distillery” category and the OSWAs three years in a row. Not so new…
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The Grand Glenfarclas Gustation
Glenfarclas stands out for many reasons. It’s one of only a few family owned distilleries in Scotland. It’s one of only three Scotch distilleries to direct-fire their stills, supposedly contributing to the ‘weight’ of the spirit, so suitable for long maturation in sherry casks. They market themselves a Highland malt, rather than a Speyside malt,…
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Who’s that Whiskémon?
I have here the standard 12yo of Glenallachie, which by the way is an integrity bottling (i.e. natural colour, non-chillfiltered), good on them! And yummy for us. It’s been in my cupboard for a bit over a year since the (in)famous first whisky tasting / super-spreader event I hosted for my colleagues, and it’s nearing…
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Benrinnaissance
Finally, two weeks after the onset of a nasty cold, I feel sufficiently recovered to trust my nose with a whisky review (it’s 14th May today). On the menu: two samples from the Benrinnes distillery in Speyside. One from UK independent bottler Chorlton, that I bought from Hop/Scotch, the other sample from my Single Malts…
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Tamdhu times two
Tamdhu (pronounced Tam-DOO) is one of those Speyside distilleries that has mostly fallen under the radar for me. Last time I can recall having it (well, the only time, really), was when someone brought the 12yo along for a Highland whisky trip in 2019. I remember nought of the taste, but I do remember the…
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Bowmore straight from the source
As part of the Islay trip we visited Bowmore distillery, unsurprisingly located in the town of Bowmore (pronounced BowMORE). This was on my day as designated driver, and we had no tour booked, but hung around in the bar area where the society bought everyone a dram of the non-age stated (NAS) “No 1” that…
DuckDrams 