Tag: 10-14yo
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Leapfrog
A month or so ago this “Williamson” (independent bottler alias for Laphroiag) from Asta Morris started popping up in German online stores. Seemed like a decent value proposition at €83-95, but single casks can sometimes take bad or unexpected directions, despite everything looking good on paper. Which is sometimes the reason why the distillery sold…
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Man(nochmore) down!
Mannochmore is one of the lesser known Speyside distilleries. Most of its output goes into blends, most notably it’s the prime component of Haig. The only official single malt from Mannochmore is released as part of Diageo’s Flora & Fauna series. Luckily, Mannochmore is quite available among the independent bottlers. I’ve mentioned the independent bottler…
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The Newbies, Part I
Scotland is in a veritable whisky boom. Never before in the history of Scotch whisky production (legal, at least…) has so many new distilleries been founded. Or so I’ve heard. To test such claims I scraped some data from the internet about opening and closing date of Scotch malt distilleries (mostly from wikipedia, whisky.com, lost…
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Cnoc, cnoc!
Who’s there? A 12 and a 24 year old from Knockdhu distillery, Speyside. Goes by the the name of AnCnoc. This distillery mostly ends up in the Hankey Banner blend, but at least the older age statement single malt has received a small following for being a great quality and undervalued (hence affordable) dram. But…
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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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Bunnagain
Following last week’s Bunna tasting I have a craving for more. How lucky then that I do have some more. In fact, no less than four additional samples and two open bottles, but let’s have some self restraint, shall we? Today I will finish off the 5cl sample of the standard 12yo, and compare it…
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Catching up with the Bunnas (12, 18, 25yo)
I have a long history with Bunnahbahahnahn—let’s try again, Bunnahabhain. Or just Bunna. Now, to some my total history with whisky isn’t particularly long at all, but Bunna has been there almost from the start. My friend Petter had received a couple of 20cl bottles of Bunna from a family friend and would share with…
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Waiter, there’s a fly in my Balmenach!
I had never heard about Balmenach until 2021 when an independently bottled version for Royal Mile Whiskies appeared on their website. And no wonder, because this Speyside distillery has no official expression as a single malt since about twenty years, and is seen rather rarely among the indie bottlers. I bought the bottle from RMW…
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The Beast of Dufftown
Another “character distillery”. Mortlach, by their own marketing, is the Beast of Dufftown. I presume, because contrary to the classical easy-going Speyside style, Mortlach is famed for a substantive, meaty, pungent quality. I believe I have experienced this profile on a couple of occasions. Last was at Whisky Fringe 2022, where I tried the 25yo…
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Dr. Tobermory and Mr. Ledaig
Some distilleries have a dual a nature. A normal side… and a dark side, if you will. I’m talking about the unpeated versus the peated incarnation. Peat really makes for a radically different whisky, so it’s no surprise that distilleries bottle their unpeated / peated spirits under different names, so as not to create chock…
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