Tag: 30-39yo
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Ghost Safari – Bar from afar

Time to cross another pair of elusive beasts off the “ghost safari” sighting chart β Ben Wyvis and Convalmore, samples I bought online from the “Bar Fram Afar” by Thomson Bros. / Dornoch and shipped with a bunch of stored bottles and an upcoming 8-part Dornoch 25th Anniversary Tasting. Ben Wyvis is indeed one of…
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Judging the Jury

The Whisky Jury is the Belgian independent bottling company of a guy called Joeri (the pun is intended). Launching in 2019 with two vintage Ben Nevises and a Caol Ila bottling, they have had a slow but growing success, with over a 100 bottlings to date (including some malternatives). According to their website “We are…
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31, 30, 29, 22, 26, 25

It’s gearing up for… MY 300TH REVIEW ON THIS BLOG! A special retrospective & statistics-so-far post is coming up to celebrate, but I also wanted to make the 300th review a special dram. In the end, I couldn’t really decide, so I’ll let fate decide. I have held onto a special “Moin 2025” tasting pack…
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Blind Black Friday

What better symbol for the age of consumerism than Black Friday, unironically taking place the day after Thanksgiving. Sadly, my contribution to this sacred shopping spree was very minimal in 2024. In my defence I already have pretty much everything I needβbut perhaps that’s missing the point. Except… whisky, one can always get some more…
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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,…
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VT

Another first for this blog β a cognac review! β 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 β if bland whisky isn’t worth the time, cost and liver damage, sure as hell bland cognac isn’t either.…
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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.…
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Blend it up

Sometimes I can be very undecisive. I stand in front of my whisky safe, with a dozen or two different tastings themes to choose from. Young grains. Old Islays. A Glen Garioch horizontal. Another vertical of newbie distilleries. Cracking open a new bottle for a first impression? After a long time hesitating, and trying to…
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The Jingle Malts of Scotland

It’s been many weeks of hard work, and no whisky tasting. Now I finally have a day off, and what a grand tasting I shall have as a reward for my toil! A 14yo Lowland, 13yo Highland, 31yo Speyside, and 28yo Islay, all single casks with 51-54% ABV. These are the samples from undisclosed distilleries…

