Flash Blog: Puffing Billy

A message on Twitter asking if I'd like to take part in a Flash Mob? What's not to like - let's all meet up somewhere at a prearranged time and do something stupid in front of lots of people!

Then I read it a bit closer - it was from Steve Rush...

Now I know Steve enjoys his whisky but I never took him for a dancer...

I read a little closer...

Virtual tasting: All Hail The Grain with Duncan Taylor

"Do you fancy another tasting?" seems to be a constant question during this period of lockdown and there seems to be a whole lot more around.

This time around I think it was @TheWhiskyNovice who asked the question, "What are we drinking?" was my reply....

Powers @TalkDram Tasting

@TalkDram have been holding a series of Irish Whisky twitter tastings extolling the virtues of Irish distilleries, unfortunately most of these have been limited to Irish residents.

But thanks to a very generous sample swap from @thatsdramgood I was able to join in!

Hinch @TweetTastings

There seems to be a lot or Irish @TweetTastings this year - I guess that's because there are a lot of new Irish distilleries and Independent Bottlers coming online.

Hinch Distillery are just finishing their Distillery with the first spirit expected to flow during the summer. As with a lot of Irish distillers they've bought in casks of Irish whiskey to mature and blend themselves.

Virtual tasting: A.D. Rattray with Inverurie Whisky Shop

Due to the Corona virus a lot of companies have moved their tastings online - using Zoom or similar video conferencing systems. This has actually opened their market as they can attract customers from all over the world.

One such company is the Inverurie Whisky Shop, a small shop in the town of Inverurie - great if you live near Aberdeen, but not too much use to those of us living in England or elsewhere.

Dunville's @TalkDram Tasting

Following on from a tasting last year of Northern Ireland's @Echlinville distillery's @DunvilleWhiskey here, I was really please to get selected to join in a @TalkDram tasting of two upcoming releases and a couple of cask samples.

A beautifully packaged set of 4 single malt single cask dram's arrived for the tasting!

Inchmurrin Single Cask 2004

Inchmurrin - not a distillery you've heard of? But like most of us when offered £20 off the price of a single cask bottle you'd jump at it?

Inchmurrin is of course a brand from Loch Lomond, a Highland distillery that uses it's combination of pot still, straight neck post still and continuous stills to produce a wide range of whiskies.

Lambay @TweetTastings

There seems to be a lot or Irish @TweetTastings this year - I guess that's because there are a lot of new Irish distilleries and Independent Bottlers coming online.

Lambay Whiskey is one such bottler and we're getting to try 2 of their releases.

Side by side : Independent Caol Ila

Caol Ila is Diageo's mega distillery on Islay, it's capable of producing in excess of 7 million litres of whisky a year! Some of it is bottled as a single malt, some goes into blends and some casks find their way into the hands of independent bottlers.

What I have here are 4 independent bottlings, lets see how they compare.

Whisky from....? Iceland

Next in our series on Whisky from...? is Iceland

I, like you, would have found it really difficult to name a distillery in Iceland but there is one!

Side by side : Unexpected sample!

A recent sample swap with @MTR_Conal delivered an unexpected and surprising additional sample, I decided to use a side-by-side post to review it.

Let see what I think...

Side by side : Higher ABV Ryes

Over the last few months I've been enjoying more and more Ryes, I've bought a few bottles and swapped a few samples so am looking at three lower, three mid range and three higher ABV Ryes over three blogs.

I've covered the lower ABV and mid range ABVs, in this blog I'm trying 3 at the higher level of the ABV range!