An Englishman in... Glasgow

A recent work trip to Glasgow allowed me a first visit to some of the famous old whisky bars in the city and to one of the newer ones!

Although I've been to Glasgow before it's always on the way somewhere else so I've never had time to stop and explore.

#BlindTasting Series 6 Episode 1

Series 6 Episode 1

After what seems months and months, and actually was! the #BlindTasting team finally managed to organise a night when we were all free to kick off Series 6. The team have swapped more drams and tonight we need to try and work out what they are, but more importantly tell us what we think of them without knowing where they are from. #NoPreconceivedIdeas! If you haven't followed us before you can catch up with all the previous series here.

Whisky from...? Belgium

Our latest in the Whisky from...? series comes after a sample swap with a Belgium friend introduced me to a new distillery in Belgium!

The Mertens family have been producing cider, importing wine and distilling spirits for three generations since 1920.

Glenfarclas youngster

I have a bit of a love / hate relationship with Glenfarclas, I've huge expectations but have frequently been disappointed. So when I was offered a chance to buy a bottle of 9yo I wasn't exactly enthusiastic.

Photo: @jwbassman_

My mate @jwbassman_ told me he'd designed the label and my enthusiasm grew a little, then when he said it was 48.2% ABV I was sold and bottle number 278 was on it's way to my shelf!

Glen Moray @TweetTastings

An annual favourite amongst the @TweetTastings fraternity is the one from @GlenMorayDist, not only is it great whisky, great presentation and great staff, they also give you huge sample bottles!

This year the box contained four 100ml bottles, two recent additions to the core range and two single cask bottlings.

Whisky Advent Calendar

Those great people at Master of Malt sent me an Advent Calendar for the run up to Christmas! For the whisky fans amongst us this makes much more sense than a chocolate one!

Now the idea with an Advent Calendar is that you open 1 door each day from the 1st December through to Christmas Eve... But please enjoy your whisky responsibly! Sometimes it may not possible to open a dram each day, you could share with mates or save a couple to enjoy at the weekend?

Whisky from...? Israel

Our latest in the Whisky from...? series comes from Israel and the Milk & Honey distillery.

The distillery was built in Tel Aviv 2014 with distillation starting in 2015, they mill, mash and ferment in-house maturing in carefully-selected ex-Bourbon casks and a collection of new oak barrels and kosher ex-wine barrels.

Spirit Of Yorkshire Initial Release - Filey Bay

Unless you've been off planet for the last few years you can't have failed to notice the seemingly never ending release of initial releases from new distilleries, both in Scotland and the rest of the world. (I'm sure I've said this before...?)

This time were looking at one of the very latest from @SpiritYorkshire - let's see what it's like!

#MiniTasting - Dailuaine Disco!

The #MiniTasting gang may not all be getting a little long in the tooth but we all like a good boogie! Thanks to @ScotchB78 we had a bit of a @SMWS Dailuaine Disco!

Newer Distilleries 8 : Spirit of Yorkshire

This is the eighth in an occasional series about newer distilleries, this entry is about the Spirit Of Yorkshire Distillery.

End of an era? - Glen Moray

I first heard the news back in July, but it wasn't made public until August, @Graham__Coull and @Fay_Coull would be leaving @GlenMorayDist and travelling across the Irish Sea to @DingleWhiskey

Just in case you aren't aware Graham has been Master Distiller at Glen Moray for 14 years, only their fifth Master Distiller.

Side by side: Three Ardbegs

For this 'side by side' blog I've picked 3 drams from the Ardbeg range, I've not tried an Ardbeg dram for a little while - I wasn't impressed by the Grooves release so have been avoiding them, let see if any of these can change my mind?