Brian's Malt Musings: Review of my whisky year

Wednesday 30 December 2020

Review of my whisky year - 2020

First of all thank you to all the people who have read my blog (c79,000 up from 48,000 last year) and followed me on Twitter (c3,570 up from 2,600 last year).

I think all of us would agree it's been a very tough year.....

#Intro

Another year draws to a close and in this case one of the worst years myself and probably most of you have ever been through....

Mike Phipps (1963-2020)

William Blackett (1943-2020)

Covid-19 has completely changed our lives, the way that we work and play.

I lost my father and a close friend Mike, both very suddenly and both to cancer....

As usual at the end of the year you get to thinking about the highs and lows of the year, what you did well and what you could have done better and to start to make plans for the following year.

#BlindTastingOnTour

This year the #BlindTasting gang were supposed to visit Islay, some of us, including me, for the first time... but of course like many others our trip had be be cancelled due to Covid-19.

All we can do is re-plan for 2021 and keep our fingers crossed.

#BlindTasting

This year we've continued with a few more #BlindTasting sessions, finally completing Series 6!

Many thanks to @JWBassman_, @Spirit&Wood, @GentlemanGrimm and @WhiskyWings for joining in and taking in part in some great evenings of whisky tasting!

#MiniTasting

A small group of us get together regularly on Twitter for some #MiniTastings, so far we've done 16 sessions with more to come in 2021.

Many thanks to @JWBassman_, @WhiskynStuff and @ScotchB78 for joining in and sharing their drams! Find out more here!

#BlindDrams with the Blind Tasting Consortium

We held seven tasting sessions with the newly formed Blind Tasting Consortium, an idea I'd had to try and expand the #BlindTasting and #MiniTasting gangs. I invited 27 other people to join a consortium to try blind tastings. For each session a different person took it turn to buy 10 bottles of whisky, bottle them and send the samples to the other members.

So far we have tried 35 different whiskies from all over the world, some very good, some not so good, the benefits of blind tasting is that we don't get to see the packaging, the bottle or any marketing so there's to pre-conceived ideas as to what the whisky is like - we taste it blind and give honest opinions.

#Zoom tastings

2020 was the year of Zoom - we were all locked in our homes so many whisky clubs went online with their tastings. I was lucky enough to join in a few with Southport Whisky Club, Black Country Whisky Club and North East Whisky Appreciation Society amongst others.

I was also part of a couple of groups who arranged their own online tastings including #TeamFergus who joined together for a number of @TheSpiritsEmbassy tastings and #Rat / #Wolf / #Blind Pack who joined together for a number of Inverurie Whisky Shop tastings.

#Virtual festivals

2020 was also the year of Virtual Festivals - we were all locked in our homes and unable to attend any of the normal festivals so many went on-line, Southport Whisky Club had not one but two virtual festivals. More info here!

#Drample Swaps

2020 continued as 2019 had left off with a large number of sample swaps with friends both on and off Twitter. Some new friends were made and old ones made more special!

#LetsTrySomeWhisky finished off their Anglo French tasting sets.

It's a great way to try drams you either haven't come across before, can't get anymore or aren't sure about and don't want to risk paying for a full bottle - more info here!

#Trip to Scotland

In between the two Lockdowns my family managed to get a short road trip in, we visited Edinburgh, Stirling, Pitlochry, Oban and Campbeltown.

#TweetTasting

I've been lucky enough to be selected to take part in a few @TweetTastings organised by the brilliant Steve Rush.

Mackmyra
The Sipping Shed
CuBocan Whisky
TheWhiskyCellar
Speyside Distillery

Dalmore
JJCorry Whiskey
O'Connell Whiskey
Lambay Whiskey
Hinch Distilllery

These have been a brilliant way to try new drams and more importantly share your thoughts about them in real time with others - it's like sitting in a room of 20 people enjoying a dram or two and talking about them - but you can hear what everyone else is saying and join in every conversation!

#Samples

I was also very lucky to be sent some samples to try from different distillers / bottlers!

Waxhouse - Ruadh Maor / Glenrothes / Linkwood
The Fisherman's Retreat - Bruichladdich
Bimber - Distillery Exclusives
Lakes Distillery - WMR No.3 / Blends / Colheita
Glen Scotia - 11yo Sherry DC / Festival / Dinner
TBWC - Rye Releases / 2020 Advent Calendar

Wemyss Malts - Velvet Fig 25yo
Mackmyra - Gront Te / Jaktlycka
Waterproof Whisky
Inverurie Whisky Shop - Glenallachie
Loch Lomond - Peated Single Grain / 14yo
Glen Moray - Whisky Surgery
Atom Brands - Pour & Sip Starter Pack

#Top Tweets

#My Top Ten Whiskies of the Year

My Whiskybase shelves!

How do you pick your top ten whiskies? It's really difficult! But as I've said before I use a scoring method from @TomsWhisky But #EveryPalateIsDeifferent and whisky is very subjective so my scoring is private - I don't publish any scores. For my top ten list I've picked those which I rated 5 and some of the 4s.

These are the top ten drams I tried for the first time in 2020: