DrivenByDrams Speyside Tour - Planning

This year the DrivenByDrams gang paid a visit to Speyside, for me it was my first time that far north in Scotland.

We'd picked four 'warehouse tastings' and a number of distillery visits to fill our time!

TBWC Advent Calendar 2021 - Dram reviews

Those great people at @DrinksByTheDram 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?

#BlindTasting Series 6 Episode 2

Series 6 Episode 2

After a winter hibernation the #BlindTasting team were back to continue Series 6, trying to work out what the 5 drams they'd swapped were and to tell what we thought of them without knowing where they were from. #NoPreconceivedIdeas! If you haven't followed us before you can catch up with all the previous series here.

Batches : Aberlour A'Bunadh

Distilleries often release whisky in batches, the same name but subtly different recipes, ABVs, maturation periods etc. In this new, occasional series, I'm going to review a number of different Batches in my Side-by-side format to see if I can detect any differences, does each batch get better or are they to all intents and purposes the same?

This time I'll be reviewing batches #14, #59 and #61 of A'Bunadh from @AberlourVC distillery, what differences are there?

#MiniTasting - Cask Strength Night

Cask Strength Night - the #MiniTasting gang take on 3 cask strength drams for our 9th #MiniTasting.

Youtube clips

I've appeared in a few Youtube clips talking about whisky or doing reviews - here's an updated list of them!

The Whisky Family (Was Maltman Mike & Friends)

Glen Scotia Campbeltown 1832

Side by side: Aberlour 12yo & 16yo

Rather than review drams by themselves I'm doing a little series comparing some 'side by side'.

There may be two or more, they may be from the same or different distilleries, similar ages, ABVs and types or not as I decide!

This time we are reviewing two drams from @AberlourVC distillery, their 12yo and 16yo, what difference does the extra 4 years give us?

Spirit Of Speyside winners @TweetTastings

Last week I was lucky to be selected to take part in Steve @TheWhiskyWire latest @TweetTasting, this time is was 6 of the winners and runners up from the recent @Spirit_Speyside

Not the most exciting of un-boxing videos but more than made up by the contents and the lovely hand written letter!

@_littlebrowndog managed to sprint around Speyside on the day taking photos of each of the drams outside their native distilleries! Many thanks for allowing me to use them here!

@_littlebrowndog with the drams and the Spey

First up was:

@_littlebrowndog outside Aberlour

Nose: Loads of sherry on the nose - as you would expect! Lots of honey and dried fruit, if I didn't know better I'd think the Mrs was making Christmas Cake! After a little time in the glass  the nose develops with  chocolate hints and spice.

Palate: Smooth, tongue coating, you can taste the spice attacking your mouth followed by soothing sherry - yummy! A little water enhances this dram - honey and spice fill the mouth. A little dry biscuit develops but the sherry is always there!

Conclusion: A strong dram to start with and a really lovely one - liquid Christmas Cake - this is a typical sipping Speysider!

Next was:

@_littlebrowndog outside Tamdhu

Nose: On the nose - dried apple, a little honey and wood. A strong dram which just jumps out of the glass to say hello! There are some nuts and a little cinnamon over the top of the dried apples.

Palate: Quite drying on the palate - lots of toffee and a little orange, finishes with some spice - delicious!

Finish: This is a great dram - love the long dry finish, sprinkled nuts and spice over apples

Conclusion: Had this one a few weeks ago on a previous @TweetTastings Liquid gold - delicious dram!

Third up was:

@_littlebrowndog outside Cragganmore

Nose: Nose has a lot of perfume, strange but not unpleasant! Pears with a little sweetness may be pineapple? Not getting any smoke thought.

Palate: Disappointing, maybe because of the previous two? watery honey with a little smoke now!

Finish: Enjoying the smoke on the finish - this one would have been better to start with rather than the high ABVs

Conclusion: A new one for me, would maybe have been better as the first of the night?

Fourth was:

@_littlebrowndog outside Aberlour again?

Nose: Aniseed bullets straight out of the sweet shop! A little grass and some sherry! Getting the chocolate - maybe a cherry chocolate cake - now there's a plan! Getting some spice on the nose as it lingers in the glass - maybe some fresh black pepper?

Palate: Oily, mouth filling, an expected surprise. Melon and cinnamon with a touch on honey!

Finish:

Conclusion: !

Fifth dram was:

@_littlebrowndog outside? Glenlivet

Nose: Grass and herbs, with a little spice - very nice! Develops after a while - still grassy but chocolate and ginger spice come through.

Palate: Smooth and buttery on the palate, some sweetness with a long honey finish. Very nice!

Conclusion: This is a class dram, develops over time - loved the loooong dry biscuity finish. 

Final dram of the evening was:

@_littlebrowndog outside the beautiful Glenfiddich distillery

Nose: The vanilla jumps out at you to start with, a little ginger - I think this one needs time to develop.

Palate: Creamy on the palate, slightly drying, some fudge and biscuit - with a chewy finish

Conclusion: A slightly underwhelming dram, expected a lot fmore but maybe as it was the 6th of the night following the stronger drams it was a little nose and palate fatigue! Will need to try again on it's own.

For me I think the first two won the @spirit_speyside competition - @TamdhuWhisky Batch Strength 2 only just 'nosed' the @AberlourVC A'Bunadh

Many thanks to Steve and Pery at Spirit Of Speyside for organising and all the other folks who joined in!