Stirk Brothers Cameronbridge from Claxton's

Stirk Brothers are a new independent bottler but they do have some history...

Their first releases are a set of three exclusive Claxton's drams, I had to buy the bottle of Cameronbridge!

Brave New Spirits @TweetTastings

Indie bottler Brave New Spirits @BNS_Whisky chose a @TweetTastings to launch  some of their new bottlings.

Here's my thoughts and those of a few friends!

BTC11 #BlindDrams Tasting Notes

These are my tasting notes from the Blind Tasting Consortium's 11th #BlindDrams evening.

These drams were picked by @MaltMusings (Me!)

Side by side : 5 Independent Grains

Good Scottish Single Grains tend to be on the older side - twenty something and you've got something rather nice, the other side of thirty and you're usually in for something special!

For this side by side I've selected 5 single grains from 4 different independent bottlers, ranging in age from 10yo to 39yo, lets see how they compare.

Mini-reviews: Bridge over troubled waters?

This was a blind sample from @Maltman_Mike which turned out to be a Cadenhead's Cameronbridge 27yo Single Grain

Mini-review: French No.63?

Blind sample from @GregsWhiskyG

In the glass : Interesting brown coloured bottle so I had no idea of colour before I opened it. But it is quite a dark coloured dram, swirls cling to the glass and not much in the way of legs.... High ABV?

Nose: This seems quite complex - there's a little dunnage warehouse, some damp hay, maybe even a hint of smoke? After a little time in the glass there's some honey and toffee coming through too.

Palate: Lots of honey, very sweet, a little toffee. Not getting any of the smoke from the nose and not much in the way of spice. I think I'll reverse my thoughts on a high ABV - this seems to be a low 40s% ABV. From the honey notes I'd suggest a Speyside or maybe a Highlander?

Finish: A hint of spice on the finish, and again maybe some smoke? Lovely malty finish - very warming. I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest a Benromach ?

What's Grain Whisky all about then?

I've recently tried quite a few Grain whiskies, and been impressed by some of them, so much so that I've crossed out the word malt in my blog description!

So I thought I'd try and find out a bit more about Grain Whiskies and what makes them different from Malt Whiskies.