Whyte & MacKay #TweetTastings

@whyteandmackay shared four of their singe malts from their portfolio in a recent @TweetTastings

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

#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.

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 ?

Another trip to the Prince Of Wales

I'm very lucky where I work that they let us out at 12 noon every Friday, this gives us a chance to visit some local hostelries and sample their wares. One of our regular haunts is the Prince Of Wales at Foxfield, it's a small pub on the Cumbria coast which boasts it's own brewery, regular beer, gin, rum and music festivals - check out their website.

There are normally 8 real ales on the bar plus a couple of ciders and many bottled delights. They also have a great, ever changing, selection of whiskies!

The Whisky Blackboard

This week they held a Dark, Strong Beer & Cider Weekend so we had to visit!

So whilst some of my colleagues made their way through the list of beers, I started with a few whiskies.

Distillery : Mannochmore

Whisky : 12yo (Flora & Fauna)

Characteristics : 700ml, 43% ABV.

Colour : Light Gold

Nose : Vanilla, Christmas cake spices

Palate : Smooth mouth filling vanilla, orange hints and those Christmas spices.

Finish : Long spicy finish

Overall : This is the first time dram which I spotted on the board from a distillery I couldn't remember sampling from before. It's part of the Flora & Fauna range of limited releases - I don't think these are very common?

Distillery : Linkwood

Whisky : 15yo (Gordon & MacPhail)

Characteristics : 700ml, 43% ABV. NCF, Uncoloured

Colour : Dark Gold

Nose : Vanilla and oak with a touch of cereal

Palate : Sweet vanilla, developing into chocolate

Finish : Long spicy sweet finish

Overall : Another dram which I spotted on the board from a distillery I couldn't remember sampling from before and definitely the best of the three I tried on the day.

Distillery : Dalmore

Whisky : 12yo 

Characteristics : 700ml, 43% ABV. NCF, Coloured 😟

Colour : Dark Gold

Nose : Sherry and vanilla, 

Palate : Dry sherry with hints of oranges and marshmallows

Finish : Long dry finish dominated by vanilla with a hint of spicy orange

Overall : Pretty standard fare this one but it was the first time I'd tried a Dalmore. Honesty I wasn't really impressed - nice bottle and presentation but just a little plain for me.