Brave New Spirits - Voodoo

Indie bottler Brave New Spirits @BNS_Whisky keep coming out with new releases!

Here's my thoughts on two recent ones from the Voodoo series!

Signatory Vintage 100 Proof

Signatory Vintage have been releasing a series of 100 Proof bottlings over the last 6 months or so...

Let's find out a little more.

#BTC39 #BlindDrams Tasting Notes

These are my tasting notes and results from the Blind Tasting Consortium's 39th #BlindDrams evening.

These drams were picked by Paul @pswhisky

#BTC37 #BlindDrams Tasting Notes

 These are my tasting notes and results from the Blind Tasting Consortium's 37th #BlindDrams evening.

These drams were picked by John @jwbassman_

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!

Highland Park Cask Strength Release No. 3

It's been a while since I last reviewed an OB @HighlandPark bottle, like a lot of people I started on the 40% 12yo from Tesco and was hooked. Unfortunately the Viking comic strip started and the prices sky rocketed...

The Cask Strength releases seem to return to an age before dodgy marketing, let's see what it's like!

Whisky Advent Calendar 2022 - 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?

Core Range: Highland Park

 Continuing the series of posts showing a distillery's core range of bottlings.

This time looking at Highland Park

Dunphail's The Dava Way - First Release

The Dava Way is the new independent bottling arm of @TheDunphail Distillery, the same team behind @BimberLondon Distillery!

Let's take a little walk...

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?

Side by side : Four Highland Park 12yos

You can find Highland Park's 12yo in most supermarkets in the UK but whilst this is matured in ex-sherry casks for me ex-bourbon is the way to go, here I'll try some in my side by side format.

The distillery 12yo verses 2 from SMWS and 1 from Cadenhead.

#BlindPack : Lady Of The Glen Tasting

The #BlindPack are a small secretive organisation who have regular virtual tastings - some blind but some labelled. They change their code name to reflect the contents each tasting, this time it was #LadyBoys!

We spent an evening with Paul McKendrick from @Lady_ofthe_Glen trying some of their bottlings.

BTC9 #BlindDrams Tasting Notes

These are my tasting notes from the Blind Tasting Consortium's 9th #BlindDrams evening.

These drams were picked by Richard @MckWhisky

Virtual tasting: A.D. Rattray with Inverurie Whisky Shop

Due to the Corona virus a lot of companies have moved their tastings online - using Zoom or similar video conferencing systems. This has actually opened their market as they can attract customers from all over the world.

One such company is the Inverurie Whisky Shop, a small shop in the town of Inverurie - great if you live near Aberdeen, but not too much use to those of us living in England or elsewhere.

Scotch Whisky Advent Calendar

I was lucky enough to receive a whisky advent calendar from those lovely people at @DrinksByTheDram, it was their Scotch Whisky 2019 edition.

Each day during #Dramvent I opened a door and discovered what was inside!

#BlindTasting Series 5 - Review

Series 5 of #BlindTasting has recently finished and as usual I'll post a summary. This ended up being our longest series due to Christmas and pressures of work - it extended over 4 months!
This one, like all the rest, has brought up a few surprised with the five of us trying to identify 15 mystery drams through smell and taste, having #NoPreconceivedIdeas to sway our opinions.

#MiniTasting - Chorlton single casks

@ChorltonWhisky is an independent bottler based in Manchester with some really nice bottle labels on each of their drams.

They have bottled over 25 casks, at the time of writing, @ScotchB78 supplied 3 drams for @jwbassman_ @WhiskynStuff, and myself to try!

#BlindTasting Series 5 - Part 2

Series 5 Part 2

After a short break over Christmas 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.

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 ?

Mini-review: Viking heritage?

Kirkwall Bay from Càrn Mòr 46% Sample from @Maltman_Mike

In the glass: Very pale gold, swirls nicely with slow fat legs.

Nose: Initial nose floral with some citrus.  Very floral, hint of heather and smoke, lots of citrus, maybe some dryness (can you smell dryness?) maybe it's icing sugar?

Palate: Surprisingly sweet! Lots of the citrus from the nose, drying again from the nose (?) Quite smooth with a little ginger spice at the end.

Notes: The finish gives up the smoke, only a little! Overall a nice little dram! Clues lead us to believe this is a Highland Park.