Drinks by the Dram Advent Calendar Sneak Peek @TwitterTasting

#TweetTastings are coming thick and fast at the moment for @TheWhiskyWire and I was lucky enough to be selected for the latest one from @DrinksByTheDram, this one giving a sneak peak at one of their many Advent Calendars.

Each Advent Calendar is filled with 24 x 30ml of the most thrilling whiskies known to humankind, from a 50 year old Scotch to superb Irish and American whiskeys, and expressions from some of them most exciting world whisky distilleries. Everything from superb single grains to rare single malts, award-winning whiskies from famous distilleries from rich Speyside whiskies to smoky Island malts.

You've still got time to order one in time for 1st December - they are available from here.

For this #TweetTasting we received 5 samples in one of their standard boxes:

By 7pm many of us were in Festive Spirits and all ready to start!

First up was the Macallan 12yo Sherry Oak

My Thoughts:

Nose: Cereal, chocolate, spice, hint of porridge and fudge
Palate: Lots of spice on the tongue, quite drying but sweet with it, getting some chocolate, some wood and a little dried fruit. Not the full on Christmas Cake thought...

Other peoples opinions:

Second was the Bain's Cape Mountain Single Grain

My Thoughts:

Nose: Vanilla, love heart sweets, (Dried Banana Chips : From @RumDiariesBlog)
Palate: Oily buttery sweetness (this feels better than 40%), a little spice then a huge kick of them banana sweets at the end!

Other peoples opinions:

Third was The Blended Whisky Company's The Lost Distilleries Company Blend - Batch 10

My Thoughts:

Nose: The 51% hits you straight away, some apples and pears, wood, and a hint of spice in the background.
Palate: Lovely rich dried fruits - must have been soaked overnight in whisky! This is what the @The_Macallan should have been - Christmas Cake in a glass! Slightly drying and getting ginger and cinnamon spices too.

Other peoples opinions:

Fourth was Mackmyra's Brukswhisky

My Thoughts:

Nose: Limes, coconut, wet dog and a little spicy mint, nose is developing as it sits in the glass - porridge notes coming though and just a hint of smoke.
Palate: Very light, slightly oily, sweet and spicy, some orchard fruits and the porridge from the nose.

Other peoples opinions:

The final dram of the night was Kilchoman's Sanaig

My Thoughts:

Nose: Peat smoke hits you straight away but there is also the sweetness from the sherry, some saltiness and smoked fish?
Palate: Wow - slow down now - not sure about this at all - there is an awful lot of peanuts..... very spicy but can't get that peanut taste to go, very strange. Quite drying too. What an unusual dram!

Other peoples opinions:

Conclusion: I thought the Blended Whisky Co Blend was superb - Christmas in a glass, the Banes came a close second, Single Grains are really impressing me this year! The Kilchoman and  Mackmyra are great every day drams, perhaps a little young? I was actually disappointed with the Macallan - it just seemed ordinary.

Many thanks to Drinks by the Dram for supplying the #dramples, @WhiskyWire for organising and all my fellow #TweetTasters for making it a great evening and for kicking off Christmas!

Other reviews:

Peak Whisky

Dublin Liberties Whiskey @TweetTastings

#TweetTastings are coming thick and fast at the moment for @TheWhiskyWire and I was lucky enough to be selected for the latest one from @DublinLiberties

Dublin Liberties started building their distillery in January of 2017 and are looking to open in early 2018, they currently sell two drams - a blend Oak Devil and a 10yo single malt Copper Alley - both currently sourced from other distilleries in Ireland.

As usual with these things an unmarked parcel arrived in the post a few days before the tasting, the dramples came in two lovely squared off bottles. 

On the night we all joined together on twitter to share our opinions.

First up was the Oak Devil blend at 46%, a blend of Irish malt & grain whiskeys, which have been matured in bourbon casks.

My Thoughts:

Nose: very pale in colour, quite fruity on the nose initially, fruitiness develops into distinct pear and apple notes - a little like when stewed in custard! A little honey but not getting a lot of spice - not living up to it's name!

Palate: smooth and oily on the tongue, a sweet tropical fruit mix with lots of spice - yummy! It is a little like spicy apple pie but with more tropical notes - pineapple pie maybe?

Finish: long and spicy finish, lingers on the tongue! Hints of honey and that stewed tropical fruit. Nice!

Other peoples opinions:

Second was the Copper Alley single malt at 46%, finished in 30 Year Old Oloroso Sherry Casks.

My Thoughts:

Nose: colour lives us to it's name - beautiful! Initial nose : peppered honey! getting some sherry.

Palate: waxy oily on the palate with some peppery notes on the tongue develops into Christmas flavours - dried fruit, nuts, spices, sherry, slightly drying - tasty! As you taste it the nose changes slightly getting icing sugar to go with the Christmas festival on the palate!

Finish: similar long spicy finish to the Oak Devil - peppery honey lingering on the tongue!

Other peoples opinions:

 

Overall I actually preferred the blend over the single malt, I think it delivered more spice on the palate and finish - right up my street!

Thanks to Steve, Dublin Liberties and my fellow twitters for a great evening! You can follow the whole evening here #DublinLibertiesWhiskey

Other reviews:

The Whiskyphiles‏, Braw Spirit, Malthound, Dram Gazette

Who else was tasting?

@TheWhiskyBoys @MaltMusings @brawspirit @whiskyfreak123 @Whiskey_JAC@JasonVaswani @spikeydog120 @AlpacaJo @moonbites @allthingsbooze @ocdwhisky@RealDramRob @WhiskyUnplugged @T_M_Cocktails @dbcwhisky @bigfootrunning@cache1337 @DaveMcKinnon__ @whiskyrepublic @JoeFHolmes @TheWhiskyphiles@PhilScott101 @Marc_Liberties @suzisgrapecrush @LaCaveDeCobalt @WhiskySpeller@dram_gazette @Girl_Whisky @malthound

200 up? Let's go to Belgium!

As many of you know I've been blogging, tweeting and more importantly tasting whiskies since the beginning of the year and last night I managed to hit to 200 mark!

I decided that for the occasion I'd do something a little different and decided to share a recent drample swap from @Dram_Gazette with @Maltman_Mike and do a live Hangouts session to 'virtually' sample the dram together.

A few weeks ago I was talking to @Dram_Gazette about our shared love of old grain whiskies and as he hadn't tried the wonderful DL Strathcylde 25yo I offered to send a sample. As usual these things gain momentum and we ended up swapping three drams. Noting the strange regulations of our wonderful post office I dispatched my samples under plain cover (!) and a few days later received three dramples from @DramGazette. In amongst these were two Belgium whiskies which, as well as having never tried, I'd never even heard of.

The first dram, my 200th, was the Gouden Carolus Sola Jerez - 3rd Anniversary Edition from the Stokerij De Molenberg and is described as a limited edition in connection with the 3rd anniversary of the stokerij (Distillery). This whiskey is a special blend of their 1st distillate from 2010 and several test distillates that were already produced in 2007.

How's your Belgian?

"The whiskey features soft-sweet fruit keys with apricot, orange, fig and raisins hanging from the first fill of Bourbon barrels and the Oloroso sherry barrels where the whiskey has been received. All in all, it is a sunlit whiskey with the taste of Spain. This whiskey consists of first distillates Stokerij De Molenberg 2010 (33%) matured in Oloroso sherry barrels and tasting distillates 2007 (67%) matured in first-fill Bourbon barrels (6 years) - Oloroso sherry barrels (3 years)" - an interesting combination!

The second dram, my 201st, was Sunken Still, a 4yo rye from Graanstokerij Filliers. This has an interesting back story - "Sunken Still Whisky is an ode to the brave Filliers Distillery workers who drowned our pot still in the nearby river Rekkelinge during the Great War. Doing so prevented the Central Forces from disassembling it and using the raw materials for the war effort."

It's described as being "left to mature on Bourbon barrels to create a smooth and balanced whisky with sweet and fruity flavours. Distilled in traditional copper pot stills at the Filliers Distillery. This whisky is our interpretation of a legend."

So - what did they taste like?

Distillery: Stokerij De Molenberg

Whisky : Gouden Carolus Sola Jerez - 3rd Anniversary Edition
Characteristics : 500ml, 46% ABV
Colour : Old Gold
Nose : Floral, fruity with some toffee notes
Palate: Sweet, quite dry with fruity hints - mainly apricots and currents, a little spice on the sides of the tongue
Finish : Medium length - quite spicy
Overall : A really impressive dram - the spice builds up gradually, none on the nose, a little on the palate and a lot on the finish - yummy! My first Belgium whisky and definitely worth hunting out!
Link : Sola Jerez

Distillery: Graanstokerij Filliers

Whisky : Sunken Still
Characteristics : 500ml, 45% ABV
Colour : Pale Gold
Nose : This is a rye whisky but on the nose it was exactly like a gin, some floral botanicals and berry notes come through - but all very nice!
Palate: An interesting oily creaminess with spice all over the tongue!
Overall : I really enjoyed this one as well, an interesting nose gave way to a typical rye spiciness - some nutmeg and pepper - which went down really well.
Link : Sunken Still

Many thanks to @Dram_Gazette for the dramples and @Maltman_Mike for sharing my 200th dram!