Lagavulin 16yo (OB)

Eternal Love

I would love to say just like Johannes v/d Heuvel from maltmadness.com, that the Lagavulin 16 was my first encounter with single malt, that just blew my mind and was the start of a long and fascinating journey.

The Glengoyne range (OB)

Comparing some Glengoyne expressions

http://whiskyisrael.co.il/2010/10/07/tasting-3-glengoyne/

I had my first Glengoyne, back in the days when I was studying in Edinburgh, as part of the Erasmus Program. I had already sampled a few whiskies during previous vacations in Scotland, but it was during that time that I really had the opportunity to develop my taste for single malt whisky.
The only Glengoyne expressions I tried back then were the 10 and the 12yo, but I was quite impressed by this non-peated malt.

In my humble opinion, as lover of the peaty beasts of Islay, Glengoyne is an exciting whisky, it doesn't hide behind a facade of light peat and a cheap sherry finish. No it is out there, with its own original style, providing us with an unfamiliar exquisite marriage of flavours thanks to its slow distillation process and air dried barley.

As far as non-peated malts go, my preference will always go out to Glengoyne

Arran 10yo (OB)

Young Stallion

http://www.arranwhisky.com//the-island

The entry level Arran seems to divide the whisky community, some appreciate its honest simplicity, for others this seems to be a deal breaker. So I've seen reviews from enthusiasts and from those who grind it into the dust. I've decided to join forces with the former.

The 10yo was the first expression from this young distillery that I tried a couple of years ago. 

The distillery suffered from bad press in its early years after the release of their first malts, but the dark days are gone and Arran has taken its place among the better Scottish distilleries that are well worth the try.

Springbank 10yo (OB) vs. Blackadder Raw Cask 1995/2005

Comparing two expressions

No competition

http://www.theweeklings.com/jkabat/2013/06/06/the-angels-share/springbank-distillery/

Another week, another Blackadder Raw Cask, I really need to stay away from this bottler, their bottles are addictively good.
On today's menu, a young Springbank at cask strength, from 1995, bottled in 2005.
To make things a bit more interesting, I will compare it to an official 10yo bottling from 2010.

When I posted this review on Whiskyconnosr, I received some valid criticism, thus I incorporated my responses into this review.

Clynelish 14yo 1989/2003 Raw Cask

Vanilla Wine

Another week, another Blackadder Raw Cask, I guess? This week an old Clynelish from 1989. Thus far I've only tried the 14yo official bottling and I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised by Clynelish, a very distinct taste. 

The Distillery

http://www.whisky-news.com/En/distilleries/Clynelish.html

Clynelish is probably one of the odd distilleries out there, while founded in 1819, the name is currently used for the new distillery that was build right next to the old one, that was renamed Brora. Interestingly enough, although the old distillery was called the Clynelish distillery for over 150 years, people still think of Clynelish as a replacement of the old "Brora" and state that Clynelish has Brora stills.

The whisky is a favorite of many blenders, thus the distillery concentrated on volume rather than developing its own expressions, so initial bottlings of the single malt are rare. Only in 2003 the standard 14yo expression became available for the wider public.

As far as lighter peated highland whiskies go, to me this is one of my favorite distilleries with a solid spot in my top 10.

Jura Origin 10yo (OB)

A bitter orange

The Distillery

http://www.jurainfo.com/isle-of-jura-images-wallpaper/isle-of-jura-distillery.html

The owners of the Jura distillery like to refer to the early Isle of Jura distillery as their origin and even proudly put the year 1810 on their bottles.

The old distillery however went silent in 1901, the current distillery is an almost entirely new construction from 1963. I must admit that this vexes me a bit, can you really still claim you're the same distillery after 60 years of silence and decay? I'll admit it's harmless but maybe they should put the year 1963 on their label.

Ardbeg Uigeadail (OB)

Smoky Tongue Biter

http://www.bobhamiltonphotography.com/galleries/scotland---the-islands/islay-6.aspx

The Uigeadail has been a blank spot on my whisky resume for quite some time now, as the Ardbeg distillery still remains barely charted territory.

In my early whisky days I had some misconceptions about the distillery, due to my first encounter with a bad batch of Ardbeg 10yo. But now that my fate has been restored and I've turned my attention back to the Islay malts, I'm going to try out the Uigeadail, named after the loch that serves as the distillery's water source.

Tobermory 10yo (OB)

Spicy Saké

Bought me a bottle in Portree (yes, I know, it's on the isle of the Talisker single malt) a couple of weeks ago, but only opened it now, had to try a few others first.

http://www.maltmadness.com/whisky/tobermory.html

St. Magdalene 1982/2008 Blackadder Raw Cask

Scottish Calvados

http://www.axmaltwhisky.co.uk/85.html

Another week, another lost distillery, This week it's St.Magdalene's (Linlithgow) turn. Closed like so many others in 1983, the distillery however was preserved as they turned the old buildings into apartments.

I remember driving past the old distillery in 2012, I only started drinking single malts a year earlier and I had no idea that this was one of the famous lost distilleries, nor did I know its name.

Now almost two years later, I'll my first taste. Another Blackadder raw cask, this is the second one I tried, after a Lochside from 1981 and I must say that this is a great bottler, and I'm quite digging the raw cask concept.

Port Ellen 28yo 1982/2010 Whiskysite.nl Refill Sherry Puncheon

Tracking down a Unicorn

Stalking the prey

http://www.edinburghwhiskyblog.com/2012/09/04/port-ellen-are-they-taking-the-piss/

Port Ellen, the only Islay distillery left on my list and for a layman like me one of the hardest to track down, not just because of its scarcity, but mainly because you'll need deep pockets.

Longrow Peated NAS (OB)

Longrow Peated NAS

http://www.smwhisky.com.au/Longrow

This NAS version is the successor of the Longrow CV, a Campbeltown'er from Springbank. Not much to tell, nice and simple packaging, very pale colour.

Lochside Blackadder Raw Cask 1981/2004

Lochside Blackadder Raw Cask 1981/2004

My first lost distillery

So, I'm very excited about this one, my first dram from a lost distillery. Browsing a local liquor store looking for some cheap bottles I came across this older gem from Blackadder. Lochside was a distillery in Montrose Angus. It was open for only 35 years from 1957 to 1992, production was set up in an old brewery for the Sandy Macnab blend. After its closure the distillery was destined to be torn down and its grounds used for redevelopment. The old 19th century tower building was supposed to be preserved but a fire in 2005 destroyed all the remaining buildings, so I've you go looking today, you'll search in vain to find a trace of the old distillery, lost forever only some old pictures remain and a few bottles that pop-up from time to time.

Ledaig 10yo (OB)

Ledaig 10yo

The Distillery

http://www.share.rabbies.com/tour_picture_album.asp?id=1104&tour=

I dare call Ledaig an Islay malt. Not because of its grand taste, not because I believe that other peated whiskies are just Islay-style (if such a thing even exists) rip-offs. No because the only thing that separates this one from other Islay malts is the fact that it is distilled on the Isle of Mull at the Tobermory (or was it Ledaig?) distillery. It starts its journey at the Port Ellen Maltings and spends most of her childhood not far from where her journey started, next to her cousins in the warehouses of the Bunnahabhain distillery. If someone wonders where that iodine taste might come from, this malt traveled from Port Ellen to Tobermory, than up to Deanston, back to Islay to Bunnahabhain before being send to the bottling plant, crossing the Scottish sounds at least four times before ending her journey inside a bottle. Quite the traveler this young lady! But how does she hold up?

Highland Park 12yo (OB)

Highland Park 12yo

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/490099

No need to introduce the HP 12 here, it is a classic as it sets a high standard for all other entry level bottlings. Many claim that they are not what they used to be and lament about the good old days. But I still think this is one of the greater whiskies available at a more than reasonable price and if the quality has diminished over the years those early bottles must have been divine. I don't care too much, yet, about all the other HP products like the collectors Valhalla series, but you will always find a 12yo in my cabinet.

Glen Deveron 10yo (OB)

Glen Deveron 10yo

http://www.scotchwhisky.net/images/dist/macduff_dist1_b.jpg

A lesson to be learned here

Picked it up after a visit to the Aberfeldy distillery in the distillery shop. I was disappointed by the samples of the Aberfeldy 12 and Dewars' White label they were offering at the end of the door when I came across this fellow, never saw the bottle before, nice and sleek design of the packaging. At the time the Glen Deveron was still a rather mysterious malt in Belgium, whereas today, two years later every convenience store seems to have it on its shelf. The disappointment after buying this bottle was so big that I changed my ways and decided to never buy another whole bottle again before trying a few samples first. 

Glen Deveron is a singlemalt produced by the Macduff distillery

Edradour Caledonia 12yo (OB)

Edradour Caledonia 12yo

The Origin

This malt was selected by Dougie Maclean, a well-known singer in Scotland and named after his most famous song about the country he so dearly loves. Edradour once famed itself as the smallest distillery in Scotland, but there are various pretenders now who can claim that title: Daftmill, Kilchoman, Wolfburn, Loch Ewe (although can we even call this a real distillery?),...

Bruichladdich Octomore 5.1 (OB)

Bruichladdich Octomore 5.1

The occasion

Christmas tasting at the Water of Life Society at the University of Edinburgh, perfect evening, great whiskies, good company, a perfect evening. To top it off, they had a surprise: a real "punch in the face" whisky and God, was I in for a treat.

Blair Athol 12yo (OB)

Blair Athol 12yo

The Distillery

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blair-Athol-Distillery.jpg

Bought this bottle about a year ago, on what was supposed to be my last day in Scotland as an exchange student. My plane would leave late in the evening, so I got up early, got on a bus going to Pitlochry, for one last distillery visit. It had been raining all week (not that unusual) but the small streams in Pertshire clearly couldn't handle that much rain no longer and the burn at the distillery transformed into a wild stream. I didn't plan on buying another bottle, as my luggage was already getting too heavy, but I was sufficiently charmed by the 12yo flora and fauna that I returned with two bottles. On the way back I got stuck in traffic as the people of Edinburgh apparently were all trying to get out of the city and get to the airport, so eventually I missed my flight and had to book another one two days later. So even though I paid only 38£ per bottle, the added price of one hell of an expensive ticket back home (about 10 times the price of this 12yo) makes it my most expensive bottle.

Aberfeldy 12yo (OB)

Aberfeldy 12yo (OB)

The Distillery

http://www.welcometoscotland.com/img/99487/74b8d5568931efd9ccc3ff9aa3f78f57.jpg

The Aberfeldy distillery is home to the Dewar's World of Whisky Experience, the Disneyland of the Dewar's brand, a subsidiary of Bacardi.

With a large exhibition the good folk of the distillery tried to establish the white label as one of the major blends in the world.

It was busy day, so they decided to start our tour where it normally should end, in the old dunnage warehouses. I was extremely surprised to learn that the whole interior of the warehouse was just a facade, no whisky was maturing in those casks, it was just build for the tourists.

So the tone was set for the rest of the visit, I made a vow that I was not going to enjoy my visit to the rest of the distillery and that I was going to hate the liquor they made here.