Malt Activist reviews Whiskies

Fantastic Bunnahabhain 18 review @tabarakRazvi! One of my all time favorite whiskies. Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate... absolutely! ; )

Thanks @CanadianNinja - appreciate you taking the time out to have a look!

Great job on the site! It's very professional and classy. I like the way you keep your reviews short and sweet on Youtube. Some folks get carried away and go off track, but you reigned in your dialog admirably.

That is just what the majority of surfers want, I think. Very smart. The visuals are classy, as well, with the sketch of the distillery partly faded and the whisky box featured prominently in full color.

As for your site itself, I really like the black background and the soothing font. It is a pleasure to read aesthetically, as well as the top notch content in the reviews, which are quite well written indeed.

Since you have a site, I thought I would ask you a few questions to get your take. Does Amrut Portonova have fake caramel in it? If not, I'm going to grab a bottle for sure! You really like that one.

I was also interested to see how highly you rated the Glenfarclas 105. I need to try that one, as well. Do you think the Nikka Yoichi is worth $135? That's what it costs here in Portland, Oregon.

Have you tried the Springbank 18? Do you think it's worth $150?

I am thinking of snagging the Glen Elgin 17 year, as well. It was aged in a hogshead and is supposed to be a creamy delight with strong vanilla and sugars in it.

It seems you favor the sugary flavored scotches to some degree, such as the Amrut with its condensed milk notes. I, too, like a good sweet scotch now and again. Well done! I heartily approve of your classy website! I also know that you love the Laphroaig Quarter Cask. I, too, really like that one. Lately, I've enjoyed the Cask Strength 003 a great deal. I have a bottle of that one open. It's quite deep and three dimensional.

The Balvenie 14 Caribbean is also quite sweet, almost to the point of overpowering, but not quite. On the other hand, the Macallan Cask Strength is too sweet for me to buy a bottle. I have tried it several times though at a bar near my home.

Last winter, I was surprised to find how sweet tasting the Bunnahabhain 12 is. I wasn't expecting that from an Isla. I ordered to glasses at a bar. The first, I liked immensely, but the second seemed a bit two sweet for two in a row. I have never tried the 18. Do you know if it has fake caramel in it? Just curious. That's not a "make or break" point of sale interest, but it is, well, interesting to know. . . .

At any rate, cheers and fantastic work with the site! Well done, Tabarak!

correction: I meant WHITE background and black font with our website's design. Black background are actually hard for me to read. Your site is a pleasure to read. Very soothing for the eyes and this allows the surfer to keep reading and reading and reading. . . You might consider logging your reviews at some point by month or something rather than just having all of them in a row, at least once you log more of them. . . .

correction: oh my, I said "our" and meant "your" website. Typo. The "y" key did not come through when I hit it too lightly with my finger evidently. Okay, time for breakfast. Enough typing. . ..

To be ultra picky some of the sound is a bit off, everything else is fine.

@tabarakRazvi I appreciate the visuals. The quality visuals put you above the majority of the video reviews you see on you tube.

Make sure you address the audio issues. The guy on the left either had a bad mic or the gain was up too high. His audio was frequently peaking.

@rigmorole Thanks for such a detailed review - I really appreciate you taking the time out to give me your feedback all of which I hold in extremely high regard.

As for your questions here is what I think (to be taken with a grain of salt please!)

I'm not sure if the Portonova has an caramel in it. I personally think not since Amrut pride themselves on being quite purist. In any case even if there is caramel in it I would say keep doing what you do because this malt is sublime. It ticks all the right boxes for me. I would definitely pick this up for my bar if I were you.

I quite like the Glenfarclas 105 (haven't reviewed it, though). The Glenfarclas 105 20 years is an even better expression. For the price I think the 105 very decent value for money.

At $135 for the Yoichi (which I assume is the 15 you're referring to) it is not a bad malt to have. But if you're being careful with your money then maybe picking up the Yoichi 10 or 12 (or both!) might not be a bad idea. Don't get me wrong - the 15 is a gem of a malt.

I've tried the Springbank 18 - it's quite a crisp and wonderfully sherry balanced dram. But I think $150 is a bit too much for it. Seems like the US has some seriously high prices because I ordered this one online for about $92 + shipping. So it seems like you're paying some serious taxes to Uncle Sam...

I am not necessarily partial to the sweeter stuff (in fact I'm a notorious Ardbeg-head) and actually prefer the stronger, smokier & peatier stuff from Islay. I have not had any of the Laph cask strengths though I have Batches 3,4 & 5 --- I have ordered another bottle of the 5 to sample and so quite excited about it. Though I've read that the 3 is supposed to be the best. So let's see.

I actually have a weak spot for cask-strength whiskies and my love for whiskies started when I had the Evan Williams 23 (a 100proof bourbon) -- so maybe I'm carrying a torch for that flavor profile without realizing it!

I hope I've managed to coherently address some of your queries. Lovely talking to you as always!

Thanks for the generous response. Your ideas are quite helpful! Great website! Keep it up! I look forward to being a regular "clicker" on your website! I will pick up the Yoichi. Not sure if it's a 15. The OLCC Liquor Search does not say. I will take a look at the store when I pick up a bottle of the 105 thanks to your advise. I just opened a Batch 39 A'bud and I will be curious to compare the two.

Thanks for your advise on the Springbank 18. The Duncan &Taylor bottling at cask strength interests me. It is also $150. I probably won't buy it, but I'm on the fence right now. At any rate, many thanks! You have a great screen presence on Youtube. Small audio discrepancies are no biggie. People will still watch your old reviews no prob. Yes, it would be smart to correct the problem for future reviews, but I don't think the audio is a big deal as it now exists.

Here are the Scotch Girls reviewing the Springbank 18. www.youtube.com/watch The blonde reviewer is very sexy. Her slightly snobby personality and appearance both remind me of Laura Linney, an actress that gave a remarkable performance in the film "You Can Count on Me." Still, I am a touch put off by her famous family connections with a famous father playwright and a congressman grandpa. It's nice to see an actor achieve success based upon talent more than connections. Oh well, can't win 'em all. That blonde whisky girl is much more charming, even though she too is a bit "PC" operating under the yoke of national socialistic programming. Great review of a great whisky, and, yes, alas, a bit overpriced. It's too bad that Springbank is so expensive for what it is. The brunette is refreshingly "un-PC" and I love that about her comments and analogies. One of my favorite moments is when they argue about un-PC words like "squaw" that are a part of a food term. The blonde is upset to even hear the word used as the name of a food item. I would hate to hear her react to the Old American term for Brazil nuts! Ha! I once lightly censured my grandmother for using it and it upset her so that she almost cried. I felt terrible afterwards. She kept saying, "Yes, but that's the name for that type of nut! That's its name!"

Thanks everyone for taking the time out to give me your helpful comments.

I've worked on the audio and experimented with a different setup. And for the attentions challenged I've also incorporated word graphics.

youtu.be/I92JwU6kwp8

Let me know how you guys like this one. The plan is to settle on a format and before launching the Malt Activist channel have about 50 videos or so. What do you guys think?

How do you rate the Amrut cask strength, Tabarak? Mark seemed to really like it in his review.

@rigmorole There are quite a few cask strengths floating around. Do you mean the Peated Cask Strength? It's quite nice actually. I haven't done a review about it though. Amrut ticks all the right boxes for me so pretty much anything from that distillery I tend to like. They are the most courageous in my opinion and that reflects in their bold flavors.

The Malt Society Arabia is hosting Ashok Chokalingam (Amrut's Global Brand Ambassador) at the end of the month where we're tasting some classics, the Amrut 100 and 3 mystery malts which have previously been unreleased so that should be fun - will keep you updated on what happened there.

In the mean time I've uploaded two more videos (Old Pulteney 12 and Ardbeg Galileo) - would love to have your input.

Old Pulteney 12 youtu.be/I92JwU6kwp8 Arbdeg Galileo youtu.be/WWfhLfViyg0

Cheers

Two more splendid reviews. I like the little glass lids you use in the Galileo review. Nice short succinct reviews that focus on the scotches at hand. I also like the tasting notes that appear on screen in a creative way. Well done.

As for the Amrut, I was not referring to the peated CS, merely a cask strength offering. It seems intriguing. Others seem to agree in the online customer reviews. I found a bottle that I'm debating purchasing. I just purchased the Portonova. It was significantly more expensive than the others. I'm excited to try it soon.