Scotch Whisky reviews

Color: Straw colored, pale gold.Nose: Granny smith apples and moss, with a strong burning sensation. After a few minutes, the burning sensation lifts and floral notes move to the fore, along with vanilla…

Color: Light honeyed-gold.Nose: Seaside campfire, smoked gouda, and PEAT. Let it breath for a few minutes and the smokiness eases up, giving way to charred oak and notes of iodine.Body: smooth and watery…

My good friend Igor passed me the last remnants of this miniature bottle. It is fairly old, though not sure exactly how old; 1970s? It is noted as a "pure malt" but this cannot mean "pure malt" in the…

Here I go trying to review a gem that's been put through it's paces and come out in spades. The Quarter Cask is a stroke of Laphroigian genius!Familiar Islay armoas creep out from my snifter glass as I…

This vintage 1986, a respectable quarter of a century old, was scored at the Spirits in the Sky festival. It matured on American Oak, whatever that means. Bourbon, sure, but 1st fill?The nose is sweet…

Gordon & Macphail already bottled quite a few whiskies under their Secret Stills label, although it is not so much a secret what is inside the bottled. This Highland Secret Stills 6.2 is a single cask…

I will finish up my series of Glen Garioch with a special one. This is an old Glen Garioch, from the 70s of the previous century, bottled for the Italian importer Lemar from Bologna. It is bottled in…

Why aren't more whiskies aged in dry red wine casks? I'll admit that I wasn't thrilled with this whiskey when I first opened it but now as I finish the last dram from my bottle that has been open a…

My second Ladyburn is even more rare than the first. This single cask was filled on 13th July 1973 and bottled in February 2012 by Blackadder. Robin Tucek and his team launched this Ladyburn under their…

Cadenhead is one Scotland’s oldest independent bottlers. Their Authentic Collection contains, among others, this Glen Garioch from 1990, bottled at cask strength in 2003.The nose is very feisty, almost…