All Whisky reviews

Thought I would squeeze in some tasting notes before dinner - ambitious, eh? But really, this is driven by my desire to free up the overcrowded whisky-rack and countertop space in my kitchen. It's slowly…

The Perth Whisky Club was meeting for the second time this month, on the first Saturday of the month. The meeting was at our standard tasting location: Helvetica Whisky Bar in the CBD.Now I wanted to get…

Nose: A rather bizarre nose at first.This one needs time in the glass methinks. whiffs of peat. Some botanicals: pine and salt. A little bit of dried fruit underneath sultanas and plums, not overly sweet…

Nose: Sweet with honey, vanilla and butterscotch. A hint of citrus fruits and barley before the oak.Taste: The sweet theme continues with vanilla and then light spices mixed with the oak.Finish: Dry..…

The Miyagikyo distillery is young, built in 1969. It is the largest in the Nikka concern, bigger even than Yoichi Distillery, which Masetaka Taketsuru founded on Hokkaido in 1934. Until 2001, this dis…

The Miyagikyo 10 Year Old is the entry level malt from this Japanese distillery, part of the Nikka concern. This is also a NAS-version of 500ml. I put them side by side.The nose is much softer than the…

Pure Malt is nowadays called blended malt, as you are most likely aware. This whisky is thus composed of single malts from the Nikka stable (as Japanese distillers do not swap whiskies). It was named…

Yamazaki is the first distillery in Japan, founded by Shinjiro Torri, in collaboration with his protégé Masetaka Taketsuru (who would later go hiw own way with Yoichi and Miyagikyo). This Yamazaki 18…

A little while ago I reviewed an independent bottling of Ledaig (one of two expressions coming out of Tobermory Distillery on the Isle of Mull). I wish I had saved some so that I could do a side-by-side…

Right up front, when I say deceiving, I mean that this whisky does not deliver what I feel is promised by its position as a distillery's 18 YO expression. How can a whisky whose ABV is 3% higher than its…