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Articles in the Islay Category

2010, Bunnahabhain, Featured, Headline, Islay, Master Of Malt, Peated, Sherry, Single Cask, Tasting Notes »

[16 Feb 2012 | One Comment | 489 views]
Tasting Master of Malt Bunnahabhain 20 Year Old 1990 Single Cask

Need I repeat my saying that peat smoke and sherry go well together, or horribly together, depending on the combination. This time we’re in for a treat. This wee wonder was distilled in December of 1990 and aged in a single Spanish oak butt for 20 years before bottling on the 7th November 2011. Just from the colour you can …

Bunnahabhain, Featured, Headline, Independent Bottling, Islay, Single Cask, Tasting Notes, Wemyss »

[23 Jan 2012 | No Comment | 450 views]
Wemyss Single cask–’Honey Spice’ 1991 (Bunnahabhain)

Wemyss malts also bottles some very good single casks in addition to the blended malt whiskies. The latest batch of single casks includes a distillery name on the label in addition to the Wemyss special naming scheme describing the whisky so accurately as I’ve grown to learn. Today we shall sample another one of those, a 1991 year old Bunnahabhain …

Bunnahabhain, Cask Strength, Duncan Taylor, Featured, Headline, Independent Bottling, Islay, Single Cask, Tasting Notes »

[12 Jan 2012 | One Comment | 574 views]
Tasting Bunnahabhain 23 Year Old 1988 – Dimensions (Duncan Taylor)

After the first member of the “dimensions” line , that excellent Aberlour ex-Bourbon cask, i had high hopes for this expression from the same series. This time We’re talking 23 year old, Bunnahabhain which rested in cask 2358  until being bottled in 2011, Cask strength,  and limited to 225 bottles all in all.
Dimensions Bunnahabhain 1988 23yo Cask 2358 53.5% , …

Blended Malts, Compass Box, Featured, Headline, Islay, Speyside, Tasting Notes »

[9 Jan 2012 | 2 Comments | 620 views]
Tasting Compass Box ‘The Last Vatted Malt’

At midnight on the 22nd of November 2011 an era has ended. The term Vatted Malt has been declared illegal, and a new term has come into life : “Blended Malt”. the SWA decided that the term vatted malt was not clear enough and replaced it with the new term. To celebrate this change and pay homage the the old …

Cask Strength, Headline, Independent Bottling, Islay, Kintra, Laphroaig, Sherry, Tasting Notes »

[15 Dec 2011 | 5 Comments | 563 views]
Tasting Kintra Whisky Laphroaig 13 yo single cask

We continue tasting the newest bottling from Kintra, and after that Coal Ila, another Islay from Laphroaig. This time aged in a sherry butt. Sherry and peat can go well together, or can be very bad together, depending on the cask and balance. Happily this one is a great example of how a sherry but and a peaty spirit can …

Caol Ila, Cask Strength, Featured, Headline, Independent Bottling, Islay, Kintra, Quick Dram, Single Cask, Tasting Notes »

[30 Nov 2011 | No Comment | 369 views]
Quick Dram : Kintra Whisky Caol Ila 10 yo , 2000 vintage

Kintra whisky is a small IB based in NL, and we’ve had the pleasure of sampling quite a few expressions bottled by it in the past, always with satisfaction. In October 2011 Erik (proprietor of Kintra) released 6 new single cask bottlings in the “Single Cask Collection” Series. A young Coal Ila which we’ll review shortly, a 26 year old …

Featured, Feis Ile, Headline, Islay, Laphroaig, NAS, Peated, Tasting Notes »

[11 Nov 2011 | 3 Comments | 532 views]
Tasting Laphroaig Cairdeas 2011 Ileach Edition

This year’s Feis Ile edition is carries no age statement, and should be fairly young. I’ve tasted the 2009,2010 (see Shai’s excellent guest post about FI 2010) editions and quite liked them, and got a bottle. this year I chose not to as shipping became to much of a hassle. Gladly Johan of WhiskyBlogg.se was kind enough to send …

Bruichladdich, Featured, Headline, Islay, Tasting Notes »

[27 Oct 2011 | No Comment | 933 views]
Tasting the ‘New’ Laddie 10 year old

So, here comes the post about the much awaited Laddie 10. The first bottling of a 10 year old distilled after the distillery was “resurrected” so to speak. I was really keen on trying it and got a bottle even before i sampled it, seeing raving reviews from Serge(whiskyfun), and others. Today I’ve spotted another enthusiastic review by John Hansell  …

Featured, Headline, Independent Bottling, Islay, Single Cask, Tasting Notes, Wemyss »

[21 Oct 2011 | One Comment | 362 views]
Wemyss Malts Take IV : Whispering Smoke 1981, Single Cask (Islay)

Time for the big guns: the Wemyss malts single cask bottlings, selected by Charlie Mclean. I’ve chosen to start with a peated cask, and IMHO the best of their bottling I’ve tasted to date. This one was distilled in 1981 , bottled 2011, at 46%(why?) with only 228 bottles (to bad!), it’s sold out (no wonder) and it’s wonderful.

Nose: Starting …

Blended Malts, Featured, Headline, Independent Bottling, Islay, Peated, Tasting Notes, Wemyss »

[17 Oct 2011 | One Comment | 428 views]
Tasting the Wemyss malts ‘Peat Chimney’

As a peat-head, no better start than a peaty blended malt for starting our little Wemyss malts series of tasting notes, right? This is a Blended malt (a blend of several single malts from different distilleries) with an emphasis on Islay malts, the youngest is 8 years old. Not much more information on the Wemyss site. Ready? Go.
Wemyss ‘Peat Chimney’ …