Show us your whisky! Vol 2

[Hosenbugler]

Daughter has bought a bottle of Highland Park Dark Origins for me.

Has anyone any experience of this whisky? I'm familiar with the HP12 , but thats the limit of my experience so far of this particular distillery.

[Mr Trophy]

Hosenbugler said:

Daughter has bought a bottle of Highland Park Dark Origins for me.

Has anyone any experience of this whisky? I'm familiar with the HP12 , but thats the limit of my experience so far of this particular distillery.

I was pleasantly surprised with the above. Not a bad dram at all and I hate the whole NAS pish!

[Hosenbugler]

Mr Trophy said:

Hosenbugler said:

Daughter has bought a bottle of Highland Park Dark Origins for me.

Has anyone any experience of this whisky? I'm familiar with the HP12 , but thats the limit of my experience so far of this particular distillery.

I was pleasantly surprised with the above. Not a bad dram at all and I hate the whole NAS pish!

That sounds promising . Daughter and others did a distillery tour at HP. The expression they bought me (DO) was chosen because it was the whisky "they disliked least" .
Poor benighted souls cannot find it in them to appreciate a dram.

ETA Yes, there is a cynical part of me that NAS are all about cash flow and profits , and nowt to do with quality.

[NRS]

Hosenbugler said:

That sounds promising . Daughter and others did a distillery tour at HP. The expression they bought me (DO) was chosen because it was the whisky "they disliked least" .
Poor benighted souls cannot find it in them to appreciate a dram.

ETA Yes, there is a cynical part of me that NAS are all about cash flow and profits , and nowt to do with quality.

I guess in reality it's a bit of both. Some is about selling as much as possible as cheaply as possible, but there is some very nice younger whisky out there that people might not consider if they knew the age and so from that respect some of them can be good.

[BorkFactor]

Laphroaig 10 is £20 in Costco at the moment, rude not to!

Also that Glen Marnoch Islay single malt from Aldi is pretty good, can't argue at £17.99 a bottle.

Also been slowly enjoying a bottle of this:

https://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/p/3683/finlaggan...

Needs some water added to take the edge off, but it is extremely pleasant.

[williredale]

My current collection.
The two Japanese bottles and the Glendronach have just arrived.

[Blown2CV]

williredale said:

My current collection.
The two Japanese bottles and the Glendronach have just arrived.

nice spread there!

[NRS]

krallicious said:

Only 10 days until the Limburg Whisky Fair as well

So, how is today going?

I saw this today - if you're interested in the Kavalan bottles it shows you how to work out the age and what the cask number code means.

http://www.whiskysaga.com/kavalan-solist-trio-my-o...

I've had one of the Solist Sherry casks recently - very very good although I think I would personally prefer a little bit more sweetness to be my favourite sherry bomb.

[Mr Trophy]

kavalan sherry cask

[krallicious]

It's tomorrow! Planning to be in the queue for 9.50 for doors open at 11am. Fingers crossed the first dram will be nipped 10 minutes later after running to my go to stand where I can pick up a bottle of George T Stagg.

The Kavalan is lovely. Did you leave it to stand for half an hour? After Classic Mercs suggestion, I found it opened up really nicely and became a bit sweeter.

I opened a bottle of Glenmorangie Artein last night and I have to say it is exceptional. You often read in various tasting notes about juicy grapes but this takes the biscuit.

[Mr Trophy]

I see there is an opportunity to try a 5CL of the Yamazaki 18 (see below link if interested). So think I'll give it a punt and see what all the fuse is about. Anyone care to comment that has tried it? I still stand by the fact that the best I've ever tried is the SMWS 119.14 (see second link).

https://www.masterofmalt.com/whiskies/yamazaki-18-...

https://www.scotchwhiskyauctions.com/auctions/98_t...

[krallicious]

Mr Trophy said:

I see there is an opportunity to try a 5CL of the Yamazaki 18 (see below link if interested). So think I'll give it a punt and see what all the fuse is about. Anyone care to comment that has tried it? I still stand by the fact that the best I've ever tried is the SMWS 119.14 (see second link).

https://www.masterofmalt.com/whiskies/yamazaki-18-...

https://www.scotchwhiskyauctions.com/auctions/98_t...

I used to drink quite a bit of it when it was around 65 quid a bottle but that was a good few years ago now. It is very, very good.

[NRS]

Have to say I thought the Yamazaki 18 was good, but I think I prefer the Nikka whiskies compared to Yamazaki for my personal taste. Same for the Limited Edition 2015 when I tried it. I wouldn't pay the money they are going for now over some other things.

krallicious said:

It's tomorrow! Planning to be in the queue for 9.50 for doors open at 11am. Fingers crossed the first dram will be nipped 10 minutes later after running to my go to stand where I can pick up a bottle of George T Stagg.

The Kavalan is lovely. Did you leave it to stand for half an hour? After Classic Mercs suggestion, I found it opened up really nicely and became a bit sweeter.

I opened a bottle of Glenmorangie Artein last night and I have to say it is exceptional. You often read in various tasting notes about juicy grapes but this takes the biscuit.

So how did it go in the end?

[Podie]

NRS said:

So how did it go in the end?

He's still hungover

[krallicious]

Podie said:

NRS said:

So how did it go in the end?

He's still hungover

Was a really good day out. I need to upload some pictures and try to remember what everything tasted like.

The hangover was not too bad at all, much

[jammy_basturd]

Has anyone been through Gatwick recently? Got a friend passing through tomorrow morning and wondering if there is anything worthwhile getting her to pick up.

[krallicious]

Limburg 2016 Tasting Notes (or memories of a slightly drunken day )

The day started early. I met up with a friend and jumped onto a train to Limburg where I was due to meet and old neighbour. We had to be in the queue before 10am for the 11am opening because I wanted to buy some George T Stagg from my go to stand. Things didn't start too well as it was pouring with rain and this was the first year that this stand didn't have a bottle in 5 years. Not good.

I decided the best thing to do was to starting drinking (sampling) so a 15 yo Glendronach was enjoyed at 11.10am. A very nice whisky which has everything you could want from a sherry cask for a good price.



Next up was a Glen Grant Port finish. I had a botlle of this over Christmas about 3 years ago and had forgotten just how nice it tastes. A lovely velvety grain and grape interaction which just enought sweetness coming from the port.

Onto Kavalan. The Sherry Cask is one of my favourite whiskies so I needed to try this bottling. I have had it before but the distillery has a nack of making some great whiskies regardless of which cask was used. Try some.

Onto this curiousity. A 48 year old Japanese whisky. It was far too long in the cask. The oak was overpowering initially but it gave way to a lovely clean and light grain which then was completely overpowered by the wood again. Would have been lovely if it was bottled a few years earlier.

This was one of my whiskies of the day. Simply stunning. It tasted like fruit cake with a long, long finsh. Was just shy of 400€ a bottle though.

Supernova 2015. My whisky of the day. Hughe smoke and peat which gave way to wood, orange and gentle whisps of more peat which just kept coming and coming. Stunning.

Blaue Maus. I keep wanting to like this distillery but as with all German Whisky, it tasted a bit too spirt lead. It was pleasant but no more.

This tasted like chocolate with peat. Nice enough but it was a bit too 'thick' for me. Lots of treacle and wood. OK but not for me.

A 21 yo Arran filled for the Whisky Fair. Just fantastic. Very clean mouth feel with lots of sherry influence

Not much to say apart from my favourite Gleglassaugh. This is how whisky should taste.

Onto something Swedish. The Malstrom is lovely as are most of the distillery's 'momnet' releases. Worth investigating if you see any bottles around.

A great bourbon. Topped only by Pappy Van Winkle's 15yo and its bigger brother.

Raisens. Fruit cake. Raisens and more raisens.

Once again, a German whisky that is too spirit lead.

The 7.1 is a great peaty whisky. I do love a good Octomore.

A disapointing bottling. I do love my Japanese whiskies but this was somehow very flat and quite boring. Shame.

The 200 year old release. Not quite as complex as the 16yo but better than the 12yo releases. Very smoooth for its age which some lovely smoke. Well worth trying.

This was likie drinking chocolate mixed with sherry. Delicious.

And what came home with me. I am still kicking myself for not buying 2 bottles.

My top 3 whiskys were:

Supernova 2015
Arran 21
Strathisla

A great way to spend a day and I am looking forward to next year.

[Blown2CV]

that's a proper tasting. Some really unusual things there. I think I will try and go for smaller more intimate events in future as the last couple of big whisky festivals i've been to have been a bit underwhelming.

[hoegaardenruls]

Looks a very good tasting - I've got a couple of those here, but that Arran 21 looks tempting..

[rsbmw]

Any recommendation for a Japanese whisky aged in plum liqueur barrels? Tried Hibiki 12 recently and t was immense, but impossible to get at a reasonable price now.