Habemus winner! So, this fantastic Whisky Advent Calendar is for…
…Bah dum dum…
A Wardrobe of Whisky is proud to announce that the winner of the Master of Malt’s Whisky Advent Calendar is…
Share your thoughts! With Christmas so close it is time to stock a few malt to either enjoy them with the friends and family or just to enjoy them on your own despite your friends and family. You can use this as a list of best xmas whisky gifts but I really advise you against it… this stuff is quite good for giving it away.
Whisky world is getting each day more and more exclusive ( and this sucks ), there are tons of limited special editions of great distilleries like Lagavulin, Macallan or Glenlivet and it is each time harder to get one of them because they are either too limited or too expensive or both of them most times. So let me help you choosing interesting stuff for this Holiday and you thank it me later.
First, please remember that I really love young peated whiskies, mid age sherried Speysiders and very old ex-bourbon casks malts. If you share my taste go ahead blindly, you won’t be disappointed. Second, I am tired of reading about whisky bottles that I can’t afford… I don’t know anyone who can afford a £2000 Lagavulin, I don’t even know anyone crazy enough to buy the Lagavulin 21yo so my ten suggestions are on the affordable ( *ejem* I mean “affordable”… most of my friends insists that I am crazy ) range of the single malt spectrum.
So let’s see the list
It is a pleasure to visit every year The Whisky Exchange Whisky Show because there are great whiskies waiting for me. One of the definitively most interesting stands is Douglas Laing one because they have very good whiskies and they are still priced in such a way that it looks like they really want you to buy them… ( Who the fuck can pay £2000 for a Lagavulin?! ).
It is a pleasure to be there between all the Clan Denny awesome stuff, their Director’s Cut, this year new range of Old Particular and of course Big Peat. You all know that I love peated whiskies… so I was slightly disappointed when I first tasted Big Peat and it didn’t fulfill my expectations, it was peated but no big peated at all… so when I tasted Big Peat Xmas 2012 Limited Edition I was taken by surprise by an awesome whisky. You can imagine how happy I was when I saw Big Peat Xmas 2013 this year.
So, let’s taste the whisky.
This dram has a white wine-like color.
Nose (91): more than average. peat, smoke, citrus, vanilla, earth.
Palate (91): powerful, oily. peat, earth, honey, citrus, vanilla, coffee.
Finish (91): longer than average. peat, smoke, spices.
So based on other whiskies I have already tasted I rate this Big Peat at Christmas 2013 with 91 points over 100.Highly recommended. But if you can find it, grab the 2012 version. It was slightly more “macho” :)
It is always nice to taste a Bruichladdich whisky. So you can understand that when I was at The Whisky Show 2013 I assaulted their stand and drank all their stuff ( a bit of each of course ).
Bruichladdich has started a new campaign to reclaim the “terroir” in whisky. They are creating lots of whiskies with barley from local farms or in this case with barley only from Scotland ( Did you know that Scotch can be done with barley from anywhere in the world?! ).
So, the whisky…
This dram has a gold-like color.
Nose (87): more than average. honey, citrus, vanilla.
Palate (87): powerful, oily. honey, citrus, vanilla, spices, wood.
Finish (87): longer than average. honey, vanilla.
So based on other whiskies I have already tasted I rate this Bruichladdich Scottish Barley - The Classic Laddie with 87 points over 100.
As I said I love Bruichladdich whiskies, but this one is mean, completely unpeated and showing signs of being bottled just too young. Bad whisky! Bad! Go to your cask and sleep three more years! On the other hand I tasted this Islay Farm and it was a hell more interesting
First time I read Loch Lomond I had no idea what they were talking about, later I discovered that it is a Loch Lomond still is a special kind of still that can alter the way that it works easily making different types of whiskies. So many that in fact Loch Lomond released up to seven different types of whiskies between single malts and blended whiskies.
Here I am reviewing their most basic single malt offer, the entry level Loch Lomond Single Malt.
This dram has a gold-like color.
Nose (84): more than average. honey, fruits, raisins, citrus, vanilla. I have tasted this before... Highlands?
Palate (85): powerful, oily. honey, citrus, fruity, wood, vanilla.
Finish (86): longer than average. honey, wood, tobacco.
So based on other whiskies I have already tasted I rate this Loch Lomond with 85 points over 100.Not recommended… unless you want to appreciate good whisky. This Loch Lomond makes good whiskies look even better.
From the author of don’t invest in whisky and why Johnnie Walker will kill you, I introduce today a question that has been hitting my since I visited The Whisky Show 2013.
While I was there, I attended the Girvan Single Grain Whisky Tasting with… erm… nevermind I don’t remember his name. It was an interesting tasting with a little Powerpoint explaining us how the Girvan plant was built, how big it was and how much alcohol it can produce. Then, we tasted three whiskies, a 25 years old, a one without name but very young and a 30 years old.
You all know that I am from Spain, and well, English isn’t my main language and we Spaniards don’t stand for our skill learning other languages so for me it is for me hard to write and really express what I want to say but I have a bigger issue when talking and listening to english ( I am improving )… so during the tasting I think I listened the person in charge explain us that this “quite special” Girvan whisky was going to have a retail price of £250. What. The. Hell. £250!. It must be my english. Damn! Two Hundred Fifty. It can’t be right.
I really think you can’t explain how big and how much alcohol Girvan produce and then try to “sell” me a bottle of whisky as something special with a special price tag… C’mon! You have another 60 million litres of it on casks, every year.
With malt whisky we are “suffering” a similar experience with more and more expensive releases each day. It is like a competition about who charge more for its whiskies. So my question is: Do you think it is legit? Where is the limit? When is it enough?
Do you know the answer? Share this post, Like A Wardrobe of Whisky and email me the reply with subject #whiskyadvent to enter in the competition for a fabulous Whisky Advent Calendar ( only two days left ).
I always have at home a bottle of Balvenie 12 years old Doublewood. I love it. It is a good whisky with lots of flavour and a very interesting price. So I was quite happy when I knew that The Balvenie released a 17 years old Doublewood.
The Balvenie 17 years old is “slightly” more expensive than the 12 years old. So my question and the one you perhaps are asking yourself, Is it worth the price?
This dram has a amber-like color.
Nose (90): more than average. honey, spices, cinnamon, vanilla, tobacco, wood.
Palate (91): powerful, oily. honey, vanilla, wood, cinnamon, vanilla, nuts, candies.
Finish (90): longer than average. candies, citrus.
So based on other whiskies I have already tasted I rate this Balvenie 17 Year Old / DoubleWood Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky with 90 points over 100.
Well, it is a quite nice whisky. I bought one bottle but if you ask me if I will change my 12 years old for this one I have to say that I don’t.
Do you know the answer? Share this post, Like A Wardrobe of Whisky and email me the reply with subject #whiskyadvent to enter in the competition for a fabulous Whisky Advent Calendar ( only three days left ).
Fettercairn has gone recently on a repacking of their range dropping the “Old” word. This Fettercairn Fior is a non age statement ( NAS ) whisky that it is released on a really cool bottle and with a strength of 42% ABV.
This dram has a cooper-like color.
Nose (85): average. honey, citrus, spices, ginger, cinnamon, vanilla.
Palate (88): powerful, oily. honey, citrus, peat, spices, raisins, pepper.
Finish (87): longer than average. honey, peat.
So based on other whiskies I have already tasted I rate this Fettercairn Fior Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky with 87 points over 100.
Not sure what I would make if it. Personally for me it is a not buy. It isn’t good enough
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