I am a huge fan of Ardbeg since the moment I tasted for first time their 10 years old whisky. I love so much the peat, the honey and the motor aromas that I always have two bottles of Ardbeg around: one of 10 years old and one of Uigeidail when I need a bit more of peat-power.

So there I was at home when the whisky fairy knocked on my door and let a big envelop from Glenmorangie. Umm, could it be… Woof! Woof!

Right! This is Ardbog! The latest whisky from my beloved Ardbeg to celebrate with all their fans worldwide the Ardbog Day on June, 1st 2013. With the whisky comes also a coin that features JackieShortie on one side and a boat with many rowers on the other side. A delightful allegory of the hordes of fans that will travel to Islay to enjoy Feis Ile festival.

So, the whisky.

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UPDATE: Read here Ardbog review

The Limited Edition Ardbog will be launched at Ardbeg Day (June 1^st). It is bottled at 52.1% ABV.

Dr Bill Lumsden, Director of Distillation and Whisky Creation at Ardbeg, explains:

“The overall combination of effects in Ardbog truly conjures up the impression of ancient, primeval, salty peat bogs, but reassuringly this is combined with some classic, intense Ardbeg notes of leather, toffee and smoke.

“As with all Ardbeg it is about getting the balance of many flavours right so others such as mocha coffee, cloves and even anchovies play their part!”

Ardbog is matured for ten years in traditional American oak ex-bourbon barrels and rare ex-Spanish Manzanilla sherry butts. This gives Ardbog a distinctively salty texture accentuating the salty, briny flavours already prevalent in the whisky.

“At its heart our hallmark smoky yet fruity and floral spirit has been matured in Spanish ex-Manzanilla sherry casks for ten years, which has then been wrapped with traditional Ardbeg of the same age that is matured in American ex-bourbon oak casks. The Manzanilla maturation weaves salty flavours through the whisky which is then balanced with the maple syrup creaminess of the first-fill ex-bourbon casks.”

I just hope it is not awfully expensive.

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Welcome to a new session of my random blind tastings! This one is WTF Tasting 003.

If you recall previous sessions, one of my biggest “problems” with whisky tasting was to make my mind to choose a set of drams to taste. I love peated whiskies and mid age sherried drams but once you start tasting one after the other it becomes a bit plain ( with great surprises from time to time )… so why not just add some spices into the mix?

WTF Whisky Tastings is just a new fun way of lowering my samples’ box level with a flight of four and five random drams taking blindly from the box.

So here are this week flight…

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Well, hate is a too strong word, so maybe dislike may be better. Umm!… no, hate is fine, pure distilled clear hate. But anyway, let me explain it to you…

As you know I am from Spain, a country that in less than forty years moved from very poor to reasonably rich ( and it looks like back at fullspeed to poor again ) place. So, as in most in-development countries we had an special interest in those kind of luxury products that come from abroad, for example, Rolex watches, Mercedes Benz cars and Scotch whisky.

So imagine, a country where monthly income moved from £150 to £1500 in less than twenty years… so we were a nice market niche for Scotch Whisky industry, despite the fact that Spanish biggest selling whisky is DYC. So we were invaded with hordes of best whiskies Scotland could produce; Johnnie Walker Red Label, Ballantines, J&B, Cutty Sark, Dewars White Label,… you get an idea of the situation, don’t you?

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I am not sure if you have tasted this Islay Whisky matured cheese.

It is a mature cheddar cheese with a delicious taste of whisky. It is expensive but it really worths the money. So far so happy.
The problem arised when my supermarket decided they were not going to stock it anymore (Why?! You have sold it out! Go buy more!). So after a few weeks of investigation and trials and error I got the correct way of doing it myself at home.

So keep reading with me for this unfathomable resource of pleasure.

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Master of Malt sent me some samples of their new range That Boutique-y and as I happen to have some samples too myself I decided to do a super tasting of this new ramge of whiskies!.

First thing that grab your eye on these whiskies is the precious labels they have created for each of them. And also the fact that the whiskies are bottled at cask strength. Looks like most of them are a vatting of several casks and there is no age statement in any of them but if they are as good as this first batch…

That Boutique-y Whisky Company

That Boutique-y Whisky Company bottles Scotch Single Malt Whiskies from a variety of renowned distilleries like Ardbeg, Macallan or Aberlour in limited batches. These whiskies are adorned with cultish comic-book style labels which feature prominent figures from the whisky industry upon them, as well as other little details for you to find!

The whiskies Batch 1

I have tasted several whiskies from the first batch and most of them are already sold out by the time you read this. On their webpage it is available right now a second batch of whiskies.

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This post continue from TWE Whisky Show [Part 2]

After almost six hours I have tasted 43 single malt whiskies, some of them transcendentally amazing. Now I had an extra chance of tasting something that I missed on TWE Whisky Show.

Extra day: The Whisky Exchange Whisky Show Trade day

Ok, just waked up for The Whisky Exchange Whisky Show Trade Day [wooa!, that's long]. I have another nice and expensive breakfast for another whisky day that unfortunately I will not be able to enjoy fully as I have a plane to catch.

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Islay is an island in the west of Scotland that produce a style of single malts that you either love or hate: peated whiskies.

(Photo on top of one of the Jura Pups looking south overseeing the Isle of Islay by Gregor Haslinger)

You may wonder why such an small island have so many distilleries and I hope this article enlighten you and share with us the passion for peated whiskies.
I have tasted already many of the whiskies created at Islay but I really wanted to taste them all in a row so I can compare them side by side. I hate when I taste blindly a whisky and I can’t decide if it is a Caol Ila ( most are ) or an Ardbeg.

So come with me in this trip around Islay in nine drams. Oh man! I am sure you can smell the smoke from there.

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I have had to kill several persons queuing for it but finally I got it. My own bottle to celebrate Ardbeg Day

Did you get yours? How did you celebrated it?

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