Hello there,
Yesterday, we had another great tweet tasting with The Glenlivet and Steve from The Whisky Wire. To be honest I were not going to apply to this tasting because I had already tasted the Glenlivet 12, 15 and 18 ( oops, looks like I didn’t taste it ) and although Alpha was somewhat appealing I though I was just a marketing move.

But I was offered a seat and who of you would reject free whisky, and what the hell, I really want to revisit the Glenlivet range. After touching the miniature of Alpha I started to get excited about the idea of such a mysterious whisky label and I have ordered one full-bottle for myself ( The Whisky Exchange is still stocking Alpha. One per client. )

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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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Hello Amigos!,

Barely a month ago I drank an ice-cold Tequila Sunrise after lunch, and so impressed I was that I decided I had to learn more about Tequila. So here it is this huge ( and I mean HUGE! ) article about Tequila, Mezcal and Mexico. I have tasted twenty tequilas for the occasion and to my surprise ( and your perhaps ) I have tasted one better than many Scotch whiskies I have tried in the last three years.

So, click play on the video to get the spirit into you and keep reading with me.

So, what the hell is Tequila? Point one, forget any stuff that you have previously drank and made you unconscious.

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Yesterday we make some noise at Twitter. Steve Rush of The Whisky Wire invited me and around 20 more whisky lovers to a great blind tasting proposal: Glory of the Grain Tweet Tasting.

Have you tried Grain Whisky? No? Oh, so don’t read the article. Pesky beverage, don’t even pay attention to it. It doesn’t worth your time…

If you have tasted them I can no longer conceal the secret so anyway, let me show you what we tasted blindly. It was quite fun and surprising because all but one of the samples were guessed by someone. My nose isn’t so skilled on grain whisky. Pity!.

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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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Hello!

Welcome to this new serie of tastings that I starting right here and right now. What the f*** is WTF Tastings is listen to you asking? Let me explain…

In these three years I have tasted almost 1,000 whiskies and I have realized that although I do my best for not to score whiskies because of its name, its bottle or its price I end up doing it. But don’t despair! I have decided to use a new method to grab samples and taste it. I call it WTF!.

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After my article about why I think it is a bad idea to invest in whisky and after reading an excellent piece of Oliver from Dramming about the same subject, I come back again with a graph about money and time…

All the bubbles are denied, so “trust” me, there is no such thing as a whisky bubble, emergent economies will take the drop in sales of countries under recession right now and later a herd of unicorns will appear and mature to perfection any booze the industry can produce at ten gazillion litres per seconds… finally only old Captain McCallister will be able to drink the stuff…

In which point do you think we are right now? Here are my two cents…

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In the last five years I have seen a constant increase in whisky prices I am interested in. I remember when a interesting new Ardbeg was only £60 or when a 25 years old Ardbeg Lord of Isles was so expensive at £150…

Many persons are now joining the wagon of whisky investment just for the future ( or immediate sometimes ) reward. So read why I think that this is quite a bad idea if you don’t know what you are doing.

I am a whisky collector, I collect whisky, really. Many friends have told me as an insult that I don’t open bottles. And yes, I don’t usually open them. I collect because I love the way the bottles look and love to see them one after the other, to put my hands on them. There is so little moments better than opening a box full of whisky… well, maybe having a dram of them may be better

An open bottle of whisky last several years on my cabinet, so I have an extra problem keeping open bottles at hand.

But I don’t buy whisky as an investment. I haven’t sold a single bottle of my collection nor I will (by now, until my country’s economy finally collapse I am forced to beg on a street corner). The whisky collection profit is an interior growth in knowledge and pleasure.

So, why do I think it is a bad idea to invest in whisky?

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Happy St. Patrick day!

What? Not today? Damn! Hell, anyway… like if we need an excuse to have a good whiskey!.
You know St. Patrick, the holy patron of Ireland, the one that drove the snakes out of the island, the one that brought Christianity on Ireland and …

Enough writing. Let’s drink. As an old Irish saying says, “God invented whiskey so the Irish wouldn’t rule the world!”

As my contribution to the Irish whiskey let’s do a whiskey walk around Ireland. And as Sjoerd has told me several times I better state it right here and now: I love Single Pot Still Irish whiskey ( I just can’t stand their cheap blends ).

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At last, Winter is coming to an end. And what better way of saying goodbye to this strange winter that with a few glasses of peat medicines?

In the quest to taste all the stuff that I have ordered, I have decided for five magnifique drams: Arran, Ardmore and three Bruichladdiches.

Didn’t you said peat? Yeah, and I am going to taste peated whiskies from those distilleries. A quite lovely bottled of Arran Machrie Moor, Ardmore Traditional, Port Charlotte 10 years old and two Octomore: 04.2 Comus and 03.1

You know that a have a little sweet heart that loves peat. I adore peated whiskies but on this tasting I have found a whisky that it is just too peated for me. Much like sucking mud!

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