Review Posts

The Dalmore Mackenzie

I think this is the first appearance of The Dalmore Distillery here; based a little north of Inverness, it produces a range of Highland malts that for some reason I don't seem to come across very often (or more likely, I'm too easily distracted by whiskies from the islands!) This is their Mackenzie expression. ...

Lagavulin 16 Year Old

While there is always a lot of variety in my whisky cupboard, there are some staples that I always try to make sure are in there. Lagavulin is definitely one of those distilleries that is always represented. As well as being a great Islay distillery, it's also where my whisky drinking life started ...

Three Ships 10 Year Old

This week's whisky is something of a surprise. It's from South Africa – for some reason, not a country I ever thought of as a whisky producer. It turns out that The James Sedgewick Distillery has been going since 1886, although initially it was built to produce brandy. It's only been used for whisky ...

Kentucky Vintage

Today we have what is described as a "Small Batch Bourbon" by the producer Willett, although they don't say precisely what that means. I think it's as significant as brewers calling their beer "craft" – that is to say, while it may once have meant something, these days it can just be a marketing ...

The King's Ginger

As I may have mentioned once or twice, I love ginger. I could happily have lived on Old Jamaica Ginger Beer as a child (if only my parents had let me!). And I confess that as a student I once stood in Tesco and worked out that Ginger Wine was the cheapest way ...

Yoichi 10 Year Old

Back to Japan this week; having already tried it's bigger brother, it will be interesting to see how the 10 Year Old from Yoichi stands up. It's a pleasing golden colour in the glass, and the nose is honey sweet with just a hint of orange blossom. A splash of water reduces the sweetness ...

Hardknott Colonial Mayhem

I know that Hardknott beers tend to show up quite often here, but the thing is they make a lot of monsters, and they're so very very hard to resist when I see them in shops. So, essentially, it's their fault and not mine. Here we have Colonial Mayhem, an 8.1% ABV "colonial ...

Bruichladdich 17 Year Old Pedro Ximenez Sherry

I love Bruichladdich; I honestly can't think of a single expression of theirs that has failed to leave me smiling and wanting more. Pedro Ximenez is the king of sherry. I'm more of a port man myself, but I have to admit that if I'm going to be drinking sherry then making it ...

The Macallan 10 Year Old Sherry Oak

This week I return to a distillery I've mentioned before – The Macallan. On this occasion, it's their 10 Year Old Sherry Oak edition. This is about as young as The Macallan comes, so it will be interesting to see how it stands up. The bottle is one of my miniature collection; I ...

Talisker 57 North

This week sees another island whisky, this time from Skye – situated off the west coast of Scotland, a little north of Islay. Talisker 57° North is named for the latitude of the distillery, but it's also bottled at a robust 57% ABV. It's a nice golden colour in the glass. Unsurprisingly, the ...