Review Posts

Tripel Karmeliet

Our local Waitrose has recently been rearranging their already rather good beer section. This is broadly a good thing, because they seem to have expanded the range of good beers (Meantime now appear to have half a shelf to themselves!) at the expense of the duller, more mass market offerings. They've also improved their ...

Bunnahabhain 12 Year Old

After a run of international whiskies, it seems about time to return to my first whisky love, Islay. I must confess, when I first tried Bunnahabhain I was unmoved by it. That first taste came very early in my whisky education; perhaps lacking the huge smoke of Lagavulin or the playfulness of Bruichladdich I ...

Windsor & Eton Conqueror: Does Strength Matter?

Over the last few months I've been enjoying a wide variety of high strength beers (oh, how I suffer for this blog…) – in general they've varied from very tasty to spectacular, but even in my small sampling there have been some that have fallen a little short. So I found myself wondering how much was ...

Evan Williams Extra

Evan Williams has quite a range of bourbon in their stable; their Extra (also known as Evan Williams Black) is part of their core. So here we have Evan Williams Extra, a dram that sounds more Welsh than Kentucky! It's a relatively pale looking bourbon with no age statement, which leads me to suspect ...

Irish Whisk(e)y for Saint Patrick's Day

My meandering around the world of whisky has taken in a variety of nationalities – American, Japanese and of course Scots – but until now I haven't mentioned Ireland. This is something of an oversight, not least because the Irish will have you believe that they invented the stuff. They're hardly unique in this ...

Guinness Foreign Extra

Given that it's Saint Patrick's Day this weekend, it seems appropriate to seek out an Irish monster. So when I spotted this in the supermarket, it seemed like a clear sign from the beer gods. Here we have Guinness Foreign Extra. Unlike (I believe) the regular Guinness we get here in the UK, this ...

Jefferson's 17 Year Old Presidential Select

This week is one of the older bourbons I have in the cupboard, coming in at a respectable 17 years. The Presidential Select suffix, along with that age statement, has me expecting big things – will I be disappointed? This is Jefferson's 17 Year Old Presidential Select, a dram that promises a lot with ...

Chimay Blue

This week I continue my search for a readily available monster beer. While I try to maintain a cupboard full of big, interesting beers to enjoy I'm very aware that I spend an unhealthy amount of time in specialist beer shops and buying too much beer online. Less beer-obsessed people may be more ...

Fighting Cock 6 Year Old

I have to confess to being a little prejudiced against this week's bourbon before I opened the bottle. For a start, it's relatively young - only 6 years old - and although I know that you can have some great young whiskies (Kilchoman comes to mind), most of the time the longer a ...

The Kernel IPA 2010 Centennial

This week, I opened a bottle that I'd been looking forward to for quite a while – the last Kernel Brewery beer in the cupboard, and possibly my last for a while. I have always had a soft spot for The Kernel. I love the big flavours they pack in. I love the branding. ...