Review Posts

Bowmore Mariner 15 Year Old

So, back to Islay and this time to Bowmore. I was lucky enough to stay right next door to the distillery the last time we were in Islay; there are few better places to be of an evening than looking across Loch Indaal with the Bowmore distillery behind you and Bruichladdich across the water. ...

Flying Dog Kerberos Tripel

Until now, pretty much every beer I've talked about here has been British. This is not because I believe that the rest of the world is incapable of making good beer – it's just that I have so many great British beers to choose from, I simply haven't got around to talking about ...

Aberlour 10 Year Old

Some whiskies in my cupboard were bought for specific reasons; recommendations from friends or because I knew and loved the area they came from. This week's whisky is not one of those. I actually bought this in my local supermarket because it was on special offer. It's a well priced 10 year old Speyside; ...

The Kernel IPA Double Black

The Kernel is a brewery I've enthused about before; they were the subject of one of my earlier Brewery Tours At Home and I've always loved their beer. Finding myself in the general vicinity of London Bridge recently on a Saturday, I took the opportunity to pop down to the brewery and pick up ...

The Macallan 12

This week we venture off the islands, and on to the mainland of Scotland, to Speyside. The Macallan Distillery sits on the banks of the river Spey and has been producing whisky there for nearly two hundred years; today's choice is a little younger than that! This is their 12 year old, matured in sherry ...

Marble Tripel

This week sees the start of a run of monster beers from breweries I know and love – in this instance Marble, who were the subject of one of my Tours-At-Home and were broadly judged to be lovely. So, when my regular online beer pusher – the now sadly departed Ales By Mail – mentioned ...

Laphroaig Cairdeas 2008

This week sees yet another whisky from Islay, this time from Laphroaig . Next door neighbour to Lagavulin, I tend to find the Laphroaigs on the lighter side of Islay, but without sacrificing that characteristic smokiness. Needless to say, I'm a big fan of them both! This is the 2008 Cairdeas, a special bottling ...

Dark Star Imperial

Dark Star is a Sussex based brewer that started life nearly 20 years ago as a brewpub and has grown to be a fairly large brewery – the second largest in the county - with an impressive range of beers. Sadly (for the bottle-buying drinkers) most of their production goes into casks, but a small ...

Bruichladdich Waves

This week's whisky is another Islay, this time a younger, easier drinking dram from Bruichladdich – the seven year old Waves. Fiercely independent since it reopened back in 1991, Bruichladdich produce an impressive range of different whiskies, which makes it hard to pin down their 'house style'. Waves is relatively lightly peated and is ...

Robinson's Brewery Tour-At-Home

Robinson's featured rather well in our recent Alcoholic Ginger Beer test, taking both first and third place in the 'beery' section of the review. So it seemed only sensible to grab hold of the rest of their bottled range and see what the brewery has to offer. They have quite an extensive range of ...