Review Posts

Paul John Batch 1

I'm delighted to see that That Boutique-y Whisky Company doesn't just stick to Scotland, and here we have our first international whisky of the season - from India, of all places. Having previously been impressed by Paul John's whisky, I'm eager to see what TBWC can offer! Paul John Batch 1 is a marvellously dark dram, ...

TBWC Arran Batch 3

The joy of a whole advent calendar of whisky to explore is that every day brings a surprise, whether it's something never tried before or an old friend. Today is somewhere inbetween the two; I've previously tried today's whisky's younger brother, so it will be interesting to see if I enjoy this batch as ...

TBWC Deanston Batch 2

Deanston is a relatively young distillery by scotch standards, having been set up in 1967 and so a little less than 50 years old. It was set up in a cotton mill that had closed its doors two years earlier, which explains the rather unique look of the place - it's one of ...

TBWC Blended Malt No. 1 Batch 1

December is somehow already here, which means that once again I get to share a month of wonderful whiskies with you all, courtesy of the magnificent Advent Calendars from Master Of Malt. After last year's bourbon-filled calendar, this year I have That Boutique-y Whisky Company's Advent Calendar to explore. I've reviewed a few drams from ...

Palmers Brewery Tour-At-Home

Today's Tour is another Dorset brewery, but at the other end of the brewing spectrum from our previous brewery in the county, 8 Arch. Beer has been brewed on the Palmers Bridport site since 1794, although it didn't take on the Palmer name until the 19th Century. Today it is run by the 4th generation ...

Ginevra Espresso Bar

Another coffee from Italian roaster Ginevra this week, and definitely a more Italian style one. On a side note; to expose the depths of my lingual ignorance, I nearly thought this coffee was called 'Macinato'. It was only thanks to the power of Google Translate that I realised at the last moment that this ...

8 Arch Brewing Company Brewery Tour-At-Home

It's always good when a long weekend in the country involves enough spare time to hit a few local breweries. After our visit to Dorset earlier this year courtesy of holidaycottages.co.uk I returned with a decent haul of beers from the county, including a set from a new (to me) brewery, 8 Arch Brewing. 8 Arch ...

Kilchoman Loch Gorm 2013

As regular readers will know, I'm a big fan of Islay whiskies. And one of my favourite distilleries on that island is Kilchoman. Established in 2005 and - for now - the youngest distillery on Islay, every year brings new whiskies to their range and every whisky tastes better than the last! Loch Gorm is ...

Reads Coffee Kenya Thiriku AB

We're back to Dorset-based coffee roasters Reads Coffee today, this time from their 'Origins' range - although at the time of writing, this particular coffee has been replaced with one from another area of Kenya. Kenya Thiriku AB comes from the central region of Kenya; Thiriku is a co-operative based just outside the town of ...

Ginevra Miscela Special

Italians take their coffee quite seriously. Some years ago we were visiting a friend in Italy and when we stopped in a coffee shop for a late morning cuppa, I made the mistake of asking for a cappuccino. He flat-out refused to order it, because it was "the wrong time of day" to be ...