Whisky Posts

Jameson Twitter Tasting

It's St. Patrick's Day today, so what better way to celebrate than with some fine Irish whiskey. I've been lucky enough to be included in tonight's Jameson Twitter Tasting, hosted by the marvellous folks at The Whisky Wire. I've tasted Jameson's original level whiskey before (and rather liked it), so I'm eager to explore some of ...

A World Of Whisky At Pullman St Pancras

The area around Kings Cross & St Pancras has been transformed in recent years. It's increasingly hard to resist the temptation to pause there on the way home, be it for a quick drink at the tiny-but-full-of-great-beer Euston Tap, or a bottle-cupboard-filling diversion to Sourced Market. The Pullman London St Pancras Hotel offers another temptation, ...

Waitrose Speyside 10 Year Old Single Malt

Supermarket own brands are nothing new in the world of whisky, but I have to say they rarely look as smart at Waitrose's new range of own-label whisky. Produced in partnership with Ian Macleod, these three bottlings cover three Scotch whisky regions – Speyside, Islay and Highland – and are all priced around the ...

Harrods 25 Year Old Caol Ila

Despite living in London for nearly all my life, I have to confess that I've never been inside Harrods. My image of what they sell, therefore, is largely based on period drama TV shows where it's somewhere you send your manservant to pick up caviar for supper. This is probably no longer true. One thing ...

Springbank 18 Year Old

Springbank are the oldest independent family owned distillery in Scotland – unusual in an age when most of the familiar names are owned by a handful of global corporations. They are also (claim to be) unique in being the only distillery in Scotland to do everything on-site, from their own floor maltings right through ...

Laphroaig 10 Year Old Original Cask Strength

These days, everybody seems to have a loyalty scheme of one sort or another. My wallet has more loyalty cards in it than credit cards, and the schemes are mostly of the "spend a lot of money, get a tiny fraction of it back" kind. Laphroaig, with their Friends of Laphroaig program, do things ...

Nikka Tsuru 17

Nikka, Japan's second largest distiller, was founded by Masataka Taketsuru, the man generally credited with starting Japan's whisky industry. Perhaps as a result of Taketsuru's early training in Scotland, Nikka's style tends to be slightly more "scotch-y" than their rivals Suntory. This is Nikka's Tsuru 17, a whisky which is not readily available outside ...

Aberlour Twitter Tasting

The Whisky Wire are doing so well with their awesome Twitter Tastings, it seems they're spilling out of their traditional Wednesday evening slots so today is Whisky Monday instead. Aberlour is a Speyside distillery; both it and the village where it sits are named for the Lour, a spring which empties into the Spey right ...

Jim Beam Devil's Cut

Continuing my exploration of Jim Beam's range, it's interesting that they have focused more on bourbon-based drinks rather than the normal approach of producing a range of different aged or finished offerings. This is Devil's Cut, a 45% ABV bourbon with a twist. You may be familiar with the "Angel's Share" – the term ...

Nikka Black Clear

Nikka are one of the two major distillers in Japan (the other being Suntory) and they produce a range of both premium single malts and cheaper blends. This is Black Clear, a rather confusingly named whisky from their blended side. It's especially puzzling because it's neither black nor clear, but rather a fairly normal ...