Whisky Posts

Red Stag Black Cherry

Red Stag is a range of "spirit drinks" produced by Jim Beam. Essentially, they are flavoured versions of their regular bourbon, but the fact that the bottle is careful to avoid calling the drink "bourbon" – presumably for legal purposes – makes me briefly hesitate about including them in a Whisky Wednesday. However, it's my ...

Jim Beam Bourbon

As I've mentioned before, my first exposure to bourbon was Jim Beam, courtesy of a fresher's pack at university. I didn't exactly give it my full attention back then, and to be honest my tastes were still more aligned to Hooch than spirits so it's fair to say I didn't fall in love with ...

Balcones Twitter Tasting

When I think of American whisky (or whiskey – the jury would seem to be out on this one), I generally think of Kentucky and Tennessee, and maybe a few other states in that middle band of the country. Where I certainly do not think of is Texas. Surely they're too busy pumping ...

Basil Hayden's Kentucky Bourbon

It's always nice to get a phone call from your beloved. It's especially nice when she's calling from the airport at the end of a business trip to let you know she's about to come home to you. The only thing that makes it better is when she's calling you up to ask ...

Feis Ile 2013

As you may have noticed from the flurry of whisky posts, the end of May saw Feis Ile, the music and whisky festival on the sparkling Hebridean island of Islay. A small island with eight distilleries squeezed onto it, all flinging their doors open and welcoming the hoards inside. I blogged each open day ...

Double Irish Coffee

Irish Coffee has to be the perfect drink for a blog dedicated to beer, coffee and whisky; a sweet, whiskey-augmented coffee with cream floating on it that looks more than a little like a beer! To celebrate Saint Patrick's Day, I've decided to push the Irishness up to 11, by making this Double Irish ...

Jameson Irish Whiskey

With the approach of St Patrick's Day on Sunday, it seems appropriate to go for an Irish Whiskey this week! This is the standard Jameson Irish Whisky, albeit in a slightly fancier label than normal. It's pretty widely available in supermarkets everywhere, and very keenly priced at a shade under £20 a bottle. Despite only ...

Bruichladdich Twitter Tasting

I've been lucky enough to have taken part in two twitter tastings before, and they have been excellent fun. When The Whisky Wire announced that they were doing one with Bruichladdich, I leapt at the chance to be involved. Bruichladdich is an Islay distillery, but their style is generally less peat-heavy than other distilleries there (although ...

Suntory Royal

As memories of Japan fade, this week sees the last of my collection of miniatures I picked up when visiting the Yamazaki distillery last year. This is Suntory Royal, a blended whisky that seems to have a varied past. I've come across mentions of Royal bottlings with age statements ranging from 12 to 60 years, ...

Bowmore Twitter Tasting

Bowmore is one of the eight active distilleries to be found on Islay, the Hebridean whisky heaven. Not only do they make some rather special whisky, they also have a very pretty looking distillery at sunset. I'm quite a fan of Bowmore – we even stayed in one of their cottages when we were last ...