Whisky Reviews

Whisky: An exquisite distilled spirit crafted from fermented grains, aged to perfection in barrels, delivering a complex blend of aromas, flavours, and a warm, lingering finish.

The water of life; the king of the spirit world. Flavours from the wood, from the terroir and even from the fire.

Just don't add ice to it.

Sláinte!

We also have a whisky list which lists every whisky review on the site, broken down by country, region and distillery.

Islay Mist Deluxe

Region:	Islay
Country:	Scotland
Abv:	40.0%

Continuing this mini series of anonymous Islay bottlings, this week we have Islay Mist Deluxe – which could either be a whisky, or a new paint colour. It's a nice pale straw in the glass. The nose is light, almost floral with a grapefruit citrus feel to it – not entirely what Islay conjures ...

Berry Bros & Rudd Titanic Single Malt

Country:	Scotland

The RMS Titanic set sail on her maiden voyage from Southampton on the 10th of April 1912. On the 15th of April 1012, she hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic Ocean and sunk. Of the 2,224 passengers and crew, only 710 survived. It remains one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in ...

Smokehead 18 Year Old Extra Black

Region:	Islay
Country:	Scotland
Abv:	46.0%

I'm a sucker for smoke in my whisky, so something with a name like this is always going to catch my eye – well aged, smoky and black, how could it fail to appeal to an Islayphile? You may be forgiven for assuming from the name that this was going to be a ...

Bunnahabhain 12 Year Old

Distillery:	Bunnahabhain
Region:	Islay
Country:	Scotland
Abv:	40.0%

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 ...

Evan Williams Extra

Distillery:	Evan Williams
Region:	Kentucky
Country:	USA
Abv:	43%

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 ...

Jefferson's 17 Year Old Presidential Select

Region:	Kentucky
Country:	USA
Abv:	41.2%

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 ...

Jefferson's 17 Year Old Presidential Select

Fighting Cock 6 Year Old

Distillery:	Heaven Hill
Region:	Kentucky
Country:	USA
Abv:	51.5%

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 ...

Woodford Reserve

Distillery:	Woodford Reserve
Region:	Kentucky
Country:	USA
Abv:	43.2%

After mentioning it in last week's post, it only seems right to give the bottle that re-introduced me to bourbon a post of it's own. A couple of years ago we were on holiday with a friend who had spent some time in the States and on noticing this in the local supermarket, ...

Old Fitzgerald 1849

Distillery:	Old Fitzgerald
Region:	Kentucky
Country:	USA
Abv:	45.0%

Another step in my exploration of international whiskies takes me to the US, home of bourbon. I have to confess that my introduction to bourbon was about as rocky as my introduction to scotch – in this instance it was a miniature of Jim Beam in a fresher's pack at university. I obviously drank ...