King’s beer, Feni, beaches, shacks, psychedelic trance parties…all popular nouns, most if not all of the one billion strong would associate with Goa. But hidden away like a needle in a hay stack is a little known secret, the presence of an underdog whose venture into the Single Malt’s world would not exceed beyond the number…
Author: Donnie
Fun loving, adventurous and an introvert on a journey exploring a new found interest: Whisk'e'y!
Review : Yamazaki Distiller’s Edition
A year later and I acquaint myself with yet another expression from the Suntory Yamazaki Distillery, the Yamazaki Distiller’s Reserve – a gift presented by a close family friend on a recent visit to Japan. The Distiller’s Reserve is the distilleries first venture into the NAS space which also occupies a spot now in its core…
Review : Teeling Small Batch Whiskey
Shades of red, orange and yellow danced around the creature; its final hours marked by smoke, dust and burning embers blemishing the skies above. What was once loud cries have now been silenced and all that is left is but a heap of ash, a few spots of gold and a dancing trail of smoke….
Review : Johnnie Walker Double Black
Great whisky does not have to be top dollar; and to amass a number worthy fan following doesn’t require it to be a single malt either- The Johnnie Walker Black Label. This blended scotch has successfully captured the Highlands and the West Coast with decent complexity without really drilling a hole in your pocket, and…
Review : Auchentoshan Springwood Single Malt
Distillers and distilleries alike have had their fair share of bankruptcies, sell offs, acquisitions and buy outs; and though not many, several of them have stood through the sands of time – Auchentoshan (pronounced Ock-un-tosh-un) being one such example. The distillery was set up in 1823 by John Bullock, a local merchant. Five years past…
Review : Glengoyne 12 Years Old
A Highland whisky with a Lowland stroke – standing tall, the Glengoyne 12 Year Old. This distillery is borderline Highland almost brushing shoulders with the virtual boundary that separates it from the calmer, more temperate Lowlands. While much of the fermentation and distillation is all up north, the warehouses where the young spirit is matured…
Review : 100 Pipers Blended Scotch Whisky
The sound of bagpipes as it cut through the cold, dark, intense and hostile air; the myriad of black polished boots clickety clacking against the earth in unison. White socks, kilts, sporrans, bagpipes – a hundred that marched leading the militia towards war; a piece of history that has inspired and made its way into…
Review : Smokehead Islay Single Malt Scotch
“What kills a skunk is the publicity it gives itself.” – Abraham Lincoln The approach has rather worked on the contrary for the folks at Ian Macleod distilleries, especially in the case of one specific bottling – The SmokeHead. To the novice drinker, the name might cause one to think of a pot addict in…
Fun Facts – Japanese Whisky
In continuation to our whisky fun facts write up, I thought of including another post that involves a genre that had critics and distillers alike left in awe, jaws dropped and taken aback. The awards were almost always ‘reserved’ for the Scots and the Irish, but all heads turned towards this entrant from the East…
Review : The Singleton of Glen Ord 12 Years Old
The roar of motor race engines, the layers of tyres stacked one over the other, the hustle of the pit crew gripping jacks and bald tyres, the buzz of wheel guns and the garbled chatter from walkie-talkie machines – a composition, each like notes of a symphony. The long fuel pipes, the nuts, bolts, oil…
Whisk’?’y – Fun Facts!
From time to time, I get asked a few queries regarding whiskies and everything around it and so I thought it best to take some time out and pen some content around these queries themselves! I’m hoping you find this pleasant and insightful! *fingers crossed* 1. Whisk’?’y -To ‘e’ or not to ‘e’ ?! To start with,…
Review : 100 Pipers 12 Years Old
A friend of mine had recently travelled to the US on business, and had got me a bottle of Bushmills 10 YO for my review. While making a trip nearby, he thought of handing over the bottle instead of me having to do the travel. I had recently changed jobs and the meet turned out…
Review : The Glenmorangie Original
It’s surprising how the mind and the many plethora of human senses perceive an event that takes you back a few decades. In this specific instance, it was the scent of dust as it gets lifted off the earth with every drop of rain hitting the arid, seared soil. So much did this sound of…
Review : Vat 69 Black
Every once in a while you stumble across something that stays camouflaged in the background but just for that instance gets caught in your field of vision. And though it might not always be a high dollar spirit, the act of discovery itself manifests an interest that draws you to pour yourself a dram and…
Review : McDowell’s Single Malt
Whiskies are so much of an unexplored and unappreciated lot that it took me over a decade to realize what I was really missing. The outlook the world over has matured and continues to do so with more and more people appreciating the drink; not to mention distillers going beyond just age and ingredient in…
Review : Teacher’s Highland Cream
It all started in the early 1830s when William Teacher began making blends and selling them at his grocery store. After he was granted a license in 1856, he opened a ‘dram shop’ and with time, the number of such establishments grew to eighteen. Although there were several of his blends sold over the counter,…
Review : Cutty Sark Blended Scotch Whisky
A lot can happen over coffee they say…and in the case of the Cutty Sark, it happened over lunch between Francis Berry, Hugh Rudd (partners of Berry Bros. & Rudd) and James McBey. The idea was to introduce a whisky that could be mixed into a cocktail or sipped as an aperitif, a move from…
Review : Glenlivet 12 YO
At a time when liquor was produced illegally and the need to push against all the competition meant licensing the means to produce spirits – George Smith an illicit distiller formed the first licensed Distillery in the parish of Glenlivet, the year being 1824. The Glenlivet is one of the few that survived the Great…
Review : Black Dog ‘Centenary’ Black Reserve
The Centenary, the youngest expression from the Black Dog family has had some stage presence in India for quite a while and though distilled and aged in Scotland, it is imported and then bottled locally. This effectively brings down the import customs considerably making them not only pocket friendly but also enabling cash registers to…
Review : The Famous Grouse
The ‘Famous Grouse’ came to life in 1905, and was known as the ‘Grouse Blend’ prior to being renamed. Much of the blends existence can be attributed to almost a century ago in 1800, when Matthew Gloag, a native of Perth, Scotland started his establishment, ‘Matthew Gloag & Son’. A grocer and a wine merchant…
Uisce Beatha | My Whisk'e'y Diaries 