Situated on the North Eastern side of the island of Islay and home to one of the island’s ferry terminals is Port Askaig. And though not a Laphroaig, nor a Caol Ila or an Ardbeg in the sense that they don’t malt or distill their own spirits, this independent bottler takes advantage of their relationships…
Category: Review
Review : Tamdhu 12 YO
This month’s review continuous with an expression from the Tamdhu distillery, this one being the younger sibling of the 15 YO and a replacement of their core 10 YO. As is the case with all expressions from the distillery, this being no different, is aged exclusively in sherry oak casks, giving it full potential to…
Review : Hakushu Distiller’s Reserve
It’s that time of the year… Japanese January! And we begin the month with an expression from Suntory’s highest distillery, the Hakushu. Established in 1973 and comfortably nestled in the forests at the foothills of Mount Kaikomagatake, this ‘forest distillery‘ lies at a height of 700 metres above sea level, blessed with a unique micro…
Review : Rampur Sherry PX Finish
Slipping in another review towards the end of the year, this month’s tropical expression finds its roots from the Indian subcontinent, from one of the country’s oldest distillery – Radico Kaitan and its wing, the Rampur distillery. Though relatively new to the international single malt arena, the distillery does have a fair bit of experience…
Review : Glenfiddich Fire and Cane
I’ve always felt the Glenfiddich brand name lost on much of the encore it deserved and with each passing phase of the moon, the brand seemed comfortable, labelled as a safe but mundane startup single malt. I’ll be honest, the 12 YO in my opinion though might seem very average and non stellar is in…
Review : Gospel Solera Rye
An antique, vintage square shaped bottle, tinted in chocolate brown, with a narrowing neck, the Gospel Solera Rye brings with it a very distinct look, almost medieval like. Melbourne’s Gospel Distillers began their Single Malt journey with this particular expression, taking advantage of what parts of America and Australia have in common, a harsher climate…
Review : Amrut Fusion Vs Paul John Edited Vs Rampur Select
Following last months delve into the Indian Subcontinent, the first question that popped up in my mind was how the Rampur Select would stand against its more popular counterparts, the Amrut Fusion and the Paul John Edited. Now, all of these expressions were relatively new to the whisky world with each setting foot only a…
Review : M&H Elements Peated Single Malt
A growing demand for whisky in a land that imports all of its high strength liquor, got founder Gal Kalkshtein and a few technology centric folks thinking on how best to exploit such an opportunity while also building on a dream. It took around two years of research and heaps of patience to understand the…
Review : Rampur Select Single Malt Whisky
A rich royal heritage, bathed in culture and tradition, Rampur was a princely state that was granted a 15 gun salute by the British during their rule in India. The distillery was built in 1943 and is the oldest and fourth largest in India; built less that a thousand kilometres from the foothills of the…
Review : Talisker 10 YO
Rugged landscapes, narrow lochs, historic castles, green flora and a rich wild life are integral to the Isle of Skye, an island off the West Coast of Scotland. Better known is Talisker Bay or rather the distillery that takes the same name, the oldest working distillery on the island. Oddly enough, Talisker initially began producing…
Review : Bunnahabhain 12 YO
A whisky with all the traits of an Islay minus the trademark ingredient – peat!! The Bunnahabhain is the deviation distillery, founded in 1881 off the northeast corner of Islay, nested close to the Margadale River. This particular expression, the 12 YO has been around for over 41 years, launched first in 1979. The bottle comes…
Review : Launceston Tawny Cask
Another Aussie dram up for review, this one a native brew from the Shark Tooth shaped island of Tasmania! The Launceston distillery is the first legal distillery to be built out of Launceston ever since the Distillation Prohibition Act of 1839 was passed. Situated at the oldest aviation building at the Launceston airport; Hangar 17…
Review : Upshot Whiskey
Australian whiskies have always been inspired by their Scottish brethren; but laws governing the art of making whisky have not been as tight or rigid. The use of malted barley in their mash bill over other cereals isn’t as restrictive down under as is with Scotch and this so called freedom allows distillers to try…
Review : Tamdhu 15 Year Old
Situated along the River Spey, the Tamdhu distillery was founded in 1897 as a joint venture between several distilleries such as John Walker, John Dewar, William Sanderson, William Grant and a few others with the intention of supplementing some of their blends. But as was with several distilleries at the time, the balance between demand…
Review : John Walker & Sons XR 21
Nestled in a wooden enclave for a minimum of twenty one years, building character from the lure of American and European influences, this Scottish blend is born off a rich, five star heritage, that continues to evolve even after over two centuries of history. Backed by a global appeal that is second to none, the…
Review : Hibiki Japanese Harmony Master’s Select
Hibiki over the years have introduced several NAS bottlings as a replacement to some of their well established aged statements, largely owing to a reduction in existing reserves. The Master’s Select being one, was one of their earlier releases, introduced at Travel Retail sometime towards the end of 2015 just after their Harmony release. Both…
Review : Compass Box The Story of the Spaniard
I hadn’t made my monthly stops for a while now due to covid restrictions with most of my existing reserves depleting, some just fumes. This led to a less than regular run to the local liquor store, with the desire to pick up something unusual though not necessarily unique. And what caught my eye was…
Review : Nikka Taketsuru Pure Malt Whisky
The Nikka Taketsuru Pure Malt is a tribute to Japan’s whisky God, Masataka Takesuru who helped build the distillery and much of the Japanese whisky landscape we know of today. This pure malt, aka vatted malt or modern day ‘blended malt’ is a marriage of pot stilled malts from its Yoichi and Miyagikyo distilleries. The…
Review : Laphroaig Quarter Cask
A fraction of the size of a standard cask, the Quarter Cask adds gold, literally, to the whisky that is housed in the cask, owing to the larger wood to whisky interaction. This unorthodox maturation technique was almost forgotten; but rekindled by the folks at Laphroaig in the hopes of introducing another poster boy, who…
Review : Copper Dog
A name quite distinct, that it hardly resonates with whisky or anything closely related to it…or does it? The Copper Dog is a sneaky little contraption, born out of humanity’s oldest emotion – greed. The Copper Dog is a copper tube that is soldered with a coin on one end and a cork to seal…
Uisce Beatha | My Whisk'e'y Diaries 