Review: Clynelish Distillery Exclusive Single Malt Bottling 2019

Posted on 4 December 2019 by Steve Prentice

Clyenlish Distillery Exclusive 2019Info: Matured in a mixture of American ex-bourbon and rejuvenated casks. 6000 bottles available, bottled at 48% ABV. No age statement.
Colour: Natural looking, light straw. You’d hope no colouring here.
Nose: Clean, clear and slightly salty, with gentle wooden dunnage notes and plenty of sweet green ripe fruits among soft waxy hints.
Palate: Bursting with green and red apples and an oily waxyness. It’s warm and tingley on your tongue, with gentle heat and some spice building. Overall it’s nicely sweet and fruity with oaks to back it up.
Finish: The finish at first seems short but quickly comes back with a longer warm sweet fruit and malt note that sticks aronud for a while.
After: It turns more orangey, orange jelly, marmilade. Christmassy!
Thoughts: A slighty sweeter Clynelish than often found, but that suits my pallate just nicely! I really enjoy this dram, snap one up if visiting.
Availalbe: At the distillery, £90 a bottle. Continue reading →

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Drinks by the Dram Advent Calendars Time

Posted on 21 November 2019 by Steve Prentice

Advent 2019 Whisky

Santa Claus is coming to town. Bells are jingling. And Drinks by the Dram Advent Calendars are back for the festive season at Master of Malt!

It’s like a bit of a tradition now, right? But with December powering it’s way towards us at a rate of knots you best get cracking and buy one soon if you’re planning to!

With loads of different ones to chose from (not just whisky!) here’s the link! https://www.masterofmalt.com/advent-calendars Continue reading →

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Review: Jura Time & Tide: Two 21 year olds

Posted on 25 October 2019 by Steve Prentice

Jura Time and Tide

Jure Time and Jura Tide

“A Pair of 21 Year Old whiskies shaped by time, eroded by tide.”

Jura has released two permenant additions to it’s range, a pair of 21yo whiskies; both are non-chillfiltered, just how we like them. ‘Tide’ should be available at your usual specialist whisky retailer, where as ‘Time’ is travel retail only (i.e. airports). What are the differences? Let’s take a look at them…

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Review: Diageo Special Releases 2019

Posted on 16 October 2019 by Steve Prentice

Diageo Special Releases 2019

Diageo Special Releases 2019

Once again the time of year has come where Diageo launch their Special Releases.
Let’s have a look at them with my thoughts on the range…

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Review: Glengoyne Teapot Dram Batch 6

Posted on 10 January 2019 by Steve Prentice

Glengoyne Teapot Dram Batch 6Glengoyne Teapot Dram Batch 6 – 59.3% abv

Info: “Strictly limited [until the next batch!] release of just four first fill sherry butts and two first fill sherry hogsheads.”
Colour: Medium dark rusty autumnal sunset.
Nose: Plenty of sherried autumn fruit notes, but still a nice sprightly element to this. Sherry outside in a cool autumn shower. Hints of nuts amongst soft creamy vanilla toffee.  Notes of heathery honey. Strong, but not closed, full of flavours wanting to escape with nice rounded wood tones.
Palate: Strong, almost hot, but just backing off enough to remain easily enjoyable while letting flavours flow. It’s really oily, flavour packed; there’s plenty of lush autumn fruits, malty oils and hints of dark chocolate.
Finish: Fresh, fruity, warming and long. Hints of youngish cask wood at the back adding some weight to the dram (in a good way).
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Review: Big Peat Christmas 2018

Posted on 13 December 2018 by Steve Prentice

Big Peat Christmas 2018Big Peat Christmas 2018 – 53.9% abv

A Christmas tradition here at Somerset Whisky Blog HQ (and I suspect for many others as well), is a love for the Big Peat Christmas edition. This year’s edition is out, and there’s still time to grab a bottle before the big day!

Here’s my thoughts…

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News: Drinks by the Dram 2018 Advent Calendar selection

Posted on 25 October 2018 by Steve Prentice

Drinks by the Dram 2018 Advent Calendar selection

xmas 2018 gin calendarIt’s that time of the year where some of us vaguely start to ponder the coming festive season (others prefer to ignore it till December 24th!). When it comes to whisky, there’s a couple of things I like to now consider traditions, and the Drinks by the Dram Advent Calendar selection is one of them for sure! So here’s the info of what’s available in the 2018 range…

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News: Douglas Laing Mark Their 70th Anniversary With A Twist

Posted on 19 October 2018 by Steve Prentice

RRM with a Twist 10 Years Old BottleDouglas Laing Mark Their 70th Anniversary With A Twist

Family owned Scotch Whisky specialist, Douglas Laing, continue to mark their Platinum Anniversary with the release of a commemorative Remarkable Regional Malts bottling.

The Company was established by Fred Douglas Laing in 1948. 70 years later, Douglas Laing is regarded as one of the most innovative independent spirit businesses, owned and run by 2nd and 3rd generation family members. This latest release certainly reflects the Company’s desire for innovation and creativity.

The “Remarkable Regional Malts – With A Twist” bottling encompasses Single Malts from all of Scotland’s Whisky producing regions, representing the various brands in the range. Aged for 10 years, bottled at 48% alcohol strength and offered without colouring or chill-filtration, the resulting Whisky reflects the very best of Scotch Malt Whiskies.

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Review: Steel Bonnets

Posted on 12 October 2018 by Steve Prentice

steel bonnets whiskySteel Bonnets: Blended Malt Whisky

Info: From The Lakes Distillery comes the first ever blend, so the press release says, of English and Scottish malt whiskies, Steel Bonnets. The blend is a combination of The Lakes Single Malt from England and some of the most respected malts from north of the Border. Awarded a gold medal in Spirits Business’ Luxury Masters Awards. 46.6% abv, non chillfiltered, non coloured.
Colour: Golden with a hint of autumn rust.
Nose: An interesting nose that is vibrant and flavourful. There’s some instant sweetness to the nose, possibly showing distillery character from younger (Lakes?) spirit. There is a dollop of sweetened cream with green and red fruits on the nose with smokey hints as a backdrop.
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Review: Deanston Decennary 50th Anniversary

Posted on 21 September 2018 by Steve Prentice

deanston decennary bottleDeanston Decennary 50th Anniversary – 46.3% abv

Info: Deanston Decennary 50th Anniversary is a marriage of four different casks; Whisky refil from 1977, American Oak from 1982, Port Pipe from 1996 and Pedro Ximenez from 2006. 1400 bottles available exclusively at the distillery. Natural colour, un-chillfiltered.
Colour: Summer gold with a hint of autumn rust.
Nose: The nose here is really autumnal. There’s hints of sharp, cold, clean rain on malt. There’s a bowl full of simmered down autumn fruits with a spoon of thick cream dolloped on top. There’s a nuttyness that’s coming from the casks. You can tell there’s some well aged malt here, but it’s well integrated and keeps a nice natural balance of the malts.
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