The other week, we had the good fortune to be heading to Glasgow for a rare chance to pick the brains and be entertained by Whyte & Mackay’s Master Blender and raconteur extraordinaire, Richard Paterson. Dubber was travelling up from Birmingham, and I came a short hop on the train to rendez-vous with him, and… Continue reading In The Lair Of The Nose
Category: Tasting
Shackleton, Benjamin and Baudrillard walk into a bar
A lot has already been written about the discovery, recovery and restoration of the cases of Mackinlay’s Rare Old Highland Malt that Ernest Shackleton took with him on an expedition to the South Pole over 100 years ago. It was buried under the ice for over a century, before being dug out and returned to… Continue reading Shackleton, Benjamin and Baudrillard walk into a bar
Glenmorangie Finealta
Recreating old whisky must be a tricky business. I can taste and smell things in a dram that seem to me to be the flavours and aromas it contains (or suggests). But to work the other way and engineer a whisky to capture subtle notes and undercurrents once contained by a whisky gone by takes… Continue reading Glenmorangie Finealta
Dalmore Castle Leod
The view from here So, if you’ve been wondering why the silence from this end of the whisky tasting operation, it’s because I’ve been busy renovating, selling and moving house. Something which automatically calls for a dram. The family and I have relocated to Fife. Rural enough without being remote, and fine for transport in… Continue reading Dalmore Castle Leod
Dalmore Rivers Collection: The Spey Dram
Photo by Junnn It’s worth noting that the collection has been created by Richard ‘The Nose’ Paterson, who is Whyte & Mackay’s talented (and world-renowned) master blender – and according to the blurb here, each expression is different and reflects the character of Scotland’s four greatest salmon rivers. I have to be honest here: I… Continue reading Dalmore Rivers Collection: The Spey Dram
Dalmore Rivers Collection: The Tweed Dram
Photo by christianvassdal Known as perhaps the best and most prolific of the salmon-fishing rivers, the Tweed River is both celebrated and supported by the release of the third of this series of Dalmore rivers collection bottlings: the Tweed Dram. A lighter and more delicate scotch than the previous two (Tay and Dee), this has… Continue reading Dalmore Rivers Collection: The Tweed Dram
Dalmore Rivers Collection: The Dee Dram
Photo by aldenchadwick The second in the series of the four Dalmore Rivers whiskies is the Dee Dram. Quite a different character to the Tay I tasted yesterday. It’s more bitter – not in an unpleasant way, but in the way that dark chocolate, espresso beans and walnuts are more bitter than cake. In fact,… Continue reading Dalmore Rivers Collection: The Dee Dram
Dalmore Rivers Collection: The Tay Dram
Photo by Jackal1 It’s not often you get charity whisky. And you wouldn’t necessarily associate your favourite dram with an ecological cause. But Dalmore have launched a series of whiskies specifically to raise money to protect Scotland’s rivers. It’s not the first time they’ve done this – the Dalmore Dee Dram was launched last year… Continue reading Dalmore Rivers Collection: The Tay Dram
Pre-Santa Fettercairn tasting
Seasons greetings, whisky enthusiasts and people who have stumbled across our blog by mistake while looking for something else entirely. We decided to squeeze in one more tasting before Christmas, partly because we’re not going to be in the same place at the same time for a few weeks, but mostly because we’d come into… Continue reading Pre-Santa Fettercairn tasting
I can’t go for that…
We got together for a bit of a pre-Christmas tasting. We started proceedings with a miniature bottle of 1975 Knockando (bottled in 1989 – so that makes it a 14 year old). The cork had all but disintegrated, and the level had dropped significantly, so we suspect that some of the alcohol had evaporated from… Continue reading I can’t go for that…