Hello World and Whisky Birmingham (Part 1 - Kilchoman and Glenfarclas)
Hello World!!!
So...here I am then. Blogging for the very first time and about one of my all time favourite topics. whisky!!!
Writing a blog on all things whisky is something that I have been thinking about doing for a very long time, not least so that I can remember everything I have experienced related to this wonderful drink!
On here I hope to share with you all my whisky-related experiences, be that travelogue type posts on trips I have made to distilleries or tasting notes on whiskies I have tried. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I will enjoy writing it.
Whisky Birmingham
So, where to start? I think it's only fair that I start at the event that inspired me. My trip this last weekend to Whisky Birmingham. Whisky Birmingham is an event that has been running for the last 5 years and is organised by The Birmingham Whisky Club. It took place in The Bond in Digbeth. The perfect place for such a festival with the beautiful Victorian industrial architecture evoking a sense of the origins of whisky production.
There were some true heavyweights of the whisky world in attendance (The Macallan, The Glenlivet, Highland Park to name but a few) but also (and for me the best bit) there were some of the smaller boys there too. Along with these was a selection of bottlers, bloggers and Mr 101 Whiskies himself, Mr Ian Buxton!
The problem with letting me into a whisky festival is choice. There is simply too much of it! So many drams that I want to try. Far more than 1 man can consume in a day, although I must admit I did my best! For this reason, some of my tasting notes on whiskys I tried will be sketchy at best, nonexistent at worst but hey, what is whisky for if not for drinking?
Kilchoman
There was only 1 place I was ever going to start the festival and that was of course Kilchoman. I am so incredibly fond of Kilchoman, I love the way they do things up there, getting right back to the spirit of making whisky and most of all I adore their whiskies. I already have quite a few Kilchomans in my collection (a subsequent blog will go into this i am sure) so skipped a lot of what they had to offer. I did start with a favourite mind you...the wonderful 100% Islay! This is such a beautiful, delicate and well balanced whisky with just enough peat so you know it's there but not so much as to overpower the pallet. I'll go into more about this whisky at a later date but needless to say it was a great place to start!
After this I moved on to try something I hadn't tasted before. Their heavily sherry-cask influenced Sannaig. It's great that they have added an all year round sherry-influenced offering to their portfolio (to go alongside Machir Bay etc) as Loch Gorm (100% sherry casks) is such a sublime whisky but is only available in such limited releases. I am frightened of finishing my current bottle of Loch Gorm so I may well invest in a bottle or two of Sannaig for my cupboard for when I feel the Kilchoman sherry urge. Using the vatting of both sherry and bourbon casks in this whisky creates a really great, well balanced dram. The peat is enhanced and rounded off well by the sherry casks but the lightness of the spirit itself still makes its presence felt. Wonderful stuff!
Glenfarclas
This was something I was very excited about! I had tried very little of the full Glenfarclas range but what I had tried (the classic 10 YO and infamous 105), I really liked. The opportunity to try the full offering side by side was really terribly exciting!
Starting off with the 10 YO you really get the sense of what this whisky is all about. It is a silky sweet dram which has just enough complexity to keep it interesting without too much so as to challenge the drinker. The guy at the stall described it as a "Breakfast Whisky". I couldn't agree more. A great all-rounder reminiscent of some of the finest younger Speysiders (the old Macallan 10YO springs to mind, my favourite dram when I started getting into malts "proper"). A great start!
Moving on to the 15YO and here things really start to get interesting. The fact that all Glenfarclas' whiskies are matured in sherry really makes itself apparent here. It's a truly lovely dram. Think bonfire toffee or treacle, just a hint of smokiness combined with a fantastic sweetness. Lovely!
I tried the 21YO after this not expecting anything to topple the 15YO but somehow this managed it. There is a reason why this whisky is lauded by many, not least of all in Ian Buxton's 101 Whiskies book. The extra sweetness that comes through from the further 6 years in wood is quite simply sublime. It is well rounded and super rich. It's a proper mouth coater with notes of sweet butterscotch and fudge. The finish is long, lingering and sweet. I will have to buy me a bottle of this ASAP.
So, where to go from here, could the 25YO compete? Unfortunately the answer was a resounding no. Don't get me wrong, it's still a great whisky but I don't feel you are gaining anything for the extra 4 years and I certainly don't feel like it's worth the extra cash. Stick to the 21YO and you won't go far wrong. It's still a great dram, but for me where it fell down was the finish. It dissipates in the mouth really quickly and you don't get any of those lovely sweet notes that the 21YO offers. For me this whisky is proof (if any were needed) that age isn't everything!
Finally, we had to end on the 105. This cask-strength big hitter polarizes people, but I absolutely love it. I tried it for the first time a couple of years ago in my local (the wonderful Plough in Harborne, if you haven't been, go there...great whisky selection and fab food too!). This whisky is like an explosion in the mouth, the sweetness of the others is there but the power from the youth of the spirit and the cask strength really add another level and take away some of the saccharine qualities of it's more mature stable mates. Like an insolent teenager, this whisky will fight with you one minute but be all sweetness and light the next. And deep down, you know you love it. At the price this goes out at I encourage everyone to go out and buy a bottle today!
Right, I think that will be all for today. There is plenty more to come from me, including Whisky Birmingham Part 2 (featuring such delights as Kavalan, Amrut, Glen Scotia and something extra special from Living Room Whisky). I really hope you have enjoyed this my first Birming-Dram post and will come back for seconds soon!
Until next time, sláinte!!!
So...here I am then. Blogging for the very first time and about one of my all time favourite topics. whisky!!!
Writing a blog on all things whisky is something that I have been thinking about doing for a very long time, not least so that I can remember everything I have experienced related to this wonderful drink!
On here I hope to share with you all my whisky-related experiences, be that travelogue type posts on trips I have made to distilleries or tasting notes on whiskies I have tried. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I will enjoy writing it.
Whisky Birmingham
So, where to start? I think it's only fair that I start at the event that inspired me. My trip this last weekend to Whisky Birmingham. Whisky Birmingham is an event that has been running for the last 5 years and is organised by The Birmingham Whisky Club. It took place in The Bond in Digbeth. The perfect place for such a festival with the beautiful Victorian industrial architecture evoking a sense of the origins of whisky production.
There were some true heavyweights of the whisky world in attendance (The Macallan, The Glenlivet, Highland Park to name but a few) but also (and for me the best bit) there were some of the smaller boys there too. Along with these was a selection of bottlers, bloggers and Mr 101 Whiskies himself, Mr Ian Buxton!
The problem with letting me into a whisky festival is choice. There is simply too much of it! So many drams that I want to try. Far more than 1 man can consume in a day, although I must admit I did my best! For this reason, some of my tasting notes on whiskys I tried will be sketchy at best, nonexistent at worst but hey, what is whisky for if not for drinking?
Kilchoman
There was only 1 place I was ever going to start the festival and that was of course Kilchoman. I am so incredibly fond of Kilchoman, I love the way they do things up there, getting right back to the spirit of making whisky and most of all I adore their whiskies. I already have quite a few Kilchomans in my collection (a subsequent blog will go into this i am sure) so skipped a lot of what they had to offer. I did start with a favourite mind you...the wonderful 100% Islay! This is such a beautiful, delicate and well balanced whisky with just enough peat so you know it's there but not so much as to overpower the pallet. I'll go into more about this whisky at a later date but needless to say it was a great place to start!
After this I moved on to try something I hadn't tasted before. Their heavily sherry-cask influenced Sannaig. It's great that they have added an all year round sherry-influenced offering to their portfolio (to go alongside Machir Bay etc) as Loch Gorm (100% sherry casks) is such a sublime whisky but is only available in such limited releases. I am frightened of finishing my current bottle of Loch Gorm so I may well invest in a bottle or two of Sannaig for my cupboard for when I feel the Kilchoman sherry urge. Using the vatting of both sherry and bourbon casks in this whisky creates a really great, well balanced dram. The peat is enhanced and rounded off well by the sherry casks but the lightness of the spirit itself still makes its presence felt. Wonderful stuff!
Glenfarclas
This was something I was very excited about! I had tried very little of the full Glenfarclas range but what I had tried (the classic 10 YO and infamous 105), I really liked. The opportunity to try the full offering side by side was really terribly exciting!
Starting off with the 10 YO you really get the sense of what this whisky is all about. It is a silky sweet dram which has just enough complexity to keep it interesting without too much so as to challenge the drinker. The guy at the stall described it as a "Breakfast Whisky". I couldn't agree more. A great all-rounder reminiscent of some of the finest younger Speysiders (the old Macallan 10YO springs to mind, my favourite dram when I started getting into malts "proper"). A great start!
Moving on to the 15YO and here things really start to get interesting. The fact that all Glenfarclas' whiskies are matured in sherry really makes itself apparent here. It's a truly lovely dram. Think bonfire toffee or treacle, just a hint of smokiness combined with a fantastic sweetness. Lovely!
I tried the 21YO after this not expecting anything to topple the 15YO but somehow this managed it. There is a reason why this whisky is lauded by many, not least of all in Ian Buxton's 101 Whiskies book. The extra sweetness that comes through from the further 6 years in wood is quite simply sublime. It is well rounded and super rich. It's a proper mouth coater with notes of sweet butterscotch and fudge. The finish is long, lingering and sweet. I will have to buy me a bottle of this ASAP.
So, where to go from here, could the 25YO compete? Unfortunately the answer was a resounding no. Don't get me wrong, it's still a great whisky but I don't feel you are gaining anything for the extra 4 years and I certainly don't feel like it's worth the extra cash. Stick to the 21YO and you won't go far wrong. It's still a great dram, but for me where it fell down was the finish. It dissipates in the mouth really quickly and you don't get any of those lovely sweet notes that the 21YO offers. For me this whisky is proof (if any were needed) that age isn't everything!
Finally, we had to end on the 105. This cask-strength big hitter polarizes people, but I absolutely love it. I tried it for the first time a couple of years ago in my local (the wonderful Plough in Harborne, if you haven't been, go there...great whisky selection and fab food too!). This whisky is like an explosion in the mouth, the sweetness of the others is there but the power from the youth of the spirit and the cask strength really add another level and take away some of the saccharine qualities of it's more mature stable mates. Like an insolent teenager, this whisky will fight with you one minute but be all sweetness and light the next. And deep down, you know you love it. At the price this goes out at I encourage everyone to go out and buy a bottle today!
Right, I think that will be all for today. There is plenty more to come from me, including Whisky Birmingham Part 2 (featuring such delights as Kavalan, Amrut, Glen Scotia and something extra special from Living Room Whisky). I really hope you have enjoyed this my first Birming-Dram post and will come back for seconds soon!
Until next time, sláinte!!!
Good start. A lot here that I've not even heard of! My whisky of choice was always a Glenmorangie, but I've recently defected to the "island" malts. Cherishing a bottle of 16 yo Lagavulin, and enjoying the 10yo Ardbeg. I really liked the Ledaig, was available at £18 a bottle at one time, but now a silly £38. Should have invested in a crate!
ReplyDeleteBut the real bargain at the moment is Ardmore, a lightkly peated whisky and available for £20 in supermarkets..
Johnny Toblerone.
Great to hear from you Johnny! Glad you liked it. It's all about peated for me and I love Ardbeg and Lagavulin. Islay is such a beautiful place too!
DeleteI got me a bottle of the cheaper Ledaig last year and they are still available at that price here and there as non age statement malts. Great for their age. We visited Mull last year and visited the distillery. Lovely place!
Welcome to the blogosphere Birming-Dram.
ReplyDeleteLike the name.
Had a great time at Whisky Birmingham.
Whiskey Nut
Hi Whiskey Nut, thanks for the post. Great to be here, lovely to connect with other whisky fans out there. Hope to see you at another event soon!
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