Whisky Birmingham (Part 2)
OK, so as promised in my previous post, there is plenty more to say about my wonderful experience at Whisky Birmingham!
Living Room Whisky
After the assault
on my senses that was Kilchoman and Glenfarclas, I thought I'd better grab some food. I had pizza courtesy of
the fabulous Peel and Stone. Check these guys out, the food was fantastic! From
here I went in search of a way to spend my dream dram token (1 token each with entry tickets to spend on something a little special). I came across the
very small and understated stall of local Birmingham whisky bloggers Living
Room Whisky and I caught sight of a bottle that can only mean 1 thing...tall and slim, crafted to mirror the shape of a piece of peat dug out of the ground...yes that's right, Octomore!!!
It's no great surprise that Octomore is held in a special place in my heart. I know that it is a firm favourite of nearly all whisky fans. I really believe this to be a truly special dram and have done since I first tried it at Bruichladdich over 2 years ago. I was designated driver that day...big mistake!Everyone else had a great time trying all the expressions (they are really generous in the tastings at Bruichladdich) whilst all I could do was smell them. Needless to say, I spent a fortune in the shop and the rest, as they say, is history!
So, the bottle that I caught sight of to spend my dream dram on was Octomore 10 years. A whisky I had wanted to try for some time. So, that was that, I was set to spend my dream dram tokens on this then...but wait, there's more. Living Room Whisky had somehow managed to get hold of a special bottling of the latest whisky to have caused a furore from Bruichladdich. Octomore OBA. I had read about this whisky earlier in the week and how quickly it had sold out, so much so that the website had crashed. So to have the opportunity to try some of this using our dream dram token was definitley not to be missed! We were not disappointed!
So, I took myself off, away from the main tasting hall, with these two Octomore's in hand to really get stuck into these two sublime whiskies.
First up was the Octomore 10YO and may I say what a well rounded whisky this is. The extra years in oak creates a really sublime finish that is sweeter than the average Octomore but still packs a punch. For me this creates almost the missing link between the Port Charlottes and the rest of the Octomore range. Great stuff!
Next was the main event of the Octomore OBA...what a great whisky this truly is. It has a sweetness to the palate that is reminiscent of Christmas cake with a hint of honey on the finish. Definitely the sweetest Octomore I have tried and a welcome addition to the range (if you can get hold of it). It was a tough call as to which of these I preferred. Both were really special and I was so pleased to have been able to try them. Massive thanks to Living Room Whisky for making this possible!
Other Highlights
I tried a cornucopia of other great whiskies over course of the rest of the afternoon including a firm simple favourite in Aberfeldy 12 and the always delightful Aberlour a'bunadh. I also tried the Penderyn Peated expression but I'm still yet to make sense of this whisky and their love of light spirits in Madiera finishes. Maybe one day...
I also had the chance to tuck into a few whiskies that I hadn't tried before including the fabulous Kavalan. I know what you are thinking...Taiwanese whisky, are you sure? But trust me on this, they really know what they are doing here. I only tried one of their standard expressions, The Concertmaster and was really impressed. It's such a well balanced whisky. The port cask finish gives a rounded nature to quite a sweet whisky. Think dried fruits on the nose followed by vanilla and caramel. Highly recommended.
After Kavalan I tucked into the full range offered by Port Askaig whiskies who are independent bottlers of Islay single malts. We all spent a lot of time trying to guess the distilleries which was fun! We reckon we got there by the smile on the face of the person pouring but I'll keep that a secret. Overall though, some really nice whiskies in that range, especially for the price . Try them if you come across them.
So, the bottle that I caught sight of to spend my dream dram on was Octomore 10 years. A whisky I had wanted to try for some time. So, that was that, I was set to spend my dream dram tokens on this then...but wait, there's more. Living Room Whisky had somehow managed to get hold of a special bottling of the latest whisky to have caused a furore from Bruichladdich. Octomore OBA. I had read about this whisky earlier in the week and how quickly it had sold out, so much so that the website had crashed. So to have the opportunity to try some of this using our dream dram token was definitley not to be missed! We were not disappointed!
So, I took myself off, away from the main tasting hall, with these two Octomore's in hand to really get stuck into these two sublime whiskies.
First up was the Octomore 10YO and may I say what a well rounded whisky this is. The extra years in oak creates a really sublime finish that is sweeter than the average Octomore but still packs a punch. For me this creates almost the missing link between the Port Charlottes and the rest of the Octomore range. Great stuff!
Next was the main event of the Octomore OBA...what a great whisky this truly is. It has a sweetness to the palate that is reminiscent of Christmas cake with a hint of honey on the finish. Definitely the sweetest Octomore I have tried and a welcome addition to the range (if you can get hold of it). It was a tough call as to which of these I preferred. Both were really special and I was so pleased to have been able to try them. Massive thanks to Living Room Whisky for making this possible!
Other Highlights
I tried a cornucopia of other great whiskies over course of the rest of the afternoon including a firm simple favourite in Aberfeldy 12 and the always delightful Aberlour a'bunadh. I also tried the Penderyn Peated expression but I'm still yet to make sense of this whisky and their love of light spirits in Madiera finishes. Maybe one day...
I also had the chance to tuck into a few whiskies that I hadn't tried before including the fabulous Kavalan. I know what you are thinking...Taiwanese whisky, are you sure? But trust me on this, they really know what they are doing here. I only tried one of their standard expressions, The Concertmaster and was really impressed. It's such a well balanced whisky. The port cask finish gives a rounded nature to quite a sweet whisky. Think dried fruits on the nose followed by vanilla and caramel. Highly recommended.
After Kavalan I tucked into the full range offered by Port Askaig whiskies who are independent bottlers of Islay single malts. We all spent a lot of time trying to guess the distilleries which was fun! We reckon we got there by the smile on the face of the person pouring but I'll keep that a secret. Overall though, some really nice whiskies in that range, especially for the price . Try them if you come across them.
We also had the pleasure of meeting the wonderful Ian Buxton, author of 101 Whiskies to Try Before you Die. What a lovely man he is, taking the time to chat to us, sharing stories about Islay and Campbeltown and some of whiskies in his book. We bought an updated edition of his book and got it signed. Some great recommendations in there for trying the full breadth of what whisky has to offer. You should pick up a copy if you haven't done so already.
The rest of the festival gets a little hazy I must confess. I had a few drams of Glen Scotia, which I always enjoy and have done since my visit last year (more about that in a subsequent blog). I tried some Loch Lomond whisky which I must confess was better than I had expected, tried the peated Amrut and even found the time for some rum!
I will not attempt to review the latter whiskies as I am not sure I will do them justice!
Overall though, a great day was had by all, tried some amazing whisky, met some lovely and like-minded people and ate some great food. What more could a man want. I'll definitely be back!
Hope you all enjoyed this second installment. More fun to come in my next blogs including reviews of some of my all time favourite whiskies and stories of my trips to Campeltown, Islay and beyond!
Until next time, sláinte!
The rest of the festival gets a little hazy I must confess. I had a few drams of Glen Scotia, which I always enjoy and have done since my visit last year (more about that in a subsequent blog). I tried some Loch Lomond whisky which I must confess was better than I had expected, tried the peated Amrut and even found the time for some rum!
I will not attempt to review the latter whiskies as I am not sure I will do them justice!
Overall though, a great day was had by all, tried some amazing whisky, met some lovely and like-minded people and ate some great food. What more could a man want. I'll definitely be back!
Hope you all enjoyed this second installment. More fun to come in my next blogs including reviews of some of my all time favourite whiskies and stories of my trips to Campeltown, Islay and beyond!
Until next time, sláinte!
Love the Octomore! I must admit, since moving to Japan, I've been to a few whisky bars here and have yet to find anything resembling the amazing quality of Octomore or Lagavulin. Would love to hear your thoughts on how Japanese whiskies differ from their Scottish counterparts.
ReplyDeleteHi Nick, Great to hear from you and glad to see that you are still sold on my recommendations! In terms of differences between the two, when it comes to malts they are very similar. Most of what the Japanese do they learned from the makers of scotch. There will be subtle differences as the water and barley will be different plus the influence of climate will be more pronounced. They key for you I guess is that as you like peated whisky, this is just harder to come by in Japan. I must confess to never having tasted a heavily peated Japanese whisky. If you find one and like it, let me know as I'd love to try some!
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