Birming-Dram

Know someone who loves their whisky? Not sure what to buy them for Christmas and have a limited budget to spend? Here are my top budget whisky picks for the festive season! Around £30 Aberlour 10 You can pick this little gem up for £25 without too much trouble. If you want a good all-rounder that everyone can enjoy, you can't go too wrong with this dram. It's a classic Speysider! Lot's of sweet ripe fruit and toffee notes in here with a healthy dab of woodiness thrown in for good measure. Well balanced with the mix of finishes (ex-bourbon and sherry) creating a very mature and fulfilling dram for the price point. Should be on every whisky-lover's shelf! Laphroaig 10 Do you know someone who loves peated whisky and you don't know where to start? Take it from me that every peat lover would be delighted to receive a bottle of Laphroaig 10. For most people this is their entry into the world of peat and it still stands up well against the rest. Again, the ...

OK, so I have been looking for quite some time for a whisky under £40 that truly blew me away. For a long while I was left wanting...until now! This whisky is simply sublime! Benromach first launched their wood finish range back in 2014 with initial bottlings finished in Hermitage and Chateau Cissac wine casks. I missed out on this first batch, but fear not, they are back and I was fortunate enough to get my hands on a bottle of the latest Chateau Cissac bottling at The Whisky Show earlier this year. Now, as readers to my blog will no doubt be aware, I am a sucker for red wine and port finishes. Especially on young whiskies as I really feel like the combination of immature whisky and big red wine / port flavours creates the perfect mix. I was on to a winner here before I even began! Chateau Cissac is a winery in the Haut-Médoc area of the Bordeaux wine region of France and produces some particularly fine wines. You can find out more about it here: http://www.chateau-cissa...