Birming-Dram

So, as promised I said it wouldn't be as long until my next entry and I have lots to tell you about over the next few blogs! A few weeks ago I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the TWE Whisky Show in London and I thought I'd take a bit of time today to tell you about it. For those of you who are unacquainted with the show, it's the largest whisky show in the UK. This year there were somewhere in the region of 150 exhibitors there from the world of whisky plus a few extras from complementary industries such as salmon and cheese! Basically anyone who is anyone to do with making whisky is in attendance from distilleries to independent bottlers. It's a great opportunity for anyone to come along and try something they haven't tried before either because they haven't had the chance or moreover because it's new. There are over 600 whiskies to choose from. Pretty good, right? The show has been greatly expanded this year and there is now a whole ...

OK...first can I start by saying I am a massive Ardbeg fan. If it wasn't for Ardbeg 10 I doubt very much I would be a peated whisky obsessive. And Uigeadail has to be in my top 5 whiskies of all time. I feel like I should get that out of the way before I launch into this. You, can't win them all... Ardbeg An Oa was released last month to much fanfare (as everything Ardbeg always is). It is a very important dram as it is the first new addition to Ardbeg's core range for over a decade (they have been having a fine old time with excellent, if expensive special releases over the last few years). It is clearly a statement of intent from the guys here to add something different to their range. For me though, in doing that I feel it lacks a bit of what makes Ardbeg great. OK, before I launch into my opinions on this one, let's start with some facts... The name An Oa comes from the Mull of Oa – the most southerly point of Islay. It's bottled at 46.6% ABV with an RRP...

I love Tobermory!  Everything about this distillery is great. I know it's not producing at the moment as they are renovating  but I have heard nasty rumours that renovations = mothballed. I really, really hope not! I visited Tobermory back in November during my last distillery visiting trip north of Hadrian's Wall. It was a very, very wet day when we set off from our base on Loch Awe to Oban then on the ferry to Mull. Mull is an amazing place...very beautiful, with stunning countryside which looked amazing even in the November rain! We headed straight up to Tobermory as time was limited and it wasn't quite birdwatching weather! After an epic pizza with goat's cheese and haggis at The Mishnish pub (highly recommended) we headed off for our tour! Tobermory distillery is tiny! I can't quite believe how they manage to fit all that kit in there! The distillery has shrunk since its heyday as some of the warehousing was sold off for apartments.  The ma...

So for my latest blog entry I fancied something snappy on a topic close to my heart - the wonderful whisky island of Islay! Join me for a quick trip around all 8 Islay distilleries with a handy guide on what to expect from each - particularly useful as a quick intro if you are unfamiliar with Islay. There's notes on the 'house style' of each (although of course each distillery produces a variety of expressions), and I have also added in some recommended drams that shouldn’t break the bank and should be relatively easy to get hold of, intended to give you a great example of what each distillery does really well. So here goes... The Unpeated One - Bunnahabhain House style - Fresh and salty It often surprises people that Islay produces a non-peated malt and whilst Bunnahabhain do produce a smoky dram or two, by far the majority of their output is of the unpeated kind. But overlook these guys at your peril. They produce some great whiskies, especia...