Birming-Dram

So, I'm going to come clean here...until last week I knew next to nothing about Blair Athol. I knew they were a Diageo owned distillery and I knew that they were an important part of the Bell's Blend but that was about it. However, as I was in the area, popping in to find out more (and get another stamp in my "Friends of Clasic Malts Passport") was an opportunity I couldn't miss! Blair Athol is one of the oldest distilleries in Scotland and stands in a lovely spot on the outskirts of the charming Pitlochry in the central Highlands region. We had a lovely drive across in the snow, down winding country roads and passing a frozen lake or two. When we finally arrived we were not disappointed! The distillery buildings are charming and our tour started in the original malting floor (long since defunct) before moving through the normal stages of the process. The distillery has a lauter mash tun, 6 stainless steel wash backs (they replaced the wood ones a few year...

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...

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...

This week my blog is all about Deanston. A little known and underrated distillery that produces great and varied highland malts. It all started a few weeks ago, I was staying up at Gleneagles and had some time to kill. I thought, how am I best using this time whilst is Scotland? Well, there's only one possible answer...visit a distillery! I started with Tullibarine, which is only a stones throw from the hotel but I missed the tour and they didn't seem keen on showing me much or letting me taste much. They did however suggest that a trip to Deanston was perfectly doable in the hour I had left until closing time. So, I bombed it down the A9 and across country to Doune, the pretty little town in which Deanston is located. Deanston are part of the Burn Stuart Group who also own Bunnahabhain and Tobermory. So now I can say I have a full house of their 3 distilleries having already visited the other two! I don't know what it is about Burn Stuart distilleries but ever...

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...

I was fortunate enough to be able to go along to my first tasting through the fabulous Birmingham Whisky Club this week. It was a fantastic evening hosted at The Wellington Pub on Bennetts Hill in central Birmingham. If you haven't visited the pub before I would strongly recommend it - great traditional atmosphere, lots of fab ales and most importantly, a healthy selection of great drams behind the bar! Our host for the evening was Lauren Mustard, Brand Ambassador for Chivas Regal. She did a great job talking us through the whiskies on offer, and we had some good ones! It was also great as a new blogger to meet some like-minded people, in particular fellow Birmingham whisky blogger Rob from the wonderful Dead Bottle Collective. Anyways, onto the whisky and my thoughts / tasting notes... The Glenlivet Nadurra First Fill Selection (RRP £45-£50) This is a no age statement (although I suspect quite young) cask strength offering from The Glenlivet Nadurra range. It's non-chi...