Craigellachie 2006 Celebration of the Cask Review

Hi everyone,

Won't be able to post for a while I'm getting married on Saturday.

I know, I know. Congratulations, commiserations, etc.

So this is the last one for a couple of weeks. One from my Scotland stag that I'd managed to miss out.

Craigellachie 2006 Celebration of the Cask 57%

Nose: Malty, nutty, oaky and musty all wrapped into one. Nice balance.

Taste: Intense, soft arrival, then building malt and oily spice. Black pepper. Very powerful and a little too spicy.

Finish: Long length. Black pepper and more oils

Bottled for 10th anniversary of the whisky shop Dufftown. That nose really doesn't give away the powerful and spicy taste, but really good one.

76/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #426

Whisky Network Review #473

Network Average: 74.6

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 44

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Caol Ila 2003 & 2007 Signatory UCF Reviews

Hi everyone,

Two Caol Ila's from me today, both exclusives from Belgium (the last ones I promise!).

Caol Ila is a hugely adaptable whisky. It can be good young, great old. Soft or smoky, medicinal or sweet, powerful or light.

 

Caol Ila 2003 Signatory 55.4%

Colour: Gold

Body: Full

Nose: A very maritime Caol Ila. Almost fishy, coal smoke, low tide aromas, campfire, very spirit driven and all the better for it. Salt coated fish, baked sea bass. Sausage rolls and petrol with water.

Taste: Salty hit, very maritime, seaweed, then some sweetness with honey then more smoky and lovely mineral notes. Coal, iodine, oily. Some petrol with water, but thinner. Loses the mouth feel.

Finish: Medium length. Mineral then some more smoke.

Bottled 2015 for the Nectar. A great nose, taste doesn't quite follow up to it.

75/100

Caol Ila 2007 Signatory 46%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Immediately lighter, younger and fruitier. Estery, smoky pear, green apple, maritime, kelp.

Taste: Young esters and a bit thin, then lovely smoky maritime kelp and low tide stuff.

Finish: Medium length. Much better with white pepper then nice mineral smoke.

An exclusive for various whisky shops. A very nice finish on this one but noses young.

70/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Reviews #424-#425

Whisky Network Reviews #471-#472

Network Average: 74.6

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 44

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Dailuaine 2002 G&M Connoisseurs Choice Review

Hi everyone,

Dailuaine is an interesting distillery as it's an obscure one but is pretty important to Diageo and has stepped into the role Cardhu was playing in the Diageo blends, mainly Johnnie Walker.

Not only is it a distillery but also the main waste processing plant for all of Diageo's Speyside distilleries.

This one is an indie from a time when Dailuaine was using steel condensers rather than copper, they swapped back to copper in 2006.

I don't know if all their stills used the steel condensers as they have 3 pairs but this one tasted like it could be...

Dailuaine 2004 G&M Connoisseurs Choice 46%

Colour: Light Amber

Body: Medium

Nose: A bit spirity, slightly sulphury Sherry, Cherry, only a little mango.

Taste: Soft, a bit unyielding actually, a little cherry, some Sherry, some spice, then a little sulphury.

Finish: Medium length. Some rubbish coffee and rubbery Sherry.

From Sherry hogsheads. Those sulphury notes are suggesting to me that this one could be from steel condensers but then again, it could the Sherry Hogsheads. Anyway, a little too rubbery at this age. Would love to see this whisky at 30 years old though!

65/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #423

Whisky Network Review #470

Network Average: 74.6

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 44

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Edradour 2011 Marsala Hogshead Signatory UCF Review

Hi everyone,

Today I've got a whisky from Edradour. Signatory's small distillery doesn't have the best reputation but those that like their weird and whacky whisky, often love it.

I haven't had enough experience with Edradour to comment too much, only having had the 10yo and a single cask Ballechin.

Let's see about this one. It's been fully matured in a Marsala Hogshead for 6 years.

Edradour 2011 Signatory Marsala Matured 46%

Colour: Dark Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Lots of orange, a little yeast, heather, bread, the Marsala wine comes through.

Taste: Soft and spicy start, orange, some yeast, more spice comes in with some dry oak, ginger then a bit weird with burnt plastic and unburnt plastic.

Finish: Medium length. Plastic-y, orange, weird.

Quite similar to what I imagine the Tamnavulin from last review would taste like at 46%. A strange one.

61/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #422

Whisky Network Review #469

Network Average: 74.7

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 44

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Tamnavulin NAS Review: Return of the Swamp!

Hi everyone,

After all those exclusives (more to come), this one is very readily available and cheap. I think it's on deal at the moment for £22...

I've only tried one Tamnavulin before and it wasn't the best experience I've had with a whisky... cough swampy cough

This is the first official bottling they've done for a long time, because it's their 50 year anniversary.

The distillery was actually closed from 1995 to 2007 and I would assume all the whisky in this one is post-closure (let's hope anyway haha, that 1993 was terrible!)

 

Tamnavulin 40%

Colour: E150a

Body: Light/Medium

Nose: Thankfully not swampy, lots of orange, heather, honey.

Taste: Light, a bit thin but orange and heather, some spice, a little weird off note in the background, burnt plastic?

Finish: Medium length. Heather spice but a little weird off note and chocolate.

So this was finished in Sherry casks, and although you get a bit of chocolate, you don't get much of the usual Sherry flavours. Much more heather and orange, but the weird notes make it a bit odd.

59/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #421

Whisky Network Review #468

Network Average: 74.7

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 44

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Tobermory 10 Review

Hi everyone,

I've got a whisky I've been eager to try today, Tobermory 10. The reason? Because I love Ledaig, which is peated Tobermory. I'd only tried the 15 year old Mory before and hadn't liked it, so I was interested to see whether I would like this version.

 

Tobermory 10 46.3%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Floral, sharp and sour. Sour green apple, light malt, austere, some pastry and vanilla.

Taste: Sweet hit then sour with green apple, very sour, deanston-esque, some pastry and vanilla.

Finish: Short/Medium. Oaky then fading sour apple.

The resemblance to Deanston is striking, they seem very similar in style to me (as in, unbalanced). While Deanston is sappy and sour, this is rather feinty and sour. If you like sour flavours, you might like it. I can't believe the same spirit makes the wonderful Ledaig as well. Perhaps Tobermory, much like Ledaig, is better with the independent bottlers?

65/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #420

Whisky Network Review #467

Network Average: 74.8

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 44

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Mortlach 2008 Signatory Cask Strength Review

Hi everyone,

More exclusive whiskies for Belgium today. Actually, exclusive to one small whisky shop in Belgium...

Why is it useful to review whiskies like these, you ask?

Glad you asked, well often independent bottlers will buy a batch of casks from a distillery and release them at different times. Yes, each one will be different but also similar in style. There will undoubtedly be more 2008 Mortlach from Signatory.

Mortlach 2008 Signatory Cask Strength for Dim's Drams 60.4%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Very clean, light, very floral, young gummy bears, some perfume, lemon soap, cleaning spray, urinal cakes.

Taste: Very clean, slightly soapy but floral and perfumed. Lemon soap, cleaning spray, oily with a little oak.

Finish: Long length. More floral with some oils staying.

A very floral and somewhat soapy Mortlach. You can really see where those musky cologne notes come from in older Bourbon matured versions. None of the meatiness you'd get from a Sherried one.

71/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #419

Whisky Network Review #466

Network Average: 74.8

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 44

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Ardmore 2008 Berry Bros & Rudd Review

Hi everyone,

Ardmore is a distillery I've just started to really discover in its true glory, thanks to the independent bottlers.

This one in particular is young and bottled exclusively for Belgium.

Ardmore 2008 Berry Bros &Rudd for The Nectar 46%

Colour: Straw

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Full of dirty smoke, slightly sulphurous with Parmesan cheese (literally never had that in a whisky before then I get two on the same day!), clean spirit, some malt, slightly earthy.

Taste: Clean arrival, youthful, green apple, then powaaar! big big smoke, very peaty, slightly medicinal, some salty seaweed.

Finish: Medium/Long. Salty and still very peaty.

A bit of a young peat monster this one! Good stuff but still very young, would have loved to have seen it after a few more years.

74/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #418

Whisky Network Review #465

Network Average: 74.8

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 44

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Redbreast Lustau Review

Hi everyone,

Another Irish review today.

Haven't been too keen on the Irish stuff I've tried so far (only 13 mind you!!), with my highest score being 82 for a single Sherry cask Redbreast.

This one is also a Redbreast, also Sherry so hopes were high.

Redbreast Lustau 46%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Marzipan, Sherry, raisin, Cherry and dirty orange, almond and hazelnut.

Taste: Quite rich but soft, slightly oily, orange, slightly rubbery Sherry and cherry. Then some marzipan and almond.

Finish: Medium length. Cherry chewy sweets then some chocolate and dry oak spice.

Sherry finish NAS. It has potential but never quite comes together with enough balance. Also feels slightly generic as a Sherry finish. Funnily enough I preferred the Glendalough 7yo to this by a hairs width. Just a little more character maybe.

68/100

Thanks for reading!

Irish Whiskey Review #13

Whisky Network Review #464

Network Average: 74.8

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 44

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?