The Malt Cask

I set off on my whisky journey over 5 years ago now. My first stop was Islay and it's peat. I went round the island's distilleries before heading to mainland peat and French peat. I followed peat with sherry; moved on to blends and blended malt and progressively extended my interest to the wider whisky/whiskey horizon. So where do I go next? Independent bottlers is one path I want to continue exploring. The other one is older whisky. However, older whisky can mean two things: older in terms of age statement or older in terms of distillation date. And that is when it starts getting a bit trickier, firstly because these bottles are much rarer to come by, secondly because even if you can find them, they will be rather expensive. So when I come across a new company which prides itself in sourcing, opening and sharing these older/rarer bottles, I am bound to be interested. https://cheaperbythedram.co.uk/ The company in question is called Cheaper by the Dram. It was created...

The Cadée Distillery, have you ever heard of it before? I hadn't until they got in touch with me via Instagram a few weeks ago. Being French, the first thing I noticed was the accent in the name and thought it could be a new French distillery but a quick online search took me across the pond to the USA and more particularly to the Island of Whidbey in the state of Washington. A little more research showed me that Cadée isn't linked to France but instead the Gaelic word for 'pure' and that the distillery was opened in 2015 by Colin Campbell, a Scotsman passionate about whisky. So it's a young distillery, but what do they produce? They have a small range of products with two Bourbons, two Rye whiskeys and one American whiskey. They also produce some gin and some vodka, so actually not such a small range for a 5 year-old distillery. The distillery started with the Bourbons and Ryes before adding the American whiskey to their range in 2018. For both Bourbons an...

When you think about whisky, what country comes to your mind? Scotland, of course, the USA, Ireland, yes, but would you think England? Probably not. However, as I discovered with many other countries (France included!) there is whisky produced in England as well. In my experience however, not all English whisky is that great yet. The only one I have actually enjoyed is the whisky produced by the Cotswolds distillery. A few weeks ago, I got a message on my Instagram profile from a communications agency inviting me to visit a new distillery in London which had just past the 3 year mark in their whisky production. This distillery was Bimber. I had never heard of them before and asked for more information as getting down to London was not easy. A few days later. I found a parcel at my door with a very neat tasting set inside. And after a few busy weeks, I finally managed to find time today to sit down and get these 6 seals broken. Before I get into the samples in detail, what ...

I have realised I have not posted anything on the blog for a month now, so it is about time I do something about it. As I attended a tasting session yesterday evening, I thought that would be a good way to get back into it. As usual, the tasting took place at the Whisky Shop Manchester and the theme for the night was "Peated whisky". Now for people who say they don't like peated whisky, they should really say they don't like noticeably peated whisky as pretty much every single whisky is peated to a certain extend (unless clearly labelled "unpeated" on the bottle) Of course in lots of single malts, it is barely noticeable. We had 6 bottles on the line up and tasted them as follow: 1.   Inchgower 2008 , single cask bottled in 2016 by Hunter Laing, First Editions series, 46%. Nose and palate were very spirit driven in my mind, I could really tell it was quite a young whisky, lots of fresh citrus, spices and biscuit notes. Not my favourite o...

In case you haven't yet realised, I tend to spend a fair bit of time at the Whisky Shop Manchester. That is pretty much where my whisky journey started over 2 and a half years ago. The guys there are very knowledgeable, they are passionate about whisky and incredibly friendly. I have now purchased quite a few bottles from there and attended many of their tasting sessions so I decided over a year ago to become a member of their W Club. The membership was great for the first year as it allowed me to benefit from 10% discount on all purchases from the store (both shop and online). I renewed it at the end of 2016 and unfortunately, they have a relaunch on the club which no longer gives members access to 10% off everything. However, members now have access to great offers every Wednesday as well as free tasting sessions every months, so for £20/year, you cannot really go wrong.  The W Club member tasting was on Friday and the line-up was quite interesting: 1. Glenkeir Treasures -...

After a quiet fortnight because of work, I am back with the account of the Bruichladdich tasting I attended on Monday. I do not normally tend to go to tasting sessions during the working week, but I made an exception this time as it was a Bruichladdich special, and I thought I might get to try some of their latest 10 year-old releases. It was run by their brand ambassador Abi Clephane and was held at the Whisky shop Manchester. We were presented with four bottles originally before two more appeared. Abi was, in my mind, what a good brand ambassador should be like: very enthusiastic, passionate about the whisky and what the distillery stands for, full of stories and anecdotes about the people who contribute to the elaboration of the amber nectar, without forgetting to mention a good measure of "terroir"! Abi Clephane - Bruichladdich brand ambassador The night started with their entry bottle, the Classic Laddie, a very solid unpeated dram made from barley exclusively gro...

I had not been to a tasting session for a couple of months so when I realised there was a blind tasting on in Manchester, I had to sign up for it. It is actually the second blind tasting I attended at the Whisky Shop. The first one was in February and revealed some interesting whiskies, in a positive way for the cheaper Cutty Sark Storm, which I genuinely believed was a single malt, or in a less positive way such as the Glenfarclas 2000 vintage bottled for the Whisky Shop, which I found rather disappointing. The added twist on Saturday's session however was that Phil, who conducted the tasting, didn't know either what had been decanted.  I think that once who've got a bit more into whisky and have tried a few different bottles coming from different regions (or countries), a blind tasting session is a great way to test your nose and palate, taking your knowledge out of the equation. No previous checks on the region, the distillery, the ABV, the fact it is a blend, grain, ...

Something I haven't really done on the blog so far is review Japanese whiskies. In my mind, prices have gone through the roof in the last couple of years and for £100, I'm sure I can get something more exceptional than a 12 year old Japanese whisky... The only bottle I own is one my parents brought back from France a couple of Christmases ago and that is the All Malt from Nikka. I will review it in another post but it does lead me nicely to today's post which is about the Nikka tasting I attended last week at the Whisky Shop Manchester (I know, there once again! I must say I do not work for them or get anything back apart from more knowledge and experiences of whiskies I would not have got to try any other ways). The tasting was conducted by Stefanie Holt from the Nikka Company and involved 6 whiskies from their range, from grain to single malt to blend to pure malt. Here is the line up: 1. Nikka Coffey Grain Whisky 45% 2. Miyagikyo Single Malt 45% 3. Yoichi Single...

Being on holidays allows me to attend a few more tasting sessions at the Whisky Shop Manchester. I was there last Saturday for their "new release" session, and on Wednesday again for their Japanese session, which I will present in a future post.  Today is about the 5 new releases that we got to try last Saturday, and here was the line-up: 1. The Loch Fyne Living Cask Batch 4 (43.6%) 2. Inchmurrin 12 years old (46%) 3. Glen Ord 11 years old Hepburn's choice single cask  (46%) 4. Glen Scotia Double Cask (46%) 5. Ardbeg Dark Cove (46.5%) Out of these 5, Dark Cove is the one I was most looking forward to as I got to try the Committee release at the distillery and really enjoyed it. We started with the Living Cask from Loch Fyne. The idea for the Living Cask is that the company started with a vat of single malts, took 1/2 to release as batch 1 and topped up the vat with fresh single malt, and repeated the process for batch 2, 3 and now 4. In case you ...

I was lucky enough to be one of the very few customers invited last week for a special tasting session of two amazing and rather rare blends from a company called The Last Drop. And even better, the tasting was conducted by Beanie Espey, Sales and Marketing Director of the company, but also daughter of James Espey, one of the two founders of the The Last Drop Distillers Limited. The Last Drop was created in 2008 thanks to the passion and experience of two men, Tom Jago and James Espey. These "spirits pioneers" spent their entire careers in the spirits industry, developing products which have now become leading brands across the globe (Johnnie Walker Blue Label, Chivas Regal 18,  The Classic Malts, Malibu or Baileys Irish Cream) Reaching the point when most people would have decided to call it a day and retire, they thought it was time for a new beginning. Their philosophy for this new enterprise was very simple: looking for rare casks, casks which had more than likel...

I haven't really mentioned many of the tasting sessions I attended at the WhiskyShop Manchester since the Old and Rare one at the end of November. I was there a week ago for a customers' favourite session which was rather busy and had some decent bottles for us to try (anCnoc 12, Benriach 10, Old Pulteney 12, GlenDronach 12, Bunnahabhain 12 and we finished on the Loch Fyne Living cask -a peated vatted malt- served with some blue cheese, which announced the theme for this weekend). I was back again this Saturday, this time for my first whisky and food pairing session. 5 bottles on offer and 5 (bite-size) food to go with them. So let me tell you more about what we got to try and mix together. The first dram was Woodford Reserve's Straight Rye, served with a glacé cherry and mint leaves. I think they wanted to try a somehow deconstructed "Old Fashioned" cocktail. For me, the Woodford was the star of the night and the combination of cherry and mint worked a...