The Malt Cask

I popped into my local supermarket about a week ago and was very surprised to come across a bottle of Glen Scotia I had not seen or even heard of before. Its name, Campbeltown Harbour. A quick look online and apart from on the official Glen Scotia website, it is nowhere to be seen, so I guess this is a new release. Now what is it exactly? Well I guess it is a new entry point in the range as this is the first Glen Scotia I find which is bottled at 40%. Also, unlike the Double Cask -where it is clearly stated on the packaging- this one doesn't seem to be unchillfiltered, which makes for a slightly disappointing start.  The maturation of the spirit has been done using first fill Bourbon barrels so expect a decent amount of vanilla sweetness. As I have been rather blown away by all the bottles I have tried from the distillery in the last couple of years, I thought I would give it a go. So as I mentioned above, the Campbeltown Harbour is bottled at 40%, I suspect chillfilter...

As a kid, I remember my dad's particular dislike for whisky, probably because the bottles he had -given to him as presents- were not quality spirit. However, when he started venturing into the world of single malt over 15 years ago, the first bottle he ever got was a Knockando 12 in a wooden presentation box, before moving to Talisker 10 and Laphroaig 10. I have no recollection of the taste of this Knockando 12, but it is a name which stayed with me. Knockando is a Speyside distillery founded in 1898 and the name means 'little black hill'. It is not to be confused with the Knockdhu distillery which produces anCnoc single malt. Knockando is used mainly in blended whisky such as J&D and tends to be aged using ex-Maker's Mark and Jack Daniels casks. It is owned by Diageo and seems to be widely available in Frence but not so much in the UK. Knockando is also one of the rare brands to release their single malt as vintages or 'seasons' as they call them. ...

It's been a while since I had some peat back on the blog so let's change that today with one of the last bottles I have opened: Ardbeg 10 years old. I actually bought this bottle one if not two years ago and never really got round to opening it. I must say with about 30 bottles opened in the cabinet, I had to establish a bit of rule: kill a bottle to be able to open another one. However, I am reaching the stage where a few of my bottles are running very low which means I can open some of those which have been on the shelves for a while. So why Ardbeg 10? The first reason is that I am running a little low on peat. I finished Caol Ila 12, Lagavulin 8 and when I pour the last dram of Kilchoman Machir Bay, I thought I needed to replenish some of the peat stock. Ardbeg 10 is also one I tried a couple of times in the past but it didn't leave a particularly strong impression on -me unlike the Uigeadail. It was therefore time to give it a proper chance, and boy did it not disa...

I was talking to my dad on the phone the other day after he just had a Caol Ila 12. As the conversation went on to Bourbon, I told him to try the Blanton Gold Reserve that I left at theirs at Christmas, which he did. He did not rince his glass with water before pouring the Blanton's but was very pleasantly surprised to have whiffs of peat smoke on top of the sweet and spicy Bourbon. This gave be the idea to mix one of my Bourbons (or rather some Tennessee whiskey!) with one of my Islays.  The two bottles I chose were my Jack Daniel's Single barrel and my Kilchoman Machir Bay (of which I have barely any left). I wasn't really sure of what to expect but it turned out to be one of the best if not my best experiment so far! I went for about 60% Kilchoman and 40% Jack Daniel's so the mix should be around 45.6%. Nose: Sweet and vegetal with honey, vanilla and spicy fruit, and oaky, earthy, vegetal peat notes running alongside.  Palate: Sweet and spicy fi...

I have just posted a video on youtube with my updated whisky collection. It only covers the bottles which I have opened so I might have to release another one soon to update the 'to-be-opened' bottles!

Keeping to my New Year's resolution of buying older/independent bottles, here is my first purchase of 2018, and it ticks both the older (20 years old) and independent (Càrn Mòr) boxes. I actually didn't go out and spend £130 blind as this is a whisky I had in Glasgow a few months ago and really enjoyed. As it is a single cask bottling, there are only 581 bottles out there and having looked for it online, it didn't seem there were many left around. I was therefore very amazed to come across one in one of my local spirits shops in Manchester, and as it was there, I could not help myself. I bought it and 10 minutes later it was opened. So what is it? It is from a not very well know distillery called Clynelish. Many people have heard of Brora as it has been closed for a few years and the bottles available on the market now fetch quite a lot of money, well Clynelish is its still-working sister distillery. It is part of the Diageo group and mainly releases a 14 years old as a...

Before starting with today's whisky, I would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year, hoping 2018 is full of good things for us all! I would also like to thank you for following my whisky journey on the blog as well as on my Instagram page @themaltcask. My resolution for this year is fewer bottles but more from independent bottlers and older ones if I can! So let's start the first post of the year with a slightly older whisky from a distillery I have not really reviewed on the blog: Glenfarclas and its 21 year-old single malt. Glenfarclas have got quite a following as it is one of the only distilleries in Scotland still family run. They also focus essentially on ex-Sherry casks for the maturation of their single malt and these casks are laid to rest in one of their 28 on-site warehouses.  I have tried a few Glenfarclas in the last few years, but none really struck me apart from the 15 years old which I really enjoyed. The 12 wasn't bad, the 105 was okay too but th...