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Whisky recommendations?

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Just arrived 🙌 😍

Certainly a bit of difference there. As dark as rum.

This is the unfiltered cask strength version @ 61.3% which you can get a bottle of for the same price as the ordinary run if you sign up to their newsletter. plus £5 off and free delivery. £60.

If it wasn't so early in the day I'd be trying it already. Out of all of the whisky I tried last year this is one of the ones I've enjoyed the most.
 
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I decided I fancied an Old Fashioned or two this evening with the rugby, and went to Sainsburys to get some bourbon.

Strangely, they had no bourbon or rye, but as I was looking around for a substitute my eye fell on this:

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A Welsh single malt.

I figured that I was going to mix it with sugar and bitters anyway so if it was a dog it wouldn't matter much, and the fact that it was on offer (£27 down from £37) helped.

It's very good. So far I've had 4 drams and not mixed it yet. It's 46% and tastes a wee bit rough neat, but with a piece of ice it more than holds its own as a very fair drop of whisky.

Great find!
I tried that at a whisky festival about a year and a half ago in Manchester Cathedral of all places. Yeah, it was quite nice. Had a bit of a chat with them. Hadn't thought about how tricky it must be setting up a distillery, not like lots of other businesses where you can start selling stuff and getting the money rolling in relatively quickly. iirc, I think their youngest was five years old when they bottled and sold it, so takes a lot of patience.

Another surprisingly good not-Scottish whisky is Filey Bay from Yorkshire. I think we tried the peated (because I like peaty Scottish single malts) and the IPA, both very nice. I bought a bottle for a Yorkshireman friend.

 
It’s relatively new - came out in the early 2000’s iirc. I once had a very drunken chat with the head distiller at a whisky festival, who was extremely forthcoming with free samples :thumbs:
Was that in Manchester Cathedral, October 2021 by any chance? That's where I tried it and chatted to the chaps from Penderyn.
 
mrsb bought me a bottle when it first came out, about 04/05. It's great that they're making it, but I find it rather bland. I tried one in the pub the other night to remind myself and it was fine, but nothing special. I had to have a Jura Seven Wood afterwards, which was proper nice.
 
It's a terrible time of year to get good deals on whisky. Wish I'd got an extra bottle of Laphroaig Quarter Cask before Xmas.

Heading to the Cairngorms tomorrow for a spot of hiking and would like to take some for after the hill. Mind you with the conditions forecast it might sensible to stick to beer!
 
It's a terrible time of year to get good deals on whisky. Wish I'd got an extra bottle of Laphroaig Quarter Cask before Xmas.

Heading to the Cairngorms tomorrow for a spot of hiking and would like to take some for after the hill. Mind you with the conditions forecast it might sensible to stick to beer!
Few on offer in the supermarket yesterday. Morrisons. That airstone one mentioned up thread is worth its place in any snow hole at £20.
 
What did you think of the Aerstone Land Cask?

I bought a bottle of Laphroaig Select on offer from the supermarket last week. Finally opened it last night, and they gave me Quarter Cask by mistake. By fuck it's good. :cool:
Really enjoyed it. Very pleasant, enough smoke and quite deep flavoured dram for the price. I only had the one, my mate went off with it shortly after. Its now on a shelf in Skye. He's very pleased with it. he likes Glen Kieth which I've never been that excited about but he's a crofter so every penny counts :)

I have a good supply of the quarter cast. Nice dram.

My favourite at the moment is the Rassay Cask strength unfiltered. It needs a little bit of water at almost 62% but it's such an intense flavour it'll last you all night.

I'm in Duty Free this time tomorrow on the look out for something nice to drink with my mate over the weekend. Then I'll be back in duty free Sunday night looking for something to hide from my taxi driver.
 
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mm, just trying the Ledaig. It's a gorgeous balance of peatiness and sweet floral aromas. An excellent way to wrap uo work.
 
An old friend (who is English and was born and raised here) recently went to Australia to visit his parents after they decided to fuck off there for their retirement, and bought an Australian single malt whisky called Starward to give me for my birthday.

It’s bloody lovely! Aged in red wine oak barrels, intense yet very smooth. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that countries that are not known for their whisky-making prowess can be as capable of making fine whiskies as the recognised powerhouses of the world. But it is still the first time I‘ve heard of Aussie fine whisky, let alone try one. Recommended if you can find it.
 
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So, this weekend I went along to the Beijing Whisky festival. Wasn't sure what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised. Foreigners were very few in number and the Chinese crowd were youngish and more women than you would have expected. For about 12 pound you got access to a conference room of about 60 odd stalls; these seemed to split into three: corporate stalls, smaller distilleries / distributors and I guess local bars flogging their wares. There was free taste testing on most stock below 100 pounds. I tried: Redbreast, a range of Jura's, Hinch, Aberlour, Dingle, Kingbarns, Tomintoul, Glencadam, some Japanese whiskies (which confirmed my dislike of the stuff) and some other stuff aside. I noted there were a couple of Chinese distilleries, a couple of German and even a Swiss one, but can't vouch for any of their stuff.

I went off the beaten track and bought three bottles I'd never seen before, but had to call it a day after feeling fairly inebriated.
 
What did you think of the Aerstone Land Cask?

I bought a bottle of Laphroaig Select on offer from the supermarket last week. Finally opened it last night, and they gave me Quarter Cask by mistake. By fuck it's good. :cool:

That's a massive win. Quarter Cask is my favourite. Still not tried select as I'm worried it will just disappoint in comparison.

Anyway I'm less flush at the moment so sticking with a bottle of one Aldis own malts. They're not bad for the money.
 
Got a bottle of the Penderyn Portwood for my birthday. It's better than I expected - a hint of sweetness but not as much as the Bourbons.

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Ever noticed how difficult it is to get bourbon with age to it? IIRC the Eagle you show is ten years old, and that is about the maximum age I've seen.

When my grandson turned 18, I gave him a tot of a 21 year old Bruichladdich, he was absolutely mazed that the whisky was older than him. :)
 
Ever noticed how difficult it is to get bourbon with age to it? IIRC the Eagle you show is ten years old, and that is about the maximum age I've seen.
I am told by a bourbon aficionado that it's due to the sell on value of the barrels. If they have had bourbon in for too long it affects the flavour of the (proper) whisky stored in them thereafter.
 
Anyone?

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Offers notes of toffee, cherries, chocolate, nuts and figs throughout the palate.
 
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