Auchentoshan 21 1975 Selected Cask Vatting

What was the occasion? A few months ago, for my birthday, I went out for some whiskies. I had just gotten over parts of long-Covid that had killed my taste buds and sense of smell. Within one week of celebrating I would injure myself while curling, and end up not being able to write it up. […]

North of Scotland 50 1970 Douglas Laing Xtra Old Particular The Black Series

Thanks to /u/ScotchGuy_TO for sharing a dram with me (and splitting the bottle with me) for the year end tasting. I’m not really nice to single grain whiskies, which is probably because I’m not a fan of drinking solvent. Granted I’m also Canadian, and our whiskies are majority single grain that’s aged in a cold climate, so […]

Daftmill 2 Ways

Thanks to /u/smoked_herring for this first sample! Not many people care about whiskies from the Lowland region. And I don’t really blame them. From the start the Lowland region wasn’t established to make great whisky. I won’t get into the Wash Act of 1823 (keep it in your pants) but I’ll sum it up by saying it […]

Ailsa Bay Ceres I 9 2011 Scotch Universe

Girvan distillery is an industrial workhorse meant to ensure that blends have plenty of inexpensive, age-stated single grain whisky. Full stop. However, upon the same site you’ll find a new distillery, started in 2007. It’s name? Not Albert Einstein this time. Ailsa Bay creates four different single malt distillates, the majority of which all disappear […]

Bladnoch 22 1977 Old Malt Cask Douglas Laing

Thanks to my wife who brought me out for my birthday drams. I’m a very lucky guy. The question “What’s your thoughts on Bladnoch?” comes up about as often as “How much money do you make?”, “What’s your thoughts on Taoism these days?”, and “Hey, your married friends are looking good, are they looking for […]

Inverleven 19 1986 Gordon & MacPhail Rare Old

Another Lowland? Fuck yeah, another Lowland. I am a big fan of Lowlands. Period. Full stop. I don’t get them enough, I don’t work with floral foods enough, and they interest me. As such I jump at the chance when a special one pops up. Enter Inverleven 19 1986 Gordon & MacPhail Rare Old, a not-quite-cask-strength […]

Garnheath 48 1967 Cooper’s Choice

So it’s 1965. Not really, just for the case of this story. Please don’t start acting like it’s 1965, that wasn’t a good time in history. Unless you’re a business owner and want to start paying people correctly. That’d be nice. You’re Inver House for this trip down history lane, and you think this whole […]

Rosebank 20 1981 Rare Malts Selection

A few years ago we saw a backlash to Rosebank whisky. This was because certain independent bottlers were announcing they had the last casks of Rosebank, releasing them, and then finding out these were heavily finished. During a similar time the distillery went from being mothballed (2002), then there were plans to build a new […]

St. Magdalene 33 1982 Gordon & MacPhail Rare Old / Linlithgow 25 1982 Murray McDavid Mission Gold

In the before times (which is now my favourite annoying inside joke we all have), for my birthday I did a few whisky related things: I’d go out to a pub with a good whisky selection, and I’d review any birth year whisky samples I had. I won’t bore you with the extreme details, however […]

Cameronbridge Cameron Brig

There are times when it seems like my reviews or selection of reviews are somewhat random. And if I’m being honest there’s a few that are, in fact, random. In picking. I do try to pick out groups or group the sample together. However, while sometimes I’m handed samples and need to make sense of […]