If you like your single malts on the peaty Islay side of things, then you’ll enjoy this brew by Church-Key Brewery. It is a delicious dark ale that distinctively utilizes Scottish peat-smoked whisky malt. I’d best describe this as “comfort beer”. I can easily imagine it as a lifting ingredient in all styles of winter…
The year’s most noteworthy release: Ardbeg Drum is a no-age statement single malt initially aged in ex-bourbon barrels and then finished in rum casks. Like previous Fèis Ìle bottlings, Ardbeg has released two versions. This one, bottled at 52% ABV, is sold exclusively to Ardbeg Committee Members. Not surprisingly, it has great appeal to Islay…
Still on a boozy note, the annual Cairdeas (Gaelic for ‘Friendship’) is set for release. This year’s release is matured in first-fill bourbon casks before being double matured in Fino Sherry casks. In lieu of my main man, Horst Luening’s assessment, here are Canuck enthusiasts Trenny and C from a year ago. alcoholgastronomyHorst LueningIslayLaphroaigSingle malt Scotch
Always partial to an Islay, I tried this for the first time and it fared very much better than a Lagavulin 8 200th Anniversary Edition. The general consensus seems to be that price-wise this Islay offers a really big bang for the buck. Here are two assessments of it. alcoholFinlaggangastronomyIslaysingle malt
If you like Islay single malts and/or smokey dark chocolate, you might like this brew, not to be confused with- but certainly a good accompaniment to- reading the very excellent Smoke and Mirrors by James Robert Brown, one of the earliest and one of the most smarting bitch-slaps to the social constructivist tripe (typically associated with gender studies,…
Having just cracked open a long anticipated bottle of Yellowstone I have bourbon on my mind — and this coincides with Julia Reed’s discussion taking wing from Walker Percy’s famous essay. Sociological musings aside, I’m of the view that the pitching of Bourbon vs Scotch is a false dichotomy: there is no legitimate comparison. If I had…
Though very partial to the peatier Islays (Lagavulin, Ardbeg, Laphroaig) I retain a soft spot for Bowmore. The Scotch Noob articulates Bowmore 12’s character well, a drink I like to think as analogous to winter comfort food. Cheers! alcoholBoomer 12gastronomyIslaySingle malt Scotch
This mystery Islay (we don’t know the distillery) doesn’t live up to the packaging hyperbole — I can’t figure out who the target demographic is. I don’t think that there is such a thing as an “entry level” Islay — if one is going to try one for the first time, one might just as well…
As someone with a preference for Islays, Glenfarclas 17 came over as what I can only describe as “muscular” (others say “robust”) especially so for a Speyside. It did grow on me however. Here are some more articulate reviews. Master of Malt The Scotch Noob Jason’s Scotch Whiskey Reviews Master taster Horst Lüning’s gushing assessment: alcoholGlenfarclas 17Horst LüningIslayScotch…
Having recently sampled seven rums, the Diplomatico Single Vintage 2000 really does stand out by a long shot but I do also like the Matusalem 15 Year Solera Gran Reserva. As much as I like my single malts, I sense that rum is going to be my primary winter tipple which, by the way, goes especially well with…
manwithoutqualities 