Barley

Arran Machrie Moor Cask Strength 4th Edition 2017

Have you ever considered trying a cask strength Machrie Moor by Arran? We strongly suggest you do.

Glenkinchie 12yo

Glenkinchie is one of the few Lowland distilleries in Scotland. We’ve never really been a fan of Lowland whiskies, but we don’t know exactly why. This Glenkinchie 12yo is worth the taste!

Highland Park Drakkar

Let’s have a look at Highland Park Drakkar, a travel exclusive from a while ago. You can still get it in various shops, so let us guide you on whether to buy this badass looking dragon bottle, or not.

Talisker Distiller’s Edition 2003-2014

The Talisker Distiller’s Edition (a second maturation on Amoroso sherry) is making a splash on this beautiful spring day. This is a whisky that never fails to deliver.

Glendronach 21yo Parliament

The Glendronach 21yo Parliament needs no introduction, because you know what’s coming: sherried flavours galore! It was one of my first Glendronachs, next to the old Revival and it’s still a staple on my shelves. Despite some major differences in flavour throughout the past years (my first bottles were...

Paddy Irish Blended Whiskey

Try a Paddy they said, it’s smooth they said. Oh yes it is! Not really a big fan of the basic Irish whiskeys, but it doesn’t hurt to get to know the typical characteristics. RedBreast however, is an Irish brand that we love deeply, but I always have that...

Glen Garioch 1995-2012 Vintage Batch 10

Glen Garioch was one of the distilleries I started my journey with. They’re a bit of an underdog in the scene, but definitely worth exploring. The 12yo and Founder’s Reserve are great daily drams, but these Vintage Batches offer a whole different experience.

GlenDronach 11yo 2003 Single Cask #5552 for The Old Pipe

Gotta love GlenDronach’s Single Cask bottlings. Despite the prices that have gone up in the past three years, they’re still a no-brainer for me. My first one was an 11yo Oloroso which was bottled for the Netherlands. And I still like this one today. So when I came across...

Ardbeg 10yo

Since the beginning of our whisky journey, we always considered Ardbeg 10yo to be peppery and heavy on the peat. The Uigeadail was always our go to, so we haven’t paid a lot of attention to the Ten. What a shame, because looking back, we clearly missed out. After...

Nikka From The Barrel

It feels a bit weird to post this snowy picture when the weather feels like May, but I couldn’t wait till next winter to share this delicious dram with you.

Caol Ila 15yo Unpeated (2016 release)

Caol Ila, often referred to as the workhorse of Islay, is capable of doing incredible stuff. And so they did with this 15yo Unpeated release.

Bowmore Cask Strength

Bowmore and the taste of kiwi, to me they are inseparable. I’ve tasted lots of different Bowmores, but this one thing always keeps coming back. It took me a while though, it was just this spark of enlightenment some years ago, when I tried to figure out what that specific note tastes like.

Singold Cask Strength

Our German neighbours have quite the amount of distilleries. Many of them are still unknown to us, but Singold distillery contacted us and was kind enough to send us a sample of the cask strength expression of their classic whisky.

Balblair 1989 3rd release

This Balblair was gifted to me by a shop owner when he fell victim of another buying spree of mine. I don’t think it’s necessarily a good sign, just ask my wallet and please don’t tell my wife. Let’s go tasting this yellow lad.

Lagavulin 12yo (bottled in 2012)

Lagavulin, one of the heavier distilleries on Islay. Not particularly because of the peat level of the barley, because that’s exactly the same as Caol Ila’s. It’s the shorter fermentation and shape of the stills which make Lagavulin this bold and full of phenolic flavours.

Bruichladdich 1990-2005 Scott’s Selection

What a beauty of a Laddie this is. Distilled in a previous era (1990) and bottled in 2005, this Bruichladdich should give us a sense of what it was, before the new owners started distilling again in 2001.

The Arran 14yo

A fruit cocktail in a bottle, this is one of those overlooked drams, which might steal your heart when you try it.

Balvenie 15yo Single Barrel 1997-2013

A Balvenie in its pure form, albeit a bit thinned with water at 47.8% ABV. It’s a bottle that we had around for a while now, so it was about time we wrote something about it. This ex-bourbon matured Balvenie is a favourite among many whisky lovers. To be...

Bowmore 10yo Tempest Batch IV

A whisky that captures the spirit of Bowmore perfectly, that’s what I’d like to call this Tempest Batch IV.

Welcoming 2019 with Port Askaig 19

And as we move towards the last hours of 2018 and the reflections have been done, it’s time to look forward. Which beautiful whiskies will we encounter in the everchanging landscape? And what trips are we going to make?

Glen Scotia 15yo

A well crafted dram for its price, the Glen Scotia 15yo. So full and warming that it’s almost hard to believe that is has matured on bourbon casks only.

Glenlivet Nàdurra Peated Cask

Don’t get confused here people, this is not a peated Glenlivet, but it’s a Glenlivet that has finished on a cask that previously held heavily peated whisky. We’ve see that more often lately, and it’s quite an enjoyable way of finishing whisky.

When in doubt…

… visit Islay! Figuring out which region to visit on your next or maybe even first trip to Scotland? We’d recommend everyone to visit Islay at least once in your life.

Glengoyne 21yo

Glengoyne; often compared with GlenDronach in the sherrybomb league. But never reached such a high popularity. I wonder why, because this 21yo expression truly stands its ground.

Bunnahabhain 14yo Pedro Ximénez Finish

Sweet, warm, chewy, sticky, syrupy, juicy… only so much words can describe this incredible release from one of our favorite distilleries.

Jura Superstition

We often tell people: no association is wrong when writing down your tasting notes. But a hint of ‘urinal cakes’ in a whisky? Are you crazy? We proved we aren’t with this Jura Superstition.

Laphroaig 18yo

To me, this Laphroaig encaptures the spirit of Islay perfectly. A sadly discontinued expression, but luckily I still have some juice left in the bottle to enjoy.

Delicious discoveries: Deanston 10yo PX Finish

I have the annoying habit of finding the first couple of drams of new whiskies incredible, getting a little bored after a while and looking for something new.. But certainly not with this one!

Octomore Masterclass 08.1

We’ve already talked about high peat levels and how it doesn’t matter that much. We brought this one to a blind tasting two weeks ago and asked the participants which glass contained a whisky with such a high peat level as this Octomore (168ppm). Most of them were wrong, and chose an Indie NAS Lagavulin, which is only peated to a level of 35ppm. So let’s focus on the taste, which is most important of course!

Raasay While We Wait 2nd Release

What to do when you’ve built a distillery, but you have to wait before your whisky reaches the age of 3 years old? In the case of Isle of Raasay Distillery you just show off your skills by taking whisky from another distillery and let it finish for a while, to reach something that resembles what’s yet to come.

Port Askaig 12yo

Let’s wave the summer of 2018 goodbye for good with this pretty independent expression bearing the name Port Askaig. Of course we all know this is Caol Ila, but have you heard they just recently bottled a Bunna for Bresser & Timmer? However, there’s no doubt this 12yo is...

Connemara Irish Peated Whisky Orginal

Frankly, my expectations weren’t very high for this one. The bigger was the surprise when I bought a bottle and tasted it for the first time. This highly affordable bottle grabbed my attention, because it’s a peated Irish single malt. Looks like some inspiration from Islay crossed the sea and created this rather unusual dram.

Bruichladdich The Organic Scottish Barley

This awkwardly shaped liter bottle of Bruichladdich is perfect for hot summer days. “But it’s autumn” I hear you say. Well, the weather in the Netherlands is pretty much confused at the moment, the thermometer hit 26 degrees Celsius last weekend. So bring in the Laddie!

GlenDronach 10yo Forgue

Now GlenDronach finally brought back the Revival they also came with other exciting news about a new member for the travel market: GlenDronach 10yo Forgue.

Our experience with travel exclusive bottlings aren’t always very good. But there are some great exceptions, will this be one of those?

Glen Garioch 12yo

Good memories, it was 2014 and I bought myself two bottles: a GlenDronach 15yo Revival and a Glen Garioch 12yo, both are still whiskies that I can’t live without.

Ben Nevis 10yo

We made it a kind of sport to look for other sub €50 whiskies that are at least as good or even better than their better-known colleagues. Enter the Ben Nevis 10yo.