Today, we’re revisiting an old friend with a new face – the Balblair 12. If you’ve been following our whisky adventures, you may remember our previous encounters with Balblair’s 1999 3rd Release and the 1989 3rd Release. Both were delightful in their own right, but thanks to De Monnik...
Read moreDuring a live tasting hosted by @monnikdranken in the heart of Twente at the beginning of this year, we got to taste peated Glenturret new make. It was such a good spirit, that I wouldn’t mind them bottling this as is. I couldn’t get enough of it really. A...
Read moreJust look at this bottle, isn’t it like the Easter Bunny painted the label himself? Hate it or love it, as far as Easter dram are concerned, Glenmorangie delivered. This whisky has finished on rare Palo Cortado sherry casks. It’s hard to go wrong with these casks, no question....
Read moreWe already considered ourselves lucky for being provided multiple opportunities to taste whiskies we never tried before. But this tops it all: a taste of a Littlemill 45yo 1967-2022. Bottled for what should’ve been their 250th Anniversary, if the distillery would still exist. I’m 32 years old myself, and...
Read moreAutumn has definitely arrived here in the Netherlands and after a hot and dry summer, a strange phenomenon occurs every now and then; Rain. During the summer we always tend to pour ourselves some light-hearted, mostly peated drams. It just blends so well with the higher temperatures we get...
Read moreOnce again @monnikdranken delivered something on our doorstep we haven’t tasted before. After all those years you might expect that we have had most of the core ranges in our whisky collection but we’re glad to say we have not. We’re working on it though. You see, this anCnoc...
Read moreWe live in a time where we almost can’t escape our busy lives anymore, our family, friends and work are begging for our attention, sometimes one by one, but often these three are fighting to get what they deserve at the same time. It is hard to prioritize every...
Read moreWe’re an absolute sucker for Ben Nevis malts, so I’m glad a couple of our favourite indies do an expression from time to time. It’s an instant buy for us! The one we have right here is a banger by Roger’s Whisky Company. Just look at that label for...
Read moreWe tend to have nice and cosy drams in our collection, which we can pour any moment of the day. If you know us better, you’ll say that the type of whisky doesn’t matter for us to take in, but we simply (and sadly) can not live on Ardbeg,...
Read moreLast november we took part in another great virtual tasting hosted by Bruichladdich’s Nick Bayens. This time we were up to the task of tasting the latest Octomore trio. I’m still in love with the Octomore 7.1 which I killed just a few weeks ago. But Bruichladdich has arrived...
Read moreLet’s be honest, Diageo knows what they’re doing when it comes to marketing. We received an incredible package a while ago, containing samples of all of the 2021 Special Release expressions. It is safe to say that we were speechless, and that’s a rare thing. This Cardhu 14 years...
Read moreI’t time to wave the summer goodbye. Like Dion mentioned earlier it wasn’t a spectacular one, weather wise. But frankly, being a spring and autumn kind of person, I kinda liked it this way. Mostly because firing up the bbq and tasting whisky in the garden, to me, is...
Read moreLike it’s meant to be. It was my birthday 2 weeks ago and my brother in law presented me with a Mortlach 12yo, my wife gave me an 11yo bottled by Signatory and as a cherry on top, we received a mystery package by the Italian bottler My Name...
Read moreAt the beginning of this year, we’ve covered a wonderfully sherried 5yo expression of Caol Ila by the fairly new Dutch bottler Single Note. Now they’re back with another Caol Ila, but this time it’s 12yo and has been matured on fresh bourbon barrels. We like the sound of...
Read moreBack in february we bought this stunner of a Bunnahabhain by Wemyss Malts. We liked it so much, that we forgot to meticulously write down our notes. Instead, we sat back and relaxed. And that for many times after our initial purchase. Now the bottle is already half empty,...
Read moreIn our quest for the most delicious bottle, there are no certainties. Every whisky you buy, is some kind of guess. A quick taste before you pull out your wallet is great, but sometimes a dram falls short, just because it’s not the right moment and/or your palate isn’t...
Read moreI (Dennis) am not the biggest fan of the combination of sherry and heavy peat. That doesn’t mean there are exceptions to this rule, I only tend to be more cautious when choosing what to buy. And if there’s an Islay distillery that manages to do it well in...
Read moreLast month, we got the opportunity to take part on the live tasting for the launch of The French Collection by Tomatin. As a fan of Tomatin, we were thrilled! The French Collection is a four part series, the whisky is distilled in 2008 and has initially matured on...
Read moreThe Epicurean is a connoisseur of the arts of life and the refinements of sensual pleasures, especially when it comes to good food and drinks. We didn’t know there was a word for something we feel so deeply, until the Epicurean set a foot on our doorstep. The Epicurean...
Read moreBen Nevis came on my radar just 3 years ago. When I bought the regular 10yo I was sold. It was still widely available and fairly priced. Not anymore… Luckily there are plenty of independent bottlers to fill my needs for Ben Nevis. I’ve tasted some wonderful examples, which...
Read moreHaving had the entire core range from 10 to 25yo at the moment they were launched, I can safely say that GlenAllachie is not my favourite kind of dram. Ginger and lime formed a big part of their backbone and those flavours usually don’t have my preference. Sure, they...
Read moreAs mentioned in an earlier post, my love for Benromach came (far too) late. Not because I didn’t like it at first, no, it’s just because I never felt the urge to buy a bottle. One time, in an early “let’s-buy-everything-that’s-peated-period” I bought a Benromach Peat Smoke, but it...
Read moreI postponed this review for more than two years now. I have this bottle for a while and I just don’t like it, but as always I wanted to give it a fair chance. So I took it to several blind tastings in the past to see what other...
Read moreWhich whiskies you started your journey with? For me it was a trio of Famous Grouse, Glenfiddich and Glenlivet. I had an arrange of different bottlings and tested my palate by figuring out the differences and resemblances. My early whisky journey can be divided into certain periods, when I...
Read moreKavalan is one of our favourite new world distilleries. The Taiwanese distillery proved itself several times with some great examples like the Solist Vinho Barrique and (our favourite) Solist Sherry Cask About time we looked at another one in the series: Solist Port Cask. Matured on a post cask...
Read moreThis dark 5yo Caol Ila is inspired by the maker’s passion: Jazz. Jazz is like whisky, it’s about experimentation, passion and interpretation. It’s the first release of the new Dutch independent bottler Rick van Diepen, the brand has been given the name Single Note. How high or low the...
Read moreA combination of first fill Bourbon barrels and Pedro Ximenez sherry casks. Music to our ears, if done correctly, for that matter. We didn’t know what to expect when this classic Campbelltown malt knocked on our door. Just like every artist, there are songs and albums which you don’t...
Read moreHow often do you buy, or even taste a 30 years old whisky? We certainly do very rarely. When we came across this bottle by one of our favourite bottlers and whisky shops, we didn’t hesitate for too long. This 30yo Glen Spey by Malts of Scotland was bottled...
Read moreFinlaggan is no stranger to the liquor stores here in Holland, but somehow we always managed to ignore the expressions of this Islay Single Malt. Until we bought our very first Finlaggan, since then, you can always find several bottles in our collection. If you are in love with...
Read moreWe consider ourselves very lucky, both growing up in the early nineties. Born and raised in the Netherlands during prosperous times and in a safe environment. How different it was to our grandparents, born before or during the Second World War, or is to the less fortunate people today....
Read moreIt’s an open secret that we’re a huge fan of Tomatin whisky, but we know that not all that glitters is gold at the same time. We think that it just depends on the right approach when it comes to Tomatin.
Read moreThe temperature has dropped, the whisky season has officially started! We drink whisky all year long, but some drams just taste better when it’s cold outside. Oh baby, when it’s cold outside. This van Wees The Ultimate Blair Athol 1988 is one of them. This whisky performs incredibly well...
Read moreWe came across this bottle by Kintra a couple of months ago. It ticked all of our boxes: Tobermory, sherry matured, 25 years old, cask strength (50.9%) and an empty wallet. Well, that last box wasn’t all too bad actually. It set us back around € 140,-, which is...
Read moreBenromach 10 definitely exists on our short list of whiskies that everyone should have in their cabinet. If it isn’t for the taste, then it’s for the value for money. You don’t see this bottle highlighted very often, in fact, we’ve only discovered how good Benromach actually was last...
Read moreAs our feed shows, we’re a big fan of Glendronach. We think the current Glendronach labels exude ‘Whisky’ and they look incredibly sexy on our shelves. Luckily, the spirit itself is not too bad either. Online, and in every shop since our first Glendronach, we kept looking for more...
Read moreMy holidays mostly take place in our own country, even before the pandemic. There’s so much to discover in this small piece on earth (the Netherlands, that is). There’s one tradition I try to maintain, and that is the tradition of finding a good liquor store to buy me...
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