Simple
Balblair 12yo
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...
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The Gauldrons by Douglas Laing
It is a stormy night in October, going on a walk in the forest during these conditions isn’t one of your best ideas but you are determined to keep going, you are not a quitter! As conditions are getting worse you eventually need to seek shelter and you notice...
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Mars Kasei
Every time we encounter a Japanese whisky to review, we tell you: we don’t have a lot of experience with it. But counting them, we can carefully say we now have a global view of what the cheaper segment of (mostly blended and NAS, what this one is too)...
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anCnoc 12yo
Once 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...
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Glengoyne Legacy Series Chapter 3
We 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...
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Spearhead Single Grain Scotch Whisky
Some while ago we touched briefly on the incredible variation that the Loch Lomond Distillery is able to offer with their three types of stills. And while we may be acquainted with the distillery by now, Spearhead Single Grain Scotch Whisky didn’t ring a bell, until we received this...
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The Whistler – P.X. I Love You
Whether you’re having someone special, or trying to seduce Cupid into finally aiming his arrow to your secret love. There’s always a reason for gifting whisky. And we have a striking one right here. This is the The Whistler – P.X. I Love You. This single malt drop of...
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Buffalo Trace Kentucky Straight Bourbon
We’ve learned to appreciate bourbon more and more during the last two years. Still, it feels more like tiptoeing instead of going full send, but we hopefully have some years till we grow old and grumpy to explore this realm even more. Today we’re going back to one of...
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Old Pulteney 12yo
We can’t deny it any longer, autumn has definitely arrived here in the Netherlands. Leaves are falling, rain is pouring from dawn to dusk and the temperature is dropping massively day by day. We get a little sad every year when summer ends but these weather conditions make us...
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Tomintoul Seiridh
I’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...
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Smokehead Islay Single malt
From a lot of whisky worldwide, you can not see what is hiding inside. The looks of the bottle doesn’t give anything away about the character of the dram. This Ian Mcleod’s Smokehead clearly isn’t one of those, one glance at the frightening exterior gives you an idea of...
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Eaglesburn Distillery 2017-2021 Double Wood
Living under the smoke of Arnhem, how could we not have tasted the whisky that was founded in Arnhem by Bart Joosten? He might have thought the same, because he kindly sent us a bottle of the 2017-2021 Eaglesburn single malt, that had matured on bourbon casks, topped off...
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Linkwood 12yo 2008-2021 by Càrn Mòr
Lately, Morrison Scotch Whisky Distillers are doing an extraordinary job when it comes to releasing interesting expressions. We sometimes suspect them to be a fly on our wall when we are talking about which releases we would like to see because sooner or later they’ll end up on our...
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Timorous Beastie by Douglas Laing
To a Mouse Hey little creature, What are you doing up there? So small, but fierce and brave, And definitely not scared. Timorous Beastie, I’m truly sorry Man’s dominion, has broken Nature’s social union. I know you have been scared for many, many years, because of what the awful...
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The Epicurean by Douglas Laing
The 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...
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Cù Bòcan Creation #2
Last in line during this Cù Bòcan week, is the Creation #2. If you talk about experimental maturations and finishes, you’ve got to see this one. A regular virgin European oak (16%) in combination with a Japanese Shochu cask (84%). This might be interesting! To be completely honest with...
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Glenglassaugh Torfa
When I talk about my go to whiskies, I often forget to mention Glenglassaugh. Quite wrongly so, because their Evolution is the one I keep returning to as an example of a well crafted bourbon matured whisky. It’s the dram I take to make my palate ready for a...
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Cù Bòcan Signature
We start our Cù Bòcan journey with their Signature whisky. A lightly peated malt that has matured on bourbon, oloroso sherry and North American virgin oak casks. That’s quite a lot of different casks, it’s not something that makes our heart beat faster usually, because more often than not,...
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Glenmorangie 12yo Quinta Ruban
Tasting whisky at our best friend Stefan’s house is like stepping into a time machine. He buys bottles, he forgets about them and then he buys new ones. We gladly empty our bottles to make room for new ones, but Stefan soon has to expand his house to store...
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Rock Island by Douglas Laing
We think there is truly something magical about whisky, the craftsmanship, the community, it almost feels like a fairytale. Everytime we visit a distillery, we feel like we’re time travelers. Distilleries often do have some amazing stories behind their releases and that is, in some cases, what can make...
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Glenfiddich Fire & Cane
I 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...
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Umiki Japanese Whisky
There are lots of different styles in the whisk(e)y world, and we all have our preferences. Last Friday Dion spoke about his preference towards the bolder facets of scotch, in contrast to the more crisp and elegant style of the Irish. Pure from a taste point of view. I’m...
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Glen Keith 22yo 1993-2015 Cooper’s Choice
‘’Whisky is for old men’’ I (Dion) consider myself a young dog in this wonderful world of whisky. Born in 1993, I am, in fact, relatively young for being in this business. In the beginning, people always tend to take my opinion or advice about whisky with a pinch...
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Glen Scotia Double Cask
A 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...
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Laphroaig Select
Laphroaig is a typical example of a love-or-hate whisky. We tended towards the latter in our beginners’ years, but after paying a visit to Islay, it was instant love. This is the magic of visiting our first Islay-distillery at work. We always have a 10yo at hand, so we...
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Tomatin 15yo Moscatel Wine Finish
We’re just two simple lads from the East of the Netherlands. If we see a Tomatin with an out of the ordinary finish or maturation, we buy one. Or two, or more. You shouldn’t be surprised that when we stumbled upon this beautiful Tomatin 15 Moscatel we immediately bought...
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Ledaig 12yo 2008-2020 Hermitage Finish by Gordon & Macphail
What a crazy year it has been. Sadly no big family reunion this Christmas due to obvious reasons, but now me and my wife were gently forced into spending some well deserved quality time together and with our daughter. We cooked, we ate together and went through the year....
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Ardbeg 5yo Wee Beastie
Ardbeg’s latest core range addition sure shook some things up. In one corner we have the influencers, praising the bottle no matter what. In the other corner we have the sceptics, grumpy and disappointed and wanting everybody to know. We don’t really care what label is slapped onto us,...
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Tullibardine 24yo 1993 Bourbon Hogshead by Claxton’s
In our constantly changing whisky collection, we try to maintain a healthy balance between different casks and maturations. Of course, some types are over-represented but we try to stay honest and ignore or neglect no one. We feel like, for example, sherry matured or finished whisky is a lot...
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Teeling Blackpitts
A while ago, The Teeling Distillery, Chris and Niamh gave us the chance to taste a little bit more of what Teeling has to offer. Including their first ever Peated Irish Single Malt Whiskey: Blackpitts, named after the area just behind the distillery. Matured in Bourbon and Sauternes casks...
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Whisky Row Smoke & Peat
Knock knock knocking on heaven’s door with some holy water. Who’s there? It’s Whisky Row to put some long gone Edinburgh flavours back on the map. Our good friend Terri (@dmscotland) kindly introduced us to this new kid on the block by Gleann Mór Spirits. You wouldn’t say, because...
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GlenDronach 8yo “The Hielan”
As 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...
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Scallywag Speyside Blended Malt by Douglas Laing
Recently – with a little help from de Monnik Dranken – we adopted a little Speyside puppy. Don’t feel bad for our best buddy Charlie right here, because this little feller came in liquid form. Scallywag is a mixed-breed of Mortlach, Macallan and Glenrothes, among others, he’s bred under...
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Arran 10yo
Today in bang-for-your-buck whiskies, we present you: the Arran 10yo. In it’s all new clothing, but with a taste that makes it a classic nonetheless. We’ve loved Arran since the very beginning of our journey, but it seemed like their wonderful liquid didn’t manage snuck into the cabinets of...
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Craigellachie 13yo
Let’s revisit a bottle that we haven’t had in a while: Craigellachie 13.
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