Islay

Port Charlotte 10yo

This ‘shampoo bottle’ may look weird, depending on who you ask, but who cares? It’s one of our go-to peated malts. It’s everything but the casual peated Islay-whisky and beautifully complex. As lovers of the Octomore range, we often speak of this as ‘Octomore Light’. It doesn’t provide that...

Kilchoman 2010 Vintage & Kilchoman 100% Islay 9th Edition

Thanks to Kilchoman,  we were given the opportunity to sample two wonderful new releases: the 2010 Vintage and the 100% Islay 9th Edition. And since we’re a huge fan of the first 100% Islay releases, we decided to have them accompanied by the 100% Islay Inaugural and 3th Edition....

Classic of Islay by Jack Wieber’s 2018

As a Dutchman I’m very pleased to have such great neighbors. Among many other independent bottlers, Germany brings Jack Wieber to the table. This cask strength bottle, named Classic of Islay is a solid staple in our collection. It has no age statement and it’s probably a young sherried...

Islay Mist – Original

Enter Islay Mist. A whisky that consists mostly of Laphroaig, blended with several Speyside malts and grain whisky, interesting! Created for beginning enthusiasts who are tiptoeing into the realm of peat, but don’t want to be punched in the face with it. We think that’s a good starting point....

Kilchoman Port Cask Matured 2018

Whisky: Endless possibilities, varying opinions and lots to discover. Let’s do a little experiment!

Bunnahabhain 16yo 2001-2017 Claxton’s

Bottled for whiskyshop The Old Pipe in The Netherlands, this 16 year old Bunnahabhain was something I couldn’t resist taking it home. It has matured on oloroso sherry casks and was bottled at 55.8%. Could you? Not the easiest Bunna, mainly because of the peppery notes, but have a...

Bowmore 10yo – Dark & Intense

The struggle is real. We love Bowmore in general, but this ‘Dark & Intense’ isn’t as dark and certainly not as intense as Bowmore pretends it to be.

Ardbeg Perpetuum

It’s great seeing all those images from this year’s Feis Ile trickling in. It’s a trip down memory lane and a perfect moment to go through the photos and tasting notes we did on Islay last year. We found one that’s worthwhile!

Bunnahabhain Stiùireadair

Meet Stiùireadair, or Stuart as we like to call him. A surprisingly tasty dram for the price.

Finlaggan Original

There aren’t many whiskies we can get for under €20 that always seem to deliver. But this bottle of Finlaggan nails it every single time.

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...

Bunnahabhain An Cladach

Bunnahabhain and its names… I don’t have much trouble pronouncing and spelling Bunna’s awkwardly named expressions. But this following anecdote is a reminder of the fact that it doesn’t always come in handy. Or maybe it does…

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.

The experience of blind tasting

How often do you know what whisky is in your glass before you taste it? In other words; have you ever tried blind tasting?

Bunnahabhain 18yo

Can you believe we haven’t properly reviewed this one before? Well, time to change that fact today.

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.

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?

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all a merry Christmas!

It’s been an beautiful 10 months on Instagram, thanks to you! Off we go towards our first anniversary, cheers everybody! You’re awesome!

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.

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.

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.

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!

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...

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!

Bunnahabhain 8yo Red Wine hand-filled #636

Bunnahabhain certainly has the greatest views of all the distilleries on Islay, if you ask me. But their hand-filled distillery exclusive bottles aren’t too shabby too.

Whisky distillation process and the influence on the taste – an example from Caol Ila and Lagavulin

Did you know? Caol Ila uses the exact same malt as its sister distillery Lagavulin. But why is Lagavulin so much peatier, I hear you ask. Well, that’s the magic of the process…

Kilchoman Loch Gorm

Kilchoman has managed to left his mark in the ever expanding whisky-landscape, it’s one of the most easily recognizable single malts when tasting blind. What makes it so recognizable?

A warm welcome at Lagavulin Distillery

Lagavulin’s tasting room, not your typical tasting room!

Blackadder Peat Reek RAW Cask PR2017-10

Ever wanted to use your whisky bottle like a snow globe? Well, here’s your chance!

Bowmore vibes

Now imagine this, the sun on your face, you can feel the sea breeze from Loch Indaal through your hair, the view is amazing and one of the finest whiskies is only one step away. Sounds like a dream right?

Bunnahabhain Moine Bordeaux Red wine Cask Matured

Imagine yourself on a hot day, with a smoking barbecue with huge chunks of glaced meat, sipping a glass of robust red wine. That’s basically what’s in this new addition to Bunnahabain’s limited edition range.

Ardbeg Grooves Committee Release

We’ve had two opportunities to taste the committee release from Ardbeg Grooves. The first was at the Islay Hotel and the second was at the Ardbeg distillery. It underwent an unusual treatment with the use of heavily charred red wine casks. This heavy charring results in deep grooves in...

Rime of the ancient mariner

What does Iron Maiden have to do with whisky I hear you ask. Well, let’s sit down for a moment and emerge in this great musical experience…