Welcome to this week’s episode of the show in which I’ll be taking a look at Israel’s first distillery, the Milk & Honey distillery based in Tel Aviv.
I’ve never had a falling out with rye whisky, I’ve always enjoyed it, but it’s something I tend to forget about in the world of American whiskies.
Willet is a distillery that I also haven’t paid that much attention to, much to my discredit. Having gone through several ownership changes and historical speed bumps, the distillery has been producing its own bourbon and rye whiskies for a few years now.
This 4YO release blew my mind away the first time I tried it. It had all the hallmarks of a well made rye spirit with heavenly helpings of butterscotch and fresh mint alongside each other.
Is it pricey? Yes, for a young, cask strength spirit, it does have a price tag of just under £100 a bottle. But it isn’t that different in price to younger Scottish, Irish and definitely English whiskies. And it’s on the shelf, I can physically buy it without needing to chase auction houses and retailer. This is a quality spirit from a very exciting distillery.
Mark’s Whisky Ramblings 459: Lindores Exclusive Casks: Bourbon vs Sherry
Mark Dermul, Belgian whisky blogger, tries to single casks from the Lowlands. Lindores, like many other distilleries, also started releasing single casks. The first two – a bourbon cask and a sherry butt – are the ones that I would like to try. It’s not a veritable head-to-head, of course, for they are quite different.
Mark’s Whisky Ramblings 458: A Trio of Lindores
Mark Dermul, Belgian whisky blogger, tries two releases from a new Lowland distillery. Last summer the long-awaited first release of Lindores appeared (at least the one that was made available to the general public), a vatting of bourbon, sherry and wine casks. At the end of the year another bottling was released: The Casks Lindores ‘Bourbon’. And just now we got our hands of the 1494 Members Release that contains malt that matured on quarter casks. That makes for a very interesting head-to-head tasting.
The second episode of the Good Dram Show for this week youtu.be/ajJDM8yQcVc features a selection of bottlings by Duncan Taylor Whiskies
I’m pretty sure everyone I’ve ever met enjoys Bunnahabhain, I’m pretty sure of that?
The 18YO is a full maturation of ex-sherry casks and Bunnahabhain’s slightly salty spirit. Excellent companions! The unique way that sherry and Bunnahabhain’s spirit mix together makes for a very special style of whisky, and it isn’t something that is classically sweet and overly decadent.
It has balance of sweet, savoury, nutty, that all collide in the most wondeful way.
Much has been said about Bunnahabhain’s batch quality in the last few years, but having had the chance to try a few batches of the 18YO, the style seems more consistent in their older stocks. Prices are rising and this is now an allocated product on UK shores. But with the rising insanity of 18YO prices, and the way whisky is being gobbled up by anyone who can quote Peaky Blinders lines in your face, Bunnahabhain maintains a relative calm.
There’s two episodes of the Good Dram Show this week! Here’s the first youtu.be/seUy2rvFAYM part 2 of my look at Annandale Distillery featuring the peated Man O’ Swords range.
