ralfy review 930 Extras – My journey with Aultmore

Mark’s Whisky Ramblings 447: Lagavulin 11 Year Old Offerman 2^nd Edition Guinness Cask Finish

Mark Dermul, Belgian whisky blogger, tries the 2^nd Offerman edition from Lagavulin. At the end of last year Mark tasted the first release of the Lagavulin Offerman Edition, named after Nick Offerman, American actor and comedian who makes no secret of the fact that he loves to drink Lagavulin. Now let him also like to drink Guinness. It was then no art for this Islay distillery to give some of their 11-year-old whisky a finish on such casks. The Offerman 2nd Release was born.

https://youtu.be/szklLmqspGk

Hinch Blended Whiskey, 43%

https://youtu.be/ojeiaMrlUgc

Hinch are one of the new Irish distillers on the block, looking to make their mark in a vastly and ever expanding industry. A distillery that has a huge range of products, from 5YO and 10YO releases, Pot Still whiskies, sherry maturation, peated expressions, and this, their entry level blended whisky at 43% ABV. A mix of first fill bourbon matured stocks of both malt and grain, presented in a very memorable bottle and label. Does it make a dent in the entry level category of Irish whiskey? We shall see.

ralfy review 930 – Aultmore 18yo @ 46%vol:

Mark’s Whisky Ramblings 446: Nc’nean Huntress

Mark Dermul, Belgian whisky blogger, tries Nc’nean’s latest release. This time Anabel and her team opted for a slightly different composition than for their regular batches, namely 61% STR Red Wine Casks and 39% Ex-Bourbon casks. It is also bottled at a slightly higher alcohol percentage. This is the spring whisky par excellence of this young, dynamic distillery that now boasts quite a few loyal followers. The special thing about this whisky is that it was produced with three different yeast strains, one of which is normally used for the production of rum!

https://youtu.be/jP-SNYQG7f8

Welcome to this weeks episode of the show in which I’ll be taking a look at a selection of Ardnamurchan releases.

https://youtu.be/ge1y9GzET_s

Mark’s Whisky Ramblings 445: Nc’nean Batch 8 vs Batch 9

Mark Dermul, Belgian whisky blogger, puts two young malts head-to-head. Although Mark has a dram every single day, it’s still hard to keep up with the pace of releases. At Nc’nean they are already at batch 15 or something, while today Mark opens his bottles of Batch 8 and Batch 9 for the first time. As always, it is a combination of 65% STR red wine barrels and 35% classic bourbon barrels. Again bottled at 46%.

https://youtu.be/WszMRWRkAwM

https://youtu.be/P42YiFPlrxc

Today I’ve had the joy of meeting (over Zoom) with Morgan McDermott from Filey Bay Whisky in Yorkshire.

Setup in 2016, Filey Bay is a field to glass distillery based on the east coast of Yorkshire. Comprising a range of:

Their Flagship bottle – Personal Favourite.

IPA Cask Finish – Toffee’d and toasty.

Moscatel Cask Finish – Honey in a glass.

STR Rijoca Cask Finish – Spicy plums.

Peated Cask Finish – Subtle saltiness.

A huge selection of flavour to choose from and a brief walk through of the distilleries history and future. My apologies for lack of my camera, Zoom just didn’t want to play fair with me.

Filey Bay has quickly become a must have summer style for me as a result of this tasting, and hopefully this will get some of you into this wonderful English distillery.

Cheers!

ralfy review 929 Extras – Time in the glass.

Mark’s Whisky Ramblings 444: Starward Single Cask #1855 for Whivie.be & The Bonding Dram

Mark Dermul, Belgian whisky blogger, bottled a single cask from Down Under. Mark is a fan of Starward, that’s known. And when he got the chance to buy a barrel a few weeks ago, he didn’t let it pass him by. You should know that Starward used a first fill Apera barrel from McWilliams for this single malt. McWilliams has been producing Apera, the Australian version of sherry, made from the Tinta Roriz, Touriga Nacional and Touriga Franca grape varieties for years. The barrel – number #1855 – was filled in May 2016 and when bottled yielded only 222 bottles at a cask strength of 59.3%. Fun fact: when Mark tasted a sample taken on October 12, 2021, the strength was 57.1%. Yes, in Australia the strength increases!

https://youtu.be/jgfRTxfM8rw