Welcome to this weeks episode of the show in which I’ll be looking at the second release of the Mackmyra Intelligens AI:02 and asking the question – “Can computers make good whisky?”
I never thought I would be this flabbergasted by any whisky. When you’ve been tasting spirits for this long you don’t really think that anything can shock you in a new way anymore. How wrong I was, and it took this exquisite bottle of Bushmills to prove me wrong.
Spending the first thirteen years of it’s life in ex-bourbon and ex-oloroso casks, it was then transferred to maderia casks for sixteen years! Bit of a stretch of the word ‘finish’, but it works, nonetheless.
A huge amount of this whisky, for me, is the nose. The melding of toffee, coffee, tobacco and this wonderfully sweet and mouth watering minty aroma is jaw dropping. Other whiskies have had this this? Yes, they have. But none have delivered it quite the way this one has.
Nostlagia in the tobacco note is a key thing for me, so many smells of childhood captured in a liquid.
This is the best Irish whisky I’ve ever tried, it even surpasses the greats of Redbreast 15 and 21YO, but it is a single cask. As a result, numbers are low and it has to be treated as the exception that it is. With that said it is still on a different level of extraordinary.
Mark’s Whisky Ramblings 425: IN2Spirit, a new Belgian bottler
Mark Dermul, Belgian whisky blogger, discovers that a new Belgian bottler has risen: IN2Spirit. Behind the initiative are Steven Demarez & Tijs Denuwelare, two people from West Flanders. And it has to be said: it is daring to start a new company in these circumstances. And it can also be said: the packaging is spot on. Beautiful. And now let’s hope that the contents of the first two bottles are good as well. Mark is trying their Dalmunach 2015 on a PX Quarter cask and their Blair Athol 2009 on a refill hogshead.
Welcome to this weeks episode of the show, in which I’ll be taking a look at the Wolfburn range.
Mark’s Whisky Ramblings 424: Johnnie Walker Ghost & Rare Pittyvaich
Mark Dermul, Belgian whisky blogger, tries a special blend. He’s had to wait a long time for it, but he got the bottle as a gift from his wife for his birthday. Then patience is appropriate. This fourth Ghost & Rare edition (after the Brora, Port Ellen and Glenury Royal) has Pittyvaich as the fingerprint malt and that’s a good thing, because in 2021 there was no Pittyvaich in the Diageo Special Releases. Moreover, Mark was afraid that after the first three – which were followed by the Blue Label Legendary Eight (which is excellent) – no new Ghost & Rare would appear. So double relief. Anyway: this blend is composed with whisky from the following distilleries: Cragganmore, Royal Lochnagar, Strathmill, Mannochmore, Auchroisk, Carsebridge, Port Dundas and – of course – Pittyvaich. Like its predecessors, it is bottled at 43.8%.
Macallan. There you go, most of you may have already ignored this post.
Hopefully not though! As much as this whisky can annoy retailers and customers alike, it is a whisky with a flavour profile that matches the ‘new direction’ of Macallan. Years ago I fell in love with that chocolate orange depth charge that belonged to the old Macallan 10’s, 12’s, etc. But now we have this dark chocolate, milky coffee style of Macallan that I do enjoy…but comes with its heftier price tags.
The whisky itself is a collaborative between Jordi Roca and Polly Logan, teaming together a selection of sherry seasoned American and European oak casks, taking inspiration from Jordi’s expertise as a world renowned pastry chef and Polly’s professioanl whisky making approach. Utilising Macallan as the launch platform for another Roca Brother inspired release, a fair few have already seen the light of day, most notably, Macallan Edition 2 and Macallan Distil Your World: London Edition.
The box is made from recycled cacao husks which is a little different, always nice to see some greener elements filtering in to bigger releases. Anyway, check out the video and leave your own thoughts and feelings on this instant sell out bottle of Macallan.
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