Mark’s Whisky Ramblings 440: Oban 18 Year Old

Mark Dermul, Belgian whisky blogger, tries a US exclusive release. A few months ago Mark made an appointment with his American friends John and Mary-Angela. After all, they came to Belgium and that was the perfect opportunity for them to bring some bottles, such as the Kentucky Owl bourbon, the Lagavulin Offerman Edition on Guinness casks and this Oban 18 Year Old, which is bottled exclusively for the States. Apart from a pleasant afternoon in which a lot was tasted, followed by a great burger dinner in Ghent, it was also the opportunity for Mark to finally put this 18-year-old Oban to the test.

https://youtu.be/E5WksY2-19s

ralfy review 925 – Caol Ila 10yo @58.2%vol: Indi: (Watt Whisky)

Mark’s Whisky Ramblings 439: Glentauchers 13 Year Old 2009 for MMM

Mark Dermul, Belgian whisky blogger, releases another malt under the MMM label. Glentauchers is a lesser-known Speysider – founded in 1897 – that mainly focuses on producing malt whisky for making blends with Ballantine’s being the best known. There are hardly any official bottlings, but through  independent bottlers you can occasionally taste it. Now Mark & Manny have found a fantastic cask – a sherry butt, by the way – with Glentauchers from 2009. It’s already their 26th release and we’re once again enjoying a beautiful label with the art of Ansgar Speller. The color palette also betrays their subtle support for the people of Ukraine.

https://youtu.be/Dr8pU4KmG9M

ralfy review 924 Extras – Official bottlings before Indi: bottlings.

ralfy review 924 – Glen Grant 23yo @47.4%vol: (Signatory)

https://youtu.be/wfOgpZ7byPw

Lochindaal.

A name that some of us may not know. A former distillery, lost to the intensity of the many whisky downfalls over the decades. A name that is now the property of Bruichladdich and something that I can’t wait to try more and more of.

As part of a private bottling, this particular whisky offers points of frustration and utter joy. The taste and the smells are incredible, literally some of the best I’ve ever had in my life, upto this point. It, in a way, has redefined what a peated whisky can be for me and that in itself is something very special.

But it is very limited, it’s probably sold out by this point, but it is soooooo good that I can only shout about it and bring a little more attention to this style of Bruichladdich. Lochindaal, along with a style of Laddie called Rhinns, seem to only be available for private cask purchase styles. Would it be good to see more of it in regular bottles? Yeah! Would flippers ruin it? Absolutely.

Welcome to this weeks episode of the show, in which I’ll be reviewing some of the spring 2022 releases from independent bottler James Eadie.

https://youtu.be/AmPbT0_JVKI

It’s English whisky time on this weeks episode of the show, so I’ll be taking a look at some bottlings form the spirit of Yorkshire distillery, White Peaks distillery and the Copper Rivet distillery.

https://youtu.be/tmLBagPCHXg

https://youtu.be/DfaoZcVKTt0

Hibiki, as a brand, has become unstoppable. Never before, in my era, have I seen a blended whisky fight for the top spot of ‘most sought-after whisky in the world’.

Now there are many factors to this:

– Well made whisky.

– An incredibly designed bottle.

– Stocks from two of the most sought-after whiskies in the world: Yamazaki & Hakushu.

– An award winning reputation of its own.

– No real marketing campaign at all…apart from a sole reference in Lost in Translation.

One could argue that with a bottle that pretty you don’t need a marketing campaign. It’s memorable enough already.

Established as a brand in 1989, outside of Irish whisky, no other product has seen sales growth like Hibiki. Growth which was so incredible that they discontinued their 12YO in 2015, then their 17YO in 2017 – rounding into 2020 with just a 21YO occasionally available, a 35YO rarely available and this, Japanese Harmony. A NAS Japanese blended whisky with huge appeal but with a varying price tag and dwindling availability of its own.

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ralfy review 922 – Extras – Seven reviews with mixed results.