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

Welcome to this weeks episode of the show in which I’ll be looking at the range of whiskies called ‘Haran’ that are produced by Destilerías Manuel Acha in the Basque Country.

https://youtu.be/NhwsqepO_7c

ralfy review 929 – GlenAllachie 13yo @ 48%vol: (Madeira cask finish)

https://youtu.be/Hd_Il10uA9I

Benromach. Why aren’t we giving Benromach the praise it deserves? Can’t find Spiringbank or Longrow? Why would you spend some horrendous secondary price on a bottle of 12/15YO when you can buy most of Benromach’s range for less than £80? Utterly baffling.

Recently retried the 10YO and fell head over heels, easily up their with Arran 10 in terms of taste and value. This I bought through a marketing email, which typically never entice me. But…first fill bourbon casks, 46%, and a type of barley I’ve never heard of for less than £50? Sold. Incredibly tasty, but did need some time to open up.

I have also reviewed this previously with John Drinks, see that video below.

https://youtu.be/yrrUNYrGPTQ

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Mark’s Whisky Ramblings 443: Starward Left-Field

Mark Dermul, Belgian whisky blogger, goes Down Under. In September 2021 he was – for the second time – a guest at the whisky festival in sun-drenched Toulouse. One of the booths represented Starward  (with a ‘d’ at the back, not to be confused with his favorite film series, please), the relatively young distillery from Australia – founded in 2007 and run by the sympathetic and we would almost dare say visionary David Vitale. This malt matured in French oak, barrels that had previously raised red wine. A strange idea. Unexpected. Something they describe in Australia as ‘left-field’, hence the name for this very affordable whisky.

https://youtu.be/Z37OlVkcPEY

ralfy review 928 Extras – 3 Steps to better malts

Welcome to this weeks episode of the show in which I’ll be taking a look at some releases from the WhistlePig distillery in Vermont, including a very special single cask release.

https://youtu.be/4ByaTb1WGQk

ralfy review 928 – Ben Nevis 10yo @46%vol: (2022)

https://youtu.be/egnItWVNGy8

Glen Scotia Campbeltown Festival.

Here we are again, I won’t mince words, the release is brilliant.

A devilishly shy nose with bounds of sweetness and a huge density of salt and ocean spray. The taste. Powerful, bold and simply wonderful. A peat loaded powerhouse with so much longevity that it’ll outlive Henry Kissinger…and commit less war crimes.

2022. The year that Campbeltown ran away with everything.