2020 will be remembered as so many things for so many different people; luckily, whisky stayed strong. We all moved into different platforms and tech regarding tasting events and purchasing, but when something special stands out it deserves credit.
Kilkerran 12YO or Wild Turkey 101. Who won?
Mark’s Whisky Ramblings 367: Johnnie Walker Blue Label Legendary Eight
Mark Dermul, Belgian whisky blogger, was secretly hoping for a fourth release in the Ghost & Rare Series and this one actually would fit in that series (same luxurious packaging and it has some ‘ghost’ distilleries in the mix), but for the 200th anniversary Johnnie Walker launched this Blue Label under the banner Legendary Eight. That tells us three things. One: the blend is composed of legendary whiskies, being the malts Lagavulin, Oban, Teaninich, Blair Athol and Brora, upholstered with the grains Port Dundas, Cameronbridge and Cambus. Two: if you are going to call your whisky legendary, it needs to contain liquid from closed distilleries. Yep: Brora, Port Dundas and Cambus fit the bill. Third: it will not come cheap. This release will set you back some 300 EUR.
Chris Goodrum
Welcome to this weeks episode of the show, which features a number of Glenlivet bottlings, both distillery releases and Independent bottlings.
Mark’s Whisky Ramblings 366: Auchentoshan 30 Year Old 1987 for Singapore
Mark Dermul, Belgian whisky vlogger, shares his experience with a very special Auchentoshan. After the single cask release bottled for China in 2017 (which took close to military maneuvers to get a bottle to Belgium) another single cask was bottled in 2018, this time for Singapore. Getting that one to Belgium was even more crazy. After Mark found out about the release, he put a cry for help on Facebook. Keith Chong from Singapore got in touch saying he could help, while Davide Romano – yes, the fellow behind Valinch & Mallet with which Mark has been friends for a couple of years – told him he was about to travel there. Mark brought Keith and Davide together and the latter offered to be the smuggler courier to bring the bottle back to Europe. The corona debacle meant that it still took quite a few weeks to get the bottle to Belgium, but at last it’s home. It’s an Auchentoshan from 1987 that matured for three decades on a sherry butt.
Welcome to this weeks episode of the show, in which I’ll be looking at some European whiskies, including the Owl and Het Anker distilleries in Belgium and Stauning from Denmark.
Mark’s Whisky Ramblings 365: Auchentoshan 18 Year Old 2000 Malts of Scotland
Mark Dermul, Belgian whisky vlogger, is also known as the Toshan Man. Hence, another Auchentoshan rambling. Malts of Scotland – the German independent bottler – found a beauty of a sherry hogshead in the warehouse, that was filled with Mark’s favorite Lowlander’s triple distilled spirit in 2000. The Auchentoshan matured for 18 years before the cask yielded 329 bottles at cask strength. Two bottles made it his way and he seems very happy with them.
