A small coastal town that’s known the world around for it’s one distillery. But, outside of the famous 14YO, Oban have a few tricks up their sleeves, sherry influenced tricks that provide a wonderfully fruity, almost exotic flavour to whisky that is known for being more a salty, west coast sister to Clynelish. Oban Distiller’s Edition: a surprise, indeed.
Mark’s Whisky Ramblings 322: Woodford Reserve Distiller’s Select
Mark Dermul, Belgian whisky vlogger, tries a bourbon from Woodford Reserve. The actual name of the distillery is Labrot & Graham, which can still be found on the label. This bourbon sets itself apart because it is triple distilled! The mash bill consists of 72% corn, 18% rye and 10% malted barley. The Distiller’s Select has matured for a minimum of 6 years. The brand was only launched in 1996 – as a premium bourbon – and is doing very well. It is even the official bourbon of the Kentucky Derby. Previous releases have been bottled at 42.2% and 43.2%, but this one sits at a comfortable 45.2% aka 90.4 Proof.
Welcome to an episode of the show which has been in the pipeline for some considerable time, but now I’ve done it! I’ll be taking a look at three new Lowland distilleries, those being Eden Mill, Kingsbarns and the Galsgow Distillery.
Mark’s Whisky Ramblings 321: Girvan 12 Year Old 2006 Cadenhead’s
Mark Dermul, Belgian whisky vlogger, tries a (very) high strength grain. Girvan is a relatively young distillery, founded in 1963 by the family William Grant & Sons, which we all know from Glenfiddich and Balvenie, but also from Kininvie and newcomer Ailsa Bay. Girvan was founded to produce the needed quantity of grain for the blends of the company: Grant’s. We’ll try a relatively young cask that was bottle by Cadenheads in 2018. After 12 years of maturation, it still went into the bottle at 60.3% ABV.
Not just a TV show, now a whisky…and a gin, and a rum and moonshine! Made in County Cork, possibly by Midleton? This stuff is genuinely not bad, its not expensive and it’s made to a decent quality. I haven’t seen much of the TV show, so don’t expect the thick accent or a flat cap. Cheers.
Mark’s Whisky Ramblings 320: Port Dundas 20 Year Old 1990 Diageo Special Edition
Mark Dermul, Belgian whisky vlogger, found an older release of grain. Port Dundas closed just shy of two centuries of operation. The distillery closed the doors on the 1st of July 2009. The demolition of the iconic chimney was even broadcast live on television. Mark will taste an older one that Diageo launched in their yearly Special Editions of 2011. It was the first grain ever in that bespoke series. First it matured for three years on bourbon casks, then it got an impressive 17 year old second maturation on a combination of European oak, first fill bourbon casks and fomer sherry casks. The color says it all!
Mark’s Whisky Ramblings 319: Cambus 23 Year Old 1991 Signatory Vintage
Mark Dermul, Belgian whisky vlogger, tries a grain from a closed distillery. Cambus is no more. The distillery, founded in 1813, closed in 1993 and was converted into a modern, semi-automatic cooperage. In 2014 Signatory bottled a refill sherry butt from 1991 in those beautiful decanters from their Cask Strength Collection.
Welcome to this weeks episode of the show in which I’ll be reviewing the remainder of the Duncan Taylor samples that I received recently.
