Welcome to the Late Christmas Edition of the show. This festive season I’ll be staying at home and reviewing a selection of English whisky releases from Derbyshire, Oxford and Yorkshire.
Whisky Of The Year for 2023 (From the Bothy)
Mark’s Whisky Ramblings 476: Johnnie Walker Ghost & Rare – Port Dundas
Mark Dermul, Belgian whiskyblogger, finally tries the new Johnnie Blue! He confesses, when he first saw the announcement and realized that a closed grain distillery was going to play the leading role, he frowned for a moment. But after he tasted it at a whisky festival, he knew immediately that it had become a work of art again. This time it’s a creation of the new Master Blender, Emma Walker, who followed in the footsteps of legendary Jim Beveridge in October 2021. And in addition to Port Dundas (about 2km north of Glasgow and closed since 2009), Emma Walker also used Cambus (also a closed grain distillery, since 1993) and Cameronbridge, supplemented with malt whiskies from the warehouses of Glenkinchie, Auchroisk, Dailuaine, Clynelish and (the recently reopened) Brora. It is a composition of 7 whiskies and again bottled at 43.8%.
That time of the year again. Whisky of the year is always a tricky thing to pick when the time finally comes around. This year won’t be a surprise, but there is a small elephant in the room to deal with…
Follow the link to find out what finally got it.
Mark’s Whisky Ramblings 475: Paul John Christmas Edition 2022
Mark Dermul, Belgian whiskyblogger, tries an Indian Christmas malt. He had the honor and pleasure of discussing this Christmas Edition of Paul John live on Instagram with none other than Heemanshu Ashaer, their Global Brand Ambassador. Nice, right? For this Christmas Edition Paul John used three types of barrels: Ex Bourbon Unpeated, Brandy and Oloroso Peated.
Mark’s Whisky Ramblings 474: Laphroaig 10 Year Old ‘Pre Warrant’
Mark Dermul, Belgian whiskyblogger, tries an older Islay. In 1994 Laphroaig received a visit from Prince (now King) Charles, who gave the distillery a Royal Warrant, something the distillery is of course happy to mention on the label. On this bottle, that warrant is not yet mentioned. And while Mark is not sure when exactly this was bottled, it must have been from before 1994 and consequently contain a whisky that was distilled in the early 1980s.
