Glenrothes 1969 by Lonach - 87/100

Glenrothes 1969, 40yo by Lonach
ABV 40.2% - Cask Strength !!!

Nose: Cinnamon, Fruit, Vanilla, Faints of Leather
Taste: Apple, Tobacco, Light Spicey

87 points

Four weeks minus three days - Maltstock time !!!

On 9, 10 and 11 september 2011 #Maltstock will be held !!

Enjoying #whisky, #company, #friends, #stories and all that together for a whole weekend.

Looking forward for the detox-walk (if I can make it with my ankles...).

Please have a look here: www.maltstock.com

BTW: Irritating, those hashtags, aren't they.... ??

Hakushu, heavily peated - 78/100

Distillery bottling
Abv 48%

nose: peat, light fruit, cookie spices
taste: peat (again), cookies
finish: little tickling, little spice

Hmm, i'm a fan of peated whiskies, but this one could not really get to me. Maybe because i didn't get any deeper level of taste below my first impression. Maybe I should say that for my taste it is not complex enough, should I improve my taste? Definitely, will try it in a few years again....

78 points

Bowmore 1999, Queen of the moorlands - 90/100

distilled 1999
bottled 2010

bottler: queen of the moorlands
bottle 20 of 199
cask 352
Abv 53,5%

nose: peat, flowers, marshland, vanilla
taste: surprisingly sweet, tickling, warm, Dutch "speculaas"
finish: just delicious

To be honoust,this was a present. But, boy, what a present indeed!!! This is a VERY nice dram. This is going to be one of my favourite bottles to sip from - maybe even maltstock or a 90-points tasting worth... And many thanks to the giver again!!

90 points

Glen Scotia 18yo by Kintra - 85/100

Distilled 02/1992
bottled 11/2010
cask 141
bottle 35 of 62
Abv 52,6%

nose: cherries, cookie spices, sherry
taste: whammie, Dutch black&white candy, peppery
finish: spicy, smokey

This is a reallynice whisky, i tasted it before at the WFNN this yearin Groningen, but believed it deserved a nice re-tasting, so did that last week together with thenext two drams. And it was worth it, finally a small independent Dutch bottler that finds it ways into very nice stock. Still curious what his own new make tastes like....

85 points

Locke's 8yo Crock - 82/100

Tasted the Locke's 8yo from a Crock yesterday. Surprised me a lot. I drink Kilbeggan as a 'standard' whiskey ever so often, but this is so different.

Overall: Nice, fresh whiskey
Nose: Oak, Fruity
Taste: Barley, Fruits (pear??), Metallic (copper??)

Didn't expect it to be this light on the nose and taste - a very nice whiskey to have just after your decaf coffee - don't drink it next to espresso; it will be humiliated !!!

No, just kidding - this is really a nice, fresh whiskey that I will be enjoying more often "Me thinks, laddy !!!" :)

Laphroaig 2000 - The Ultimate - 78/100

Dist: 18/09/2000
Botl: 07/12/2010
Vol%: 56,9
Cask: 4072
Bottle: 382/571

Straight:

Nose:
Grapefruit, citrus, burning heather, sulphury,

Taste:
Burning sensation ; is that the alcohol or did I just swallow fire ?? Sulphur again ?? Not much else then the burning sensation coming through, maybe a little liquorice.

With water:

Ah, much better nose and taste. Flowers in the nose, apples coming in. Yep, definitely liquorice in the taste, sweet tones. Still burning in the finish.

Overall for the price a good buy - curious about the new expression from The Ultimate.

Kintra Twitter tasting

It appears there is a Kintra Twittertasting, organised by DH17 and Kintra......

I'm not able to attend it.... but I was present at the first Dutch twittertasting on the 6th April, and it's fun following them.

Search for #Kintra #DH17TT

Musings

I've been triggered by a post on a dutch whiskyforum. It was about drinking your best whisky ever, and the asker was someone still hanging on to standard expressions since the single cask versions and special releases where too expensive.

On of the guys responded with a large text (he mostly does...) on different occasions when he tasted the best whisky ever, depending on the situation.

It's true, I've had the same whiskies in different venues and occasions and some of them really where different, or at least; my experience of them was different.

This brought me to question what is the best environment to enjoy whisky. At a campfire? In a warehouse? At home? I'd like to see some comments on that.....

Longrow CV - 84/100

A sample of Master of Malt

ABV: 46%

Nose: Peat, Raisins, Wood, Malt
Taste: Chocolade, Pistachios, Spicy
Aftertaste: Vanilla, hint of spicy, woody

Wow, what a nice dram, need to taste more of this one... ;)

Compass Box Spice Tree - 80/100

A sample of Master of Malt

ABV: 46%

Nose: Peppery, Dry Grass, vanilla, hint of cinnamon
Taste: Warm glow, spicy,
Aftertaste: Warmth, strong, spicyness stays long, woody, malty
Overall: would definitely drink this again....

Compass Box Aysla - 76/100

A Sample from Master of Malt

ABV: 40%

Nose: Citrus, raisins, hints of anise and ginger
Taste: Firey, more like a gin or cornspirit then whisky, grains
Aftertaste: smokey, grains/malty

Sheep Dip - 65/100

Sample from Master of Malt.

ABV: 40%
Nose: Peppery, decreases, becomes flat, hints of rubber
Taste: Nutty, flat, standard
Not complex, overall just average

Back from a bad-nose month

Almost a month now since my cold started and still not completely gone, but have been enjoying whisky again for the last week, so will be posting some tasting notes again from this weekend.

Grants - Can you help ??

They're looking for help finding their own bottles... :)

http://blog.grantswhisky.com/2011/02/can-you-help/

Sitting Straight again....

After a week of sickness I can't say i'm standing up again, let's stick to sitting straight again. Haven't tasted any whisky, didn't read anything on the weblogs.....

Coming sunday is one of the best bottleshares in the Netherland upcoming and hopefully i'll make it to "Otopoets" !!

Will post some stuff from the weblogs around...

Nonjatta: Canned drams

Nice article on Canned Drams on Nonjatta !!

Nikka, Four Roses in a can ???? That's devastating !!

Nonjatta: Canned drams

TWE is NOT affiliated with The Whisky Show 2011

Please read below a statement from Tim at TWE on Whisky show 2011:

Tim F. Twe February 16 at 6:34pm
Dear All,

This is just a quick email to let you know that after organising two very successful Whisky Shows in London in 2009 & 2010, The Whisky Exchange has dissolved our partnership with our co-founder GW Publishing (Graeme Wallace). We're doing our own thing this year (see below).

We are sending this message because we have been made aware that GW Publishing have begun selling tickets to the Whisky Show 2011 without releasing any details of exhibitors. We don't want anyone to get the false impression that we are still organising this whisky show.

Just to be clear, TWE IS NOT INVOLVED IN ANY WAY WITH THE WHISKY SHOW 2011 (sorry for shouting).

The good news is that this year TWE is taking our Show to the next level, with the launch of our own event, The Whisky Exchange Whisky Show in Vinopolis, near Borough Market. This event will be taking place on 7th-8th October 2011 - you can find more details on www.whisky-show.com.

Tickets for The Whisky Exchange Whisky Show will be on sale shortly (after we've confirmed a few more exhibitors - we want you to know exactly what you're getting for your money).

We hope you'll join us in Vinopolis on 7th-8th October - we're convinced that this will be our best Whisky Show yet.

Regards & thanks,

The Whisky Exchange

Single Malts Direct - featuring Jim McEwan's Celtic Heartlands

Single Malts Direct extended their stock with the 6th release of Jim McEwan's Celtic Heartlands.

They include 2 Bunnahabhain's, a Caol ila and a Glenlivet. All presented in very nice decanters. You can find them here.

New style whiskyblog....

Translated (and cleaned up) the weblog - into English.

Will also add newsfacts to the weblog in the future....

The Whisky Exchange suspends shipping to Germany

For our German friends, some bad news on this valentine's day, please read the statement and article below:

"The bad news is that The Whisky Exchange is temporarily suspending shipments to Germany while we sort out a tax agent."

Read more here.

Balblair, 18yo, 1965-1984 - 83/100

Nose: light/mild, fruity freshness, blossoms

Taste: starts of really bitter, later on liquorice and more sweetness

Overall: not the richness you would expect from a 18yo, the bitterness really put me down. The nose is nice and saves the score.

Nikka Yoichi 10yo - 86/100

Nose:
Woody tones, Vanilla,
With water becomes floral
Later hints of cinnamon appear

Taste:
Spicy, Wood, Leather

Aftertaste:
Dry cheeks,
Does not go down the throath

Comment:
Fine whisky, spicy, burning,
smell is very good.

Points: 86/100

BUP - Bottom's Up Program

Ok, now really started to empty all bottles that are less then half full.

First one was the Nikka Yoichi 10yo ; only 3 drams left, one emptied yesterday, one sampled and one left in the bottle for tonight.

Will do a review tonight.

WFNN

Just booked two interesting masterclasses at the Whisky Festival Noord Nederland in Groningen:

- Can you taste the Fruit in these Whisky’s? by Gordon Muir
- Something Completely Different by Dave Broom

Very curious what they will be.....

Talisker 10yo - 83/100

Pfww, you would expect a little salt in a whisky from the west coast of Scotland, but I think somebody mixed up the salt and pepper vessel. What an amount of pepper!! The taste is very peppery, while the nose is lovely smokey with strong hints of spice. Lingering in the mouth, the whisky releases liquorice-wood and reminds me of the Dutch liquorice-candy "Sneker Zoethoudertjes".

To sum it up: nibbling on a piece of liquorice-wood, that's been dipped in the pepper-pot... delicious !!

Talisker 25yo - 85/100

Lovely nose, the well-known pepper-smell and -taste, but much more subtle than with the 10yo. The smokiness is also more softer... a goodie !!

When Talisker 10yo is the ferry from Glen Elg to Kylerhea, the 25yo is the Skye-bridge, much easier, different, but no less attractive. On the contrary; it's complexity, deeper character makes it a better one to my opinion.

ABV : 56,9%

Bernheim Original Wheat Whisky - 83/100

Smells like flowers, a walk in a herbal-garden, vanilla.
Taste is spanky, strong, nice long heave finish

ABV : 45%

This was a sample from Master of Malts, was already standing some time in the cabinet. The first Wheat whisky I ever tasted, lovely whisky. Curious about other wheat whisky's.

Old pulteney wk499

Nice, liquorice, fudge, nutty, vanilla