“Helping you to find the best whisky with concise whisky reviews and recommendations”

The blind hand got this samples from my samples’ box and we have here a Belgian malt whisky finished in Oloroso cask. This malt whisky was distilled by Filliers, one of the first distilleries in Belgium to distill malt whisky, even before Belgian Owl.

“Not a bad finish but I am not really a big fan of finished whiskies, in this Goldlys there is just too much oloroso but in the wrong way”

87

This dram has a amber-like color.

Nose (88): more than average. honey, citrus, raisins, wood, leather, sulphur, vanilla.

Palate (87): powerful, oily. honey, leather, wood, sultanas, citrus, spices, wood.

Finish (86): longer than average. honey, wood.

So based on other whiskies I have already tasted I rate this Goldlys 12 Year Old Oloroso Finish (1st Release) with 87 points over 100.

Much in the way of Glenmorangie finishes… if you like them, go ahead, you will enjoy this dram… but I still have nightmare about damn LaSanta.

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I am writting a post about why I halted my whisky acquisitions, but drams like this make me keep faith and hope in the future. This single grain whisky from Teeling, a new irish whiskey distillery on the game, is really … well, let’s review it.

“Pretty amazing single grain whisky! So much spices and sweetness in a single bottle... I love it!”

90

Irish single grain whiskey from Teeling! There are only a few Irish single grain whiskies out there at the moment, but Teeling went ahead and made theirs unique by maturing it in Californian Cabernet Sauvignon casks.

This dram has a gold-like color.

Nose (90): more than average. honey, toffee, vanilla, citrus, cinnamon, corn.

Palate (90): light, smooth. honey, corn, vanilla, spices, wood, cinnamon, candies, cloves.

Finish (89): longer than average. honey, corn, spices.

So based on other whiskies I have already tasted I rate this Teeling Single Grain with 90 points over 100.

Buy this bottle at

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• Buy on Master of Malt for £37.33

As I said it is amazing to still be able to buy such good whiskey for less than £50. Hope loading…

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As you can see by the number of recent posts, I have really slow down on writing about whisky and it is mainly because I have almost stopped buying whisky. I have been an anxious whisky buyer and collector for the last four years, but from six months to now I can count with one hand the bottles that I have order online. Why?

(Game of throats. Danny Nicholson)

Well, there are several reasons that made me moderate my whisky buying habits. Let me tell you about them and five whiskies that keep my faith in this world untouched.

Prices

Whisky prices are going up everyday. Every single interesting bottle that I spot is really out of my reach. If you are really fast and lucky when ordering online you will only find that you have to pay something way above £100 to get 15 years old whiskies.

Not sure about you, but I can’t afford to spend £160 on my everyday whisky and really it is way out of my pocket to spend that on a treat whisky. I have paid on the past that money for pretty special whiskies like a 25 years old Macallan or a 30 years old Karuizawa… but today… you can’t get even a Macallan 18 years old for that money.

The only thing I can’t complain about is that Lagavulin 16 years old still cost the same… and I am pretty much done with that.

Limited releases

If things are pretty bad with prices, the result of just combining it with limited release ( that usually are unlimited ) just make everything worse.

With the excuse of being a limited release the price goes up by a good 200% or more. And again, if you are lucky and you buy it from a online retailer on the first minutes of its release.

Whiskies like the new Highland Park Odin, the Octomore new releases, the Devil PunchBowl series, the yearly Ardbeg releases. I really stopped buying them all because there is no point, they will keep coming and coming and coming, each time more expensive and more “limited”.

And well, I see the point on a 40 years old or a 30 years old whisky being expensive, I understand there are storage costs and exclusiveness… but fucking holy shit you can’t do, shouldn’t do, the same with a NAS whisky. It isn’t fair.

Whisky speculators

The third thing that is getting me down are speculators. I am really tired of people that buy a bottle of whisky just to sell it for twice the price a few days after its release. I am a whisky collector, I buy whisky because I love the way the bottle looks and because I love great whisky. Sometimes I indulge myself and open a bottle but most of my collection is close.

Am I any better that those pesky whisky speculators? Well, I want to think that I am. That I love the whisky I buy not because the profit I may make on the future but because of the greatness of the liquid that is inside the bottle.

It is very hard to compete with people that makes a living of buying and selling whisky and I really refuse to pay double the price for a bottle of whisky. I really gave up trying to buy “interesting” whiskies both because of price and because of speculators.

Economy

This has nothing to do with whisky itself, but when some retards assholes working on ECB thought it would be great for Germany to sell more cars by weakening EUR against USD and GBP, automagically my whisky turned a 20% more expensive. And that really sucks if you have been reading the previous paragraphs.

I love good whisky but I have my feet on the ground and I really can’t pay hundred of euros for a bottle of whisky no matter how good it is.

Miguel says…

So, no, I didn’t quit whisky. I kept drinking and tasting and finding hidden gems just that previously I wrote the articles mainly for myself to guide my buying options and well that really came to an end.

The fact that many of you wrote me about what were going on about the blog gives me a motivation to start writting again and helping you and me perhaps to find good great whisky for a fair price. Just that it gets harder each day :)

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Woo, I need to force myself into actually writting the reviews because I write the tasting notes and just let them sit there for myself… such selfishness…

Well, today I am here with a review of Old Pulteney Navigator, a duty-free whisky from this highland distillery that was the crafter of Old Pulteney 21 years old, the best whisky in the world… or so Jim Murray says…

Personally I don’t enjoy much the profile of Old Pulteney whiskies. They are nice but they don’t hit me on the soft spot as well as other drams: it is not enough peated, not enough salty, nor enough sherried. But anyway… let’s review it with that in mind.

“Not my kind of whisky... but it has a taste that remind me of a smoky & salty Balvenie 12 years old. Interesting”

87

Released in 2013 to coincide with their sponsoring of a yacht in the Clipper Round the World Race, Old Pulteney Navigator was created to reflect the distillery's rich maritime heritage. It is matured in ex American bourbon and ex Spanish Sherry casks and bottled at 46%.

This dram has a fino-like color.

Nose (86): more than average. honey, citrus, wood, spices, cinnamon, salt, smoke.

Palate (88): powerful, oily. honey, wood, vanilla, spices, toffee, cinnamon, smoke, salt.

Finish (88): longer than average. honey, wood, spices.

So based on other whiskies I have already tasted I rate this Old Pulteney Navigator Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky with 87 points over 100.

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As i said it is a decent whisky but not my kind of whisky. I would rather put my money somewhere else…

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Part of the Seven Stars whisky serie from Spirit of Hven this Phecda is a medium peated single malt created completely in the island of Hven, in the strait between Denmark and Sweden.
The name of this whisky derives from the Arab word for one of the seven stars of Ursa Major. And like its two predecessors: Dubhe and Merak, it is the result of a vatting of a few casks… so it is not single cask but pretty close.

Let’s review it.

“I love how peat and wood works on this whisky. A fantastic ( and highly recommedable dram ) from Hven distillery with notes of nuts and spices over a honeyed peated malt. Yay!”

90

This dram has a cooper-like color.

Nose (89): more than average. honey, spices, citrus, wood, pepper, cinnamon, plums, smoke.

Palate (90): powerful, oily. honey, peat, citrus, nuts, spices, pepper, cinnamon, salt.

Finish (90): longer than average. honey, nuts, wood.

So based on other whiskies I have already tasted I rate this Spirit of Hven No.3 Phecda with 90 points over 100.

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• Buy on Master of Malt for £94.65

Miguel says…

Definitively a great step forward over Merak. This whisky is more mature, slightly more peated and definitively more yummy. Keep an eye on Spirit of Hven because if the progression keeps next releases are going to be quite quite interesting.

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I have just realized that I never completely published some of the tasting notes from #WhiskyAdvent 2014 calendar, and particularly one that really caught my attention was the dram for the Dec, 24. The Lost distilleries whiskies are a serie of whiskies created using malts and grain whiskies from closed distilleries of Scotland like Port Ellen, LittleMill, North Port.

This batch 6 features malt whiskies from Mosstowie, Port Ellen, Glenisla, Imperial, Caperdonich, Glen Mhor and Brora, and grain whiskies from Port Dundas.

“Deliciously delicate! So well balanced... it is truly a real masterpiece. A candies shop full of flowers and oranges”

93

A truly extraordinary award-winning series continues - behold, Batch 6 of the Lost Distilleries Blend. This spectacular blended Scotch whisky is produced solely using whiskies from some of the most renowned, though sadly closed, Scottish distilleries and the result is a dram that undoubtedly lives up to their lofty legacies.

This dram has a fino-like color.

Nose (93): more than average. honey, flowers, toffee, vanilla, liquorice, pepper, citrus, oranges, wood.

Palate (93): powerful, oily. honey, candies, spices, citrus, cinnamon, ginger, orange zest, vanilla, flowers.

Finish (93): longer than average. honey, spices, candies.

So based on other whiskies I have already tasted I rate this The Lost Distilleries Blend - Batch 6 with 93 points over 100.

Miguel says…

You know what I think about all the nonsense of actual whisky prices… but with Karuizawa and this one I have been tempted to make an exception. Unfortunately it is too much money for my pocket, but maybe it is not for yours. An excellent dram and one of the best ones that I have tasted in 2014.

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I suppose I was expected to have reviewed these whiskies sooner, but right now I am working on so many things that I have almost no time for one of my favorites things: drinking whisky.

But enough talking about me… if you know about world’s whisky, you will know that in Sweden there is a big whisky maker called Mackmyra with some interesting whiskies, but there is also another distilleries like Spirit of Hven. A small whisky distillery placing the focus on small scale, hand made, hand bottled, small batches whiskies, and also gins & vodka.

The two whiskies that I am going to review today are a single casks called Merak and a small batch cask strength whisky in honour of Saint Nicholas called Sankt Klaus

Read the full story »

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After tasting last year a great Glendronach bottled too by Abbey Whisky ( that I bought right after the first sip touched my lips ), I got a few days ago a sample of their new single cask Glendronach. A 20 years old single cask whisky distilled in 1994 and aged in a Pedro Ximenez Puncheon.

As you know, I don’t like PX whiskies… I usually dislike how the sweetness and cocoa works on them… but as usual, I tasted this one blind. Let’s review it.

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I got a set of samples from Spirit of Hven a few days after Christmas for reviewing but I haven’t found time to do it till now… and I really regret it because they are quite interesting… but let’s not spoil my own reviews.

Today I will review the flatter of the three, a organic gin made at by the Spirit of Hven at the island of

“Decent gin with a nice touch of botanicals and a bold citrus profile. A safe bet for the perfect gin tonic if you ask me”

78

An organic gin from the Swedish island of Hven, the botanicals are infused for a day in grain spirit and then redistilled in copper pot stills and matured in oak. The result is a delicate gin with hints of spice.

This dram has a white-like color.

Nose (77): more than average. citrus, juniper, lavender, herbs.

Palate (78): light, smooth. citrus, malt, juniper, herbs, liquorice.

Finish (78): longer than average. citrus, juniper, liquorice.

So based on other whiskies I have already tasted I rate this Spirit of Hven Organic Gin with 78 points over 100.

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It is a decent gin that won’t disappoint you. I am not a big fan of Gin… beyond drinking them with some citrus peel and tonic water and this Gin does the work. For more exotic experiences you better look somewhere else.

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A few weeks ago I got a sample of Rock Oyster from Douglas Laing. I am a huge fan of their whiskies because they are a fair and good bang for the buck dram… so this one looked so promising… I had to taste it. So here is the review.

“Lovely character. Delicious layers of peat, spices and toffee assault you with each sip. Imagine a sweet peated Talisker”

90

Joining Douglas Laing's range of blended malts in early 2015, Rock Oyster is a magnificent maritime marvel made with single malts distilled on Scottish islands including Orkney, Jura, Arran and Islay.

This dram has a white wine-like color.

Nose (90): more than average. honey, peat, toffee, vanilla, salt, flowers.

Palate (91): powerful, oily. peat, honey, salt, vanilla, pepper, citrus.

Finish (90): longer than average. peat, spices, honey.

So based on other whiskies I have already tasted I rate this Rock Oyster Blended Malt with 90 points over 100.

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Save money when you buy Blended Malt Whisky online. Check for the best prices from best online shops below:

• Buy on Master of Malt for £36.73
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I still haven’t been disappointed by any of their whisky and this is yet another fantastic dram. Only for the peat heads of the house by the way :)

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