How much change takes place in a quarter of a century? Look at fashion, cars, sport, music, politics or any other given topic and I’m sure you’ll agree countless things have their brief moment in the spotlight before something newer, cooler and more innovative comes along. However, if you consider whisky, not a lot changes. [...]...

What a crazy couple of weeks. From a Havana tweet tasting (with the excellent floating rum shack), a stag weekend with Turbo EWB & Dr Mott (very old blog reference), a new, cracking Irish Distillers release (article coming soon), a meet the brewer with the innovative, and great to talk to Weird Beard, Grey Goose cocktails [...]...

Balvenie distillery is a bit of a gem really.  It is a pretty distillery, and they still do quite a bit of the whisky making there. From floor malting, coopering and employing a copper smith. This control of the process allows for control on quality at each point of production. Now, I have always liked Balvenie, [...]...

A single cask. How totally individual. How utterly unrepeatable. How completely unique. I love sampling them. Don’t get me wrong, multi-cask vattings from distilleries form the bulk of my all time top single malts – Ardbeg Uigeadail, Glenfiddich 15yo Solera Reserve, Aberlour a’bunadh, Highland Park 18yo, Lagavulin 16yo etc. The list could (and definitely does) [...]...

Oh, the altruism. Every now and then we just can’t help it. Kindness and general goodness of heart bursts right out of us and we just want to give stuff away. Granted, it’s rarely something that comes from us but don’t let that distract you. Stay focused because this giveaway is better than most. You [...]...

maj. What a month. The month of whisky. The month of the Spirit of Speyside Festival, Whisky Mash, World Whisky Day, Feis Ile, the Spirit of Stirling Whisky Festival, Create:Eat:Whisky, the Campbeltown Malts Festival and, of course, the Whisky Stramash. A hedonic 30 days of whisky heaven. If you’ve followed our blog for a while [...]...

Pennsylvania, the home of Dad’s Hat distillery, is a state that played a major part in the formative years of American whiskey, and the American government in general. Pennsylvanian farmers grew an awful lot of rye to make whisky in the late 1700′s, when the first Federal Government was being formed. What the Federal Government [...]...

I often think of Tamdhu as a ‘silent Speysider’, because while she sits aloft many a whisky shelf, she never really raises her voice or wears skirts with eye-wateringly high hem lines. She sits gracefully and elegantly, patiently waiting for you to come to her. Having said that, she has since undergone a bit of [...]...

It’s difficult to write an article about Jameson’s #HelloDublin press trip. Not because it wasn’t totally and utterly awesome, not because I don’t remember it (despite being plied with endless amounts of Jameson and Midleton whiskey), and certainly not because I’m lazy (ok, that might have something to do with it), but mainly because I [...]...

The idea of Geronimo Jameson Barrel aged Imperial stout came about when someone from Jameson went into Beavertown’s brew pub (probably to suggest getting some Jameson on the back bar) and Logan Plant (owner of Beavertown) floated the idea of barrel ageing a beer. If you don’t ask, you don’t get. After much conversation, a [...]...

Barterhouse 20 year old is part of Diageo’s Orphan Barrel series. It is a 20 year old Kentucky Bourbon, and Diageo have rather mysteriously mentioned where it was matured (Stitzel Weller warehouses) but no more information on the Orphan Barrel website. Diageo don’t currently own a Bourbon distillery but they once did: Stitzel Weller, Old [...]...

A few weeks ago I wrote an article lamenting the loss of Glenlivet 12yo from the UK, having just discovered that it was to be replaced, as of this month, with a new NAS alternative. Was I apprehensive? Yes. Did I fear a Macallan-esque let down? Certainly. Have I been proven wrong? Most definitely… and [...]...

Fantastic Folks A few months ago, I was lucky to visit Balblair distillery, as part of a brilliant trip with Inverhouse distillers to Old Pulteney, Balblair, Ancnoc and Speyburn (sort of). I say a brilliant trip as not only were they great distilleries to visit, but I was with a genuinely lovely fantastic folks: Annabelle [...]...

Now you see me, now you don’t. Elegant and slender two-hundred-year-old oak tree, which seconds ago seemed an unmovable, permanent feature of these woods, suddenly decided to lean slightly, then a little more, crack and finally fall to the ground with an earth-shuddering thump. A falling tree is a force to be reckoned with. Fast [...]...

As some of you maj be aware, particularly if you’re a ‘Glenlivet Guardian’ or have read these blog articles from Thijs Klaverstijn and Oliver Klimek, The Glenlivet 12yo is being pulled from the UK market as of next month to be replaced with the NAS Founder’s Reserve. I’ll reiterate that, just so it sinks in. [...]...

I have to admit, for all the whisky I’ve drank over the past few years I’ve rarely ventured into the world of Blair Athol. I mean, sure, we’ve all been 16 years old and gotten totally smashed on half a bottle of Bell’s at a mate’s house party only to wake up the next morning [...]...

Unbelievably, a whole year has passed since the last blog birthday – it was a fairly epic night if the photos on my phone are anything to go by, so in true EWB fashion we’re throwing another birthday bash this year (albeit a month late, we’re just really lazy and shit at organising things)! 2014 [...]...