Last day of Feis Ile is always Ardbeg day. Last year Ardbeg released a festival bottling with a Brazilian theme due to the World Cup at the time.

Ardbeg Auriverdes (Feis Ile 2014) (49.9%,  £100 )

Nose : Peat, pines resin burning in bonfire, all quite restrained for an Ardbeg whisky (No, Blasda isn’t Ardbeg ;-) ). Coffee, mocha and vanilla. Yes, the promised notes are here on the nose.

Palate : Peatier than the nose (more Ardbegy), vanilla, mocha, citrus (mainly lemon and grapefruits). Toward the end it’s full of tar and is ashy.

Finish : Long with ashes,...

Feis ile 2015 is in it’s twilight and we’re left with 2 more distilleries. Today is Bunnahabhain day and we’re reviewing their Feis Ile 2014 bottle: Dràm an Stiùreadair.

Dràm an Stiùreadair (pronounced ‘Draam an Yoù-radar’) is a salute to the seamen.  It’s a peated Bunnahabhain, matured in Bourbon casks for 9 years, it then a final year in a marsala wine cask.

Bunnahabhain Dràm An Stiùreadair (Feis Ile 2014) (56.7%, £160 )

Nose : Starts with a wine impact but then the peat comes up. Peanuts snacks (Bamba snack for the locals here in Israel). The peat that rose...

Like I wrote in the previous review from a couple of minutes ago ( Jura Tastival 2014 ), it’s Feis Ile split day since Kilchoman distillery opened its doors a few years ago. Kilchoman is the youngest operating distillery on Islay (until gartbreck starts operating next year) and already have a track record of young yet good peated whisky. Last year they released a Feis Ile 2014 expression matured for over 5 years in two fresh bourbon barrels and finished in a Fino sherry butt for 3 months. I was wondering if 3 months are enough to impart enough effect on the...

Today is the Feis Ile split day where two distilleries share the same date for their open day festivities: Jura and Kilchoman. By the way, from next year there will be two split days when Gartbreck distillery will open its door for visitors and I wonder which of the existing distilleries will get shared. Anyway, a split day and two celebrating distilleries so it’s a day for two reviews of last years Festival bottlings.

For last years festival, Jura distillery released Tastival 2014 (and this year it’s Tastival 2015. I feel a trend here…). Tastival 2014 is the result of 7 (Yes, you read...

Another day, another distillery open day on Islay and today is Bowmore day at Feis Ile 2015!

Bowmore, the oldest distillery on Islay released a straight forward ex-bourbon whisky but it’s a first fill cask so extra fruitiness and sweetness are expected. Right?

Bowmore Feis Ile 2014 (56.1%)

Nose : Young at nose. at least at first, as it’s light with young maltiness and sweet peat. After it settled in the glass there are spices, pears and green apples, pastry dough but the peat profile is very bowmore-y.

Palate : Sweet peat transforming to smoke and sweet stew of cured meat...

This is the second review today to celebrate the Laphroaig open day at Feis Ile 2015. The first review is the Cairdeas 2014 and here we’re reviewing the Douglas Laing release for Feis Ile 2015 celebration.

Old Particular Laphroaig 14 Cask #10694 (Douglas Laing) (48.4%, 636 bottles,  £90.43 )

Nose : Rich nose! sweet fruity nose backed up by strong and solid yet no sharp edges Laphroaig peat with smoke, iodine and TCP. Giving it a minute or two in the glass the fruits get sharpened a bit and there’s also lemon and sugar coated stone fruits. Here comes the brine and...

It’s Laphroaig open day in Feis Ile 2015 festival. I don’t hide the fact that it’s my favorite distillery and it kinda kill me that I’m not there as Laphroaig is celebrating their bicentenary (200 years).

Because it’s their bicentenary, I’ll review two Laphroaig whiskies today. The first one is last year Cairdeas 2014 and the other one is the special release for Feis Ile 2015 from Douglas Laing – the Old Particular Laphroaig 14 .

The Cairdeas (which is pronounced ‘car-chase’, means ‘friendship’ in Gaelic) 2014 was matured in bourbon barrels and Amontillado hogsheads, which is different sherry type...

Today is Caol Ila open day, so let’s review their Feis Ile 2014 bottling. It was the first Special/Feis Ile bottling done by the new distillery manager David Wood who try to carry on and stand up to Billy Stitchell’s work.

So the Feis Ile 2014 bottling? Not much to tell about it. It was matured in refill American oak hogsheads without any fancy finishes or tricks.

Caol Ila 2002 (Feis Ile 2014 bottling) (55.5%, 1500 bottles)

Nose : Sweetness and peat with sweetness at first dominating the nose. Lemon and coconuts, a bit oily. With time there are ashes on...

Feis Ile has started yesterday with Lagavulin day and now onward to Bruichladdich. Last years festival bottling was Octomore Discovery, quadruple distilled and aged for 7 years in sherry casks.

Bruichladdich Octomore Discovery 7 Year Old (69.5%)

Nose : Very restrained, showing lots of fruitiness on the front seat and some peat smoke in the background. I doesn’t smell like a very peated whisky (like Octomore) but I guess we can attribute it to the quadruple distillation (and casks selection). Citrus (oranges and lemon), creamy cereals, vanilla. on the back there’s the smoke, wood smoke and damp peat.

Palate :...

So it’s that week again, Feis Ile Festival has started and just like last year I’m going to review a whisky from each Islay (and Jura) distillery on their open day.

Last year it was a wide assortment of drams but this year we’ll review the series of Feis Ile 2014 bottles. Yes, you read it right, for Feis Ile 2015 we’ll review the 2014 bottlings :)

But for every rule there are exceptions, and this year we actually starts with the exception. I already reviewed the Lagavulin 1995 19 yo that was bottled for Feis Ile 2014 following a blind...

Feis Ile is knocking on our doors but let’s say one last goodbye to Springbank appreciation week and Campbeltown festival with the review of the 18 Year old duo from Springbank: the unpeated Springbank 18 and the peated Longrow 18.

Springbank 18 Year old (46%,  €111.66 )

Nose : sherry impact of berries, a bit dry, sweet honeyed vanilla and caramel, raisins, fruity. Rich and oily and just classic.

Palate : Oh, lots of spices, aniseed and lots of sherry spices, raisins and red fruits, quite dry.

Finish : Long, dried fruits, salt, bit of oak and chocolate, sweet yet dry.

 ...

Moving on with our Springbank appreciation week. Today is the open day at Springbank distillery and I’m very jealous of my three friends who visits the distillery today (on their way to Feis) and in their honor let’s review a trio (one for each friend) of official Springbank finishes.

The first one is the Gaja Barolo wood finish that spent four years in refill bourbon barrels, followed by another five further years in Gaja Barolo wine casks.

Springbank 9 Year old Gaja Barolo wood finish ( 54.7%, 11,000 bottles,  £57.95 / €69,95 )

Nose : The wine impact is very strong...

Next in line is a review of the old NAS offering from Springbank which was discontinued, the Springbank CV and along with it we’ll review the Longrow CV which was replaced (or merely renamed) with Longrow Peated.

The CV name stands for Curriculum Vitae. Yes, similar to what’s going on with job interviews, it’s called this way as there’s a long road behind it – a vatting of different casks types and styles (bourbon, sherry and port wine) and different ages (7,10,14 years).

Springbank CV (46%, €33.95 )

Nose : apples,pears, coconut, vanilla custard, spiciness, white pepper at first that it calms down and...

Too many Springbank tasting notes with cobwebs on them so let’s have a Springbank week here on the blog. We’ll start with a blend, Spirit of Freedom 30 Year Old, which isn’t a true Springbank but is produced by J & A Mitchell, the owners of Springbank and probably contains some old Springbank spirit in it.

Spirit of Freedom was released to commemorate the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 which is a big and important milestone for Scotland (read about it  at Wikipedia as we’re focusing on whisky here :))

It is composed of 75% Maltwhisky (from...

I had planned 2 more Craigellachie reviews in this round but we’ll have to settle for just one as the Craigellachie 7 bottle from Whisky Live TLV didn’t arrive yet. So the last indie Craigellachie in this round is another Old Malt Cask but this time it’s 15 year old with different profile. It was distilled in 1997 and bottled in 2013 after it was matured in a refill hogshead.

Craigellachie 15 yo 1997 Cask 9344 Old Malt Cask (50%, 293 bottles,  £61.68 )

Nose : Nosing it gives lots of fruity and malty notes. There’s some floral note which enrich it along...

The second Craigellachie review in the series and this time a 11 year old offering from Hunter Laing, matured in a sherry cask and was bottled exclusively to the duty free store in TLV airport. As it was priced decently it was an easy choice to buy by many malt-heads here.

Craigellachie 11 Old Malt Cask (50%, TLV Duty Free Exclusive, $71.9)

Nose : Malt with young fresh berries, cherries, meaty and chewy with light sulphur note of unlit matches, sour apples, all those with sweet forest berries on the side. With water added spices of nutmeg and cinnamon.

Palate : Malty...

I have some fond memories of Craigellachie. I slept there while touring the Speyside region, tasted my first Craigellachie dram there and I liked the new lineup released last year.

I got this sample of a young Craigellachie single cask from Wemyess and while I sat down and wrote my notes for it, I realized I have a couple more of indie Craigellachie reviews to publish and so, expect some heavy dose of indie Craigellachie reviews in the coming few weeks from this unheralded distillery.

Let’s start with the young Craigellachie that triggered this reaction, the Craigellachie 2002-2014 Dark Treacle Fondant from...

After reviewing the basic NAS offering from the Singleton of Dufftown line up let’s go to the very top of the lineup: Singleton of Dufftown 18 Year old.

Singleton of Dufftown 18 Year Old (40%, £54.34 / €55 )

Nose : Cereal, creamy, rich fruity notes, soft vanilla, apples, spice, toffee, lively and fresh yet soft,. Overall it has a very rich nose.

Palate : Creamy and vanilla, rich fruits notes followed by strong spicy notes.

Finish : Long finish. It starts with fruits (mainly apricots) and continue with lots of spice, dash of grounded cinnamon and sweet honey.

Thoughts : There’s no...

From two very peated Bruichladdichs to the other edge of the scale. Today’s review is a mellow Speyside whisky: Singleton of Dufftown Taifire.

An expression released in 2014, it’s a NAS whisky with a supposedly fruity touch due to “higher proportion of European oak casks”.

Singleton of Dufftown Tailfire (40%,  £28 / £28 / €29.5 )

Nose : On first sniff it’s very creamy with lots of malt cereal and light sweet honey. Further on there’s a dash of fragrance/perfume, vanilla, peaches and weak candied oranges. After it spends a few minutes in the glass there’s some white pepper spice.

Palate...

Last review was a Bruichladdich Port Charlotte and on its heels is another peated Bruicladdich review. This time, the latest offering in the Octomore series – Octomore 7.2

Like in previous Octomore releases, the x.2 suffix means some fancy/special wine finish (For example: Octomore 6.2 was Cognac finish) and this time it’s a Syrah wine (from  the  Northern Rhone Valley) finish.

Bruichladdich Octomore 7.2 (58.5%,  €154.99 )

Nose : Restrained and smooth peat, vanilla, sweet red berries that slowly develop into a formidable dry red wine impact but the it’s beautifully balanced with the peat. There’s a strong back-end of...