Inishowen Blended Irish Whiskey 40%

Cooley Distillery

Tasted: Jan 2013

A releatively pleasant, soft nose of squidgy fruit, banana along with a spicy grain note. Very, very lightly peated with a late tar/ rubber note and a touch of coffee.

Ah, and now it all goes a bit pear shaped on the palate! Its light, slightly feinty with a building sulphur note. Flat, grainy and murky with an unpleasant metallic finish.

Kilbeggan 40%

Tasted: Sept 2011

The nose is initially quite grainy but there is some lovely balancing honey notes and caramel oak. Good depth with a touch of citrus...

Grindlay’s Single Cask Release Glentauchers 1996 (19 year old) 54.5%

Cask 7811

Tasted: juni 2016

Nose: Gorgeously mature and tropical with lemon zest, orange blossom honey, pear, peach and barley. Hints of freshening mineral laced gooseberry and citrus. Water emphasises the honey, mature barley and orange.

Palate: Luscious and honeyed with more barley and less tropical fruit. Wonderfully layered and deep with a touch more creamy oak. Good citric and mineral middle. Water emphasises the juicy orange and honey.

Finish: Long and crisp with mouth-watering citrus with hints of straw and herbs. Water makes the finish exceedingly juicy.

Conclusion: Now...

Bushmills Original 40%

Matured for 5 years in American Oak

Tasted: Nov 2011

An inviting and seriously crisp nose with some lovely hard, brittle cereal and citrus. Quite austere with an edgy floral/ perfumed grain note.

The palate is soft but brittle, opening with the crisp barley and honey followed by some creamy oak. majbe this is a tad austere for some palates but I love that. Good length with a lively citrus finish with hints of floral botanicals.

Bushmills Black Bush 40%

Tasted: maj 2009

Quite a floral and grainy nose, but it is backed by some wonderful sweet...

Box Single Maltwhisky, The 2 ^nd Step Collection 01 51.1%

Tasted: juni 2016

Nose: A beautiful tropical fruit bomb! Sugar sprinkled apricot, melon, pear and apple, followed by crisp green apple, gooseberry, lime and honey. Suddenly a gentle thread of lightly medicinal and smoky peat appears.

Palate: Slightly darker with more malt character and dark honey. The tropical fruit notes are still present though and begin to emerge along with hints of barley, lime and green apple. The slightly medicinal peat begins quite quietly but builds up a head of steam!

Finish: Intense and chewy with coffee coated banana...

Claxton’s The Single Cask Auchroisk 1991 (25 year old) 51.2%

Bourbon Hogshead 1604-7479/ Dist: Apr 1991 Btl: Apr 2016/ Tasted: maj 2016

A beguiling nose of perfumed white fruit and tropical apricot, melon and luscious honey. Hints of freshening lime and gooseberry appear along with some light, dusty oak, herbs and malt biscuits. With time it becomes crisper and more barley focused with a touch of orange blossom.

The palate is hugely tropical and barley’d with creamy oak, lime, banana, apricot and melon. A serious fruit monster and a lovely mouthful! The alcohol balances the sweetness but it’s almost buried...

Coopers Choice Ardmore No Age Statement ‘Heavily Peated’ 46%

Bourbon Cask 884/ Dist: ? Btl: 2015(?)/ Tasted: maj 2016

I’m somewhat confused. Why bottle a single cask without an age statement? Yes, it’s young, probably no older than 5 or 6 years, but it has some lovely, slightly perfumed white fruit, unsweetened pineapple and banana with hints of coal dust and rubber.

The palate is a fairly watery and underpowered with hints of estery apricot, pineapple and banana. Very softly peated with hints of herbs and sweet barley. Long with lingering dry peat and spice. Someone has a funny definition...

Coopers Choice Ledaig 1998 (17 year old) 56.5%...

Coopers Choice Craigellachie 2008 (7 year old) 46%

Cask 9464. Port Finish/ Dist: 2008 Btl: 2015/ Tasted: maj 2016

Aromas of hard barley and sweet, almost cloying, syrupy/ jammy red fruits. Hints of manure, pepper, rubber, straw and earthy fruit follow. Natural? Yes! Stinky? Definitely! Slightly grubby? Absolutely! Enjoyable?…. Er… No!

The palate is sweet, sickly, sticky and jammy with red fruit, manure and pepper. The port has swamped the finish, which probably isn’t a bad thing as this Craigellachie is definitely of the industrial persuasion! Medium length with a hot, tannic finish. Although it has a pleasant spicy after-taste,...

Coopers Choice Allt-A-Bhannie 1993 (22 year old) 46%

Cask 9338. Port Finish/ Dist: 1993 Btl: 2015/ Tasted: maj 2016

A pleasant nose of sweet and spicy redcurrant/ sherry with hints of dusty spice and wood smoke. The finish is relatively gentle as a touch of perfumed barley can be discerned along with some apricot, malt and earth.

The palate is relatively elegant and spicy with cinnamon and clove mingling with some fruit pastille-like red fruit and a fair amount of tannin. Hints of straw and barley come through on the middle. Good length with lingering dry woody spice and port...

Coopers Choice Macduff 2008 (7 year old) 46%...

Coopers Choice Glenlossie 1997 (17 year old) 46%...

Coopers Choice Aultmore 2006 (9 year old) 46%...

Hunter Laing Old Malt Cask Inchmurrin 1984 (31 year old) 47.1%

Refill Bourbon Barrel/ Code: OMC2557/ HL12255

Dist: Jun 1984 Btl: Apr 2016/ Tasted: maj 2016

An oily, lanolin heavy nose with an echo of dusty peat. Edgy apricot, tight oak tannins and taught, herbal rye-like notes follow. Suddenly it opens to show malt, fig, lime, Bourbony oak and uber sweet but dusty spice. Very unusual! If I was tasting it blind I would have thought it was some sort of malt/ rye hybrid. Late hints of sweet sherry. It certainly doesn’t feel its age.

The palate opens with candied...

The Exceptional Blend by Sutcliffe & Son, 1 ^st Edition 43%

North British, Strathclyde, Cameronbridge grain with Glenfarclas, Ben Nevis, Balvenie, Kininivie, Glenfiddich, Allt-A-Bhannie, Aucroisk, Glenallachie, Westport (Glenmorangie), Speyside and Macallan malts.

Blended and married in first fill Oloroso butts

Btl: 2016/ Tasted: maj 2016

The nose is mellow and luscious, lightly honeyed apricot and barley is speckled with hints of coriander, cumin and rye-like herbal sherry notes. A touch of gentle peat emerges along with a touch of vanilla, white fruit, greengage and creamy oak and later hints of mature grain.

The palate opens with the nippy grain, followed...

Walcher Gin La Vita è Bella 40%

Italian gin, made with a wheat spirit as a base, and uncommon botanicals, such as mugwort root, calamus root, rose petals, rosemary and valerian root, as well as classic gin botanicals like juniper, fresh lemon and mandarin (from Sicily), coriander, elderflower, cumin and 13 others.

Tasted: maj 2016

The nose is very fresh and lemony with subtle juniper and hints of orange, rosemary, elderflower, ginger and cumin. A slightly earthy, spirit note is just about detectable beneath, but overall it becomes rather too sweet.

The palate is fresh and lemony. Not as complex...

Le Gin 1 & 9 40%

French gin, which is double distilled with only juniper, with the other botanicals – coriander, orange peel, orris root, cinnamon, angelica and cardamom macerated.

Tasted: maj 2016

The nose is very intense, with smoky juniper, coriander and earth. The earthy cinnamon and cardamom spices build pleasantly and give the nose a lovely, natural feel.

The palate is crisp with sweet-ish juniper, coriander and angelica. Less earthy and smoky than the nose suggests, with the emphasis on the sweet juniper. Good length with a subtly floral and spicy ginger and sweet vanilla finish. Actually the...

Carn Mor Celebration of the Cask Speyside 1994 (22 year old) 58.2%

Sherry Hogshead?/ Dist: 1994 Btl: 2016/ Tasted: maj 2016

Deep and fragrant, Armagnac-esque aromas of prune, raisin and walnut. Intensely herbal with hints of menthol and rye-like notes. Layered and fresh with hints of gooseberry, lime, cocoa powder and dark chocolaty spices.

The palate is intense and full with plenty of dried fruit – fig, prune, plum and raisin. Lavishly sprinkled with cocoa powder, walnut and spice. Long and herbal with a touch of vanilla and rye-like spices. A little drying at the death as the spices become...

Carn Mor Celebration of the Cask Dailuaine 1992 (24 year old) 53.7%

Bourbon Hogshead 3135/ Dist: 1992 Btl: 2016/ Tasted: maj 2016

A very mature and lovely nose of dusty American oak with hints of grass, white liquorice, pear and herbal rye-like notes. Excellent balance and complexity with late hints of peach skin, vanilla and earthy spice.

Crisp white fruit with hints of honey, barley and sweet oak on the palate. Slightly herbal with developing dusty spices and citrus. Lovely citric intensity on the middle with hints of peach and rose petals. Long with a forceful dry spice finish, entwined...

Carn Mor Strictly Limited Knockdhu 2009 (6 year old) 46%...

J E Pepper 1776 Straight Rye 50%

90% Rye Mashbill

Tasted: maj 2016

The aromas are soft with a combination of sweet and herbal rye notes. Hints of corn and sweet oak appear along with hints of earth, coffee, leather, orange and sweet spice.

The palate has the softness of the nose but it the rye character is slightly more edgy with a lightly herbal character. A touch of coffee, sweet oak and corn follows but the herbal rye intensity builds and becomes a little bitter. There’s more wood spice than you can shake a stick at on the middle...