Tastes

I like TBWC but it really is starting to irritate me how they don't publish cask info. Why the secret? Anyhow enough of my pedanticness. I am starting to sympathize with those on the virtual whiskey pilgrimage: LeeW, GP, PBM, Telex, Scott and others. I thought to avoid their similar fate by trying to get a good example of each distillery. This was rated an average of nearly 5 stars on MoM by 5 reviews.....whaaat! This is definitely my least favourite of the seven or so I've had this day. Sickly sweet cough mixture. 2.5 I'm giving this. But it is in balance I suppose (once extensively watered). And cheap... $60 for a 27 year old must be the best year to price ratio I've ever seen. Not enough to save it from a downward 2 rating.

Definately a bit better balanced than the Tormore 21 from TBWC I just had, and better after taste although still mild. Similar characteristics though, sweet vanilla, and a hint of sherry that nicely compliments. Initially I thought meh bit boring but I'd change that to 'delicate' instead. The components are there they just need time to surface. 3.75 I initially thought but towards the end I thought nah it's a solid 4. Wouldn't buy bottle but then again I'm very selective these days :-).

One of 149 bottles which indicates a single cask. Now I've had a good run with TBWC lately but it tails off here a bit. You'd think if they pick one cask and charge around $150USD (700ml equiv) they'd make it a good one but I preferred the Tamnavulin DC at 1/3rd the price (and then promptly rounded that up to a 4 for VFM). Not bad with its very sweet vanilla bones but bit of an ethanolly aftertaste and not much else going on. 3.25-3.5 for me. Still Tormore distillery ticked off my list on my wander through Scotland's finest.

GP is on the money; Sherry oak, cherry, brown sugar and sulphur with a nice caramelly viscousness. Now I like a bit of sulphur..nothing like a bit of worm tub action to get my pulse racing (yes Mortlach and Craigellachie I'm looking at you). The sulphur note however trends to bitterness which I am very unforgiving on - lemony flavour and bitterness are no nos for me and the after taste smacks of ethanolly, citrusey bitterness. Still it's cheap at under $50 and so 3.5 for me and rounding up to a 4 as after this I had a 21 year Tormore and thought compared to that this is much cheaper and better.

Ardbeg day is upon us. Kids dropped off at swimming and I'm here at my local retailer celebrating. Now I've already tasted the committee which was a great dram. This...this is good but not the same level of deep rich char, tastes like what it is a watered down version. The char still seems to over power anything else going on...which is weird as I thought the reduced abv would help. Elements of the lemony flavour largely absent in the committee come through. Definitely not in my top Ardbegs. Kelpie, Dark Cove, Cory and Uggie I'd have put ahead of this once price is factored in from memory. Although interestingly I also drank the Kelpie and Uggie with this one after I typed that up and although the Uggie kept its place the Kelpie wasn't as good as I remembered but it was the third dram. Solid 4 I'll give it down from the 4.25 for the committe which amazingly is the same price so I might get a bottle of that as if I don't drink I def won't lose $$.

I see this one has been extensively reviewed by the mob on their tour of scotland so little to add. I like it, decent drop. 3.5, not quite a 4 as slightly bitter finish but given the price at under $50USD I'll round up.

I have to give a shout out to the good folks at whiskey galore whiskey retailer in Christchurch, NZ. They are responsible for many of my favourite life experiences from setting up the Last Word bar which I have spent a fortune over the last several months here flying down weekly. Also for running the best festival in the world..Dramfest every two years :-). I've bought a few things off them online over the years but never actually visited their shop in person. I popped in to get a glass hand blown whiskey water dropper (no longer will I be straining to carefully get the right amount of water out of the tap!) and before I know it they were offering me a sample of this. As I said good people! The speaker of our parliament here popped is as well for a tasting so looks like well connected also! Anyway the drop itself was nice, creamy honey creme brulee type thing, alcohol wasn't to in balance. I don't know if its a fair rating as I spent the day drinking wine in vineyards in the Waipara region the day before, and previous two nights at the last word bar so really didn't feel like drinking, but 3.5 I'm thinking.

This one was very much like the profile of the 16 year Jura I had last night. You get the nice viscous caramel honey upfront with a bit of added spice but then there is little substance or complexity in the body and little aftertaste. 3.25

Well I wouldn't say Dalmore have great casking as a whole but as much as I thought the distillery 15 was average it was still better than this effort. Bitterness slightly wrong flavour, was just a bit of an average jumble. 2.75

No. 2 on the Pulteney journey. Sadly all 3 Pulteneys were average but they were on the cheap side. This was the last placed. The only one with slight green peppered bitterness to accompany the vanilla. In the end I didn't finish the 3 drams as they weren't really going anywhere special so I decided to mix them together with remnants of Cardhu 12 and Dalmore 15 IB...the combined sum was definitely worse than the individual parts!