Talisker 18yo 45.8%

Well this is a whisky with a huge reputation winning an award from the highly respected malt maniacs and also being named best whisky of the year by whisky magazine - actually question this competition as only open to official distillery bottlings but still worth a shout.

Anyway here goes!

Nose: Big, Germolene , oily and a touch of smoke - not huge smoke though. Touch of smoked mussles mmmm smoked mussles and then maybe a hint of menthol mouthwash.

Taste: Chlorine, flat peat, and dry smoke and a little bit grassy! Also a little bit salty with some sherried notes - cracking stuff!

Finish: Wow big - fruity salty finish! Love this! Big and fruity and peat coming through!

Comment: This is cracking - malt maniacs and whisky magazine are right!

Score: 95/100

Glenmorangie 18yo

Was just in a bar that claimed to have a decent whisky list - note the term claimed! So i picked a dram that I haven't had for a while, namely Glenmorangie and in this case the 18 year old. I believe this bottling is no longer available in the new wine bottle Glenmorangie range - not that I am that bothered after trying this was this. I must point out that this was tried in a hotel bar this evening that makes me want to have a rant about how shite hotel bars can be -but I will save that for another day! - so it was served in a big as tumbler so maybe I am being unfair on it. Anyway here goes!

Nose: Light soft and creamy but nothing jumping out at all. Some vanilla and a touch of bourbon biscuits.

Taste: Tastes a little bit watery, touch of typical pear drops but soft and quite a lot of vanilla.

Finish: Short - very short! Slightly musty - infact stale custard creams!

Comment: Not a huge fan of this could have been a good dram if it had some balls about it - very much a featherweight. Nothing really wrong but yet nothing really right!

Score: 76/100

Macallan 18yo 1985 43%

Got my hands on a slightly old miniature of 18yo (sherry cask) Macallan tonight, ok the 85 - 18yo wasnt that long ago but (lets sound like an old boy) but it does't seem that long ago since the 18yo was a 1982 vintage and I think they have now released the 1989 vintage>

Ah well I say vintage..... I have been told that up until 1981 it was a true vintage but it changed to have older whiskies in it, recently as you See on this miniature it will say "the youngest whisky was distilled in wxyz year"

Anyway on with the tasting!

Nose: initially very big (is it to big?) obvious big sherry notes but meaty slightly sulphury notes. After giving it time it gets more Calvados like.

Taste: Again this is a big dram, huge sherry a touch of cream as well though - some slight orange notes and a touch of spice.

Finish: A touch of maple syrup in the finish and again big sherry.

Comment: Yes I like this - I like it a lot but actually when you come to scoring it there is nothing amazing about this due to the huge over influnece of sherry (maybe fine oak is a good idea!)

Score: 85/100

ps: will taste again some night when I haven't had 5 whiskies and three pints of guinness!

Wisers Very Old 18yo Canadian Whisky

Never really given Canadian whisky much thought - don't suppose many of us have. However I recently tries the 18yo from Wiser and was very impressed. It is an 18yo bottled at 40% ABV and I have heard that you can buy a bottle for as little as $32 Canadian - thats about £15.00 in real money! If only we could get Single Malt at that price. Anyway this was a cracking wee whisky lots of sweet vanilla notes and a huge toffee finish. I wish i could have tasted it properly to make proper notes but sometimes you would look too much like a geek to do this! All I will say is if you see this definately try it - I know I will the next time I see it.