Ballie Nicol Jarvie Blend 40%

Always seemed to think that this whisky was an 8 year old but on closer inspection of the bottle it appears that is an non-age statement blend. This blend has always had a great reputation so I look forward to trying it again properly - would say it has been about three years since I tried this poured over some haggis and I enjoyed it then so lets see how it goes this time:

Nose: A little dry and grain like initially. Vanilla and a touch of mint and a wee bit of fennel!

Taste: Quite dry and lots of maltiness, touch of bourbon biscuits and then the grain develops.

Finish: Finish is fairly short and quite fresh but then the dryness of the grain comes through which is the only real off note about this whisky.

Comment: A good blend indeed, although that little dry bittiness just takes the edge off of it being a classic whisky. Would say that for at around £16.00 a bottle its as good as you will get for the money.

Score: 83/100

Whisky and Golf To Push Tourism.

I must congratulate all of those extremely clever people at the Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) in conjunction with Scottish Development International (SDI) and VisitScotland that they managed to come up with the idea to link whisky and golf in a tourism drive.

I wonder how many people from each of these groups it took to come up with this idea? And how much are tax payers paying to come up with this?

Anyway wee rant over!

http://www.hie.co.uk/Default.aspx.LocID-0finewln4.RefLocID-0fihiesv500b008.Lang-EN.htm

Also another pointless website - unless you are looking to only visit the big boys?

http://www.scotlandwhisky.com/

DTC Carsebridge 1979 28yo Cask 33026 52.4%

I love grain whisky (to be fair I love all whisky) and it annoys me when people don't give it the respect it deserves. Ok compared with malt whisky it is hugely mass produced just looking at the cask number on this confirms that! But put it in a decent cask and give it time and amazing things can happen! Go on you malt snob give it a try!



Nose: Cheap yellow vanilla ice cream. Caramac bars and digestive biscuits with melted butter.



Taste: Rich, velvety a touch spicy with lots of toffee notes and maybe a touch of cheesecake.



Finish: long, very long a touch rye like and a little dry.



Comment: Stunning whisky, if it wasn't for the slight dry note on the finish this would score even higher.



Score: 92/100

Glenfarclas 1966 Family Cask 51.5%

Another absolute gem that I never thought that I would try but by christ I am happy that did get to try it - just a pity its out of my price bracket at £315.00 at http://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/ having said that it's worth it and a snip compared with a Macallan 1966 from their Fine and Rare collection at around £1000 a bottle. Anyway on with the tasting!


Nose: Turkish delight and flat cherry coke. And maybe a hint of orange - and bizarley the smell of blood!
Taste: More oranges, sweet sherry hint of wood and a little dry but also loads of raisany fruity notes.
Finish: Lingering sherry and a hint of wood.
Comment: Fecking amazing whisky!
Score: 96 / 100

Ardbeg Mor 10 year old 57.3%

Never actually thought that I would get to try this giant bottle! But luckily I did recently so here are my notes:

Nose: The cream in custard creams, warehouses and also bourbon biscuits and a faint trace of smoke.
Taste: Vanilla is over powered by soft dry peat and wood smoke and a little dry grassiness.
Finish: lingering dry ashiness at front of mouth and then more vanilla and some green apple skins.
Comment: Absolutely cracking peat is in perfect balance.

Score: 94 /100

IWSC Awards lose the plot!!!!

Tonight sees the presentation of there awards, most of the gold medals etc that are handed out willy nilly for things such as best 10 year old whisky from Skye that is bottled at 45.8% ABV or best Scotch Whisky - Single Malt - Speyside - 27-28 YO (yes very random) it appears that they have shortlisted Duncan Taylor, independent bottlers as a nominee for Distiller of the Year!

http://www.iwsc.net/Trophies/Special_Awards.ehtml?top=Trophies&do=search&trophy=Distiller+of+the+Year

Surely someone at the awards must realise that they don't distill anything! Unless their distillery plans have progressed faster than they have let on!

Whisky War Rages

We have heard for the last six months to a year that there is going to be an end to the cut price whisky - well when I was in Tesco yesterday and saw whisky at £6.75 a bottle I was a little sceptical - anyone heard of the portman group surely Tesco should be reported!

Anyway enough rambling - saw today that whisky Giants Diageo and Pernod Ricard are to slash prices across India! http://www.harpers.co.uk/news/4867/Diageo-and-Pernod-Ricard-start.ehtml So not only are they going to steal our whisky they are going to get it on the cheap!!!