All good things must come to an end, and so did my two whisky-laden weeks in Scotland. I couldn’t miss the chance to finish with a bang. My thinking is that good memories will foster future return trips to Islay. The final high point of the trip came with the Bruichladdich Experience.
After Glasgow and Arran my journey took me to Islay for a few days. Time being short, I had to make tough choices regarding which distilleries to visit. My fellow whisky geeks’ top suggestion was Bunnahabhain and their Warehouse 9 tasting.
Today’s review of the Caol Ila 12 is the last Islay stop in this series on peated entry level whiskies. This is a staple in Diageo’s single malt lineup and one of the gateway drams to explore independent bottlings.
After exploring a peated Islay whisky with a unique character with the Port Charlotte 10, it is time to go back to a more classic (by popular consensus) profile and review the Ardbeg 10 year old and a peek at the time before its launch
Today I am looking at the Port Charlotte 10 year old Heavily Peated, for my series on entry level peated whiskies. This beloved whisky uses a different source of malt from many Islay siblings and a non-traditional cask ageing regime. Curious to see how this translates into the glass.
For my second review of peated entry-level single malts, I am reviewing the Lagavulin 8 year old, and reflecting on how this newer whisky has lead to the price shift of the beloved Lagavulin 16
Back to my regular whisky review program, and starting a dive into entry level peated whiskies, with the review of Ardbeg Wee Beastie 5 yeas old. Is the marketinng hyperbole on this one realistic?
Today’s review of the Classic Laddie started as the companion to the Bunnahabhain 12 review in the unpeated Islay pair. While that is indeed the case, while working on it I ended up going down the bunny hole of batch variations.
Today’s review of the Bunnahabhain 12 year old closes the series on entry-level ex-Sherry cask single malts and opens a separate mini series. This post and the next one will be dedicated to two distilleries which regularly bottle unpeated spirit and might be appropriately called Islay Splitters.
TL:DR: The original peat bomb, simple but reliable, delivering even at 40% abv Vote*: 6, Good stuff For the last of my introductory peat drams I am choosing to review… Read More »Laphroaig 10 year old review and a sample of Lore