Bottlers Archives - Page 7 of 12 - More Drams, Less Drama

Dunville’s 10-Year-Old PX

13th May 202213th May 2022Coldorak

Dunville’s is an old Irish whiskey brand that has been revised by Shane Braniff, the founder of Echlinville Distillery. Originally created in 1808, this brand was active and very successful for more than a century. At the end of the 19th century, Ireland was producing 14 million gallons of whiskey a year. Out of those 14 million cases, 2.5 million were distilled at The Royal Irish Distilleries – the original home of Dunville’s Irish Whiskey. Unfortunately, in 1931, Robert Lambart Dunville, the fifth Chairman of Dunville & Co. Ltd., died suddenly at the age of 38. He had only one surviving brother, living in Australia and who didn’t want to take over the company. The distillery lost its way, distillation stopped in 1935 and the distillery was liquidated the next year. The name stayed silent for 80 years, until Echlinville bought this Belfast brand in order to resuscitate it a few years ago. We’ll review today a recent years Dunville’s: the Dunville’s 10-year-old PX.

The Liberator Storehouse Special Malt X Moscatel Finish

The Liberator Storehouse Special Malt x Moscatel (2022)

5th May 20225th May 2022Coldorak

We’re back to Ireland today, with a Liberator from Wayward Irish Spirits. Wayward, as whiskey bonders, offer several ranges of whiskeys: The Liberator, and the Lakeview Single Estate Whiskey. The first one, Liberator, is sourced whiskey that they mature, finish, and bottle on their estate, whilst the Lakeview is distilled for Wayward but with grain from their own single estate, knowing exactly where do the grain comes from, the target being becoming a grain to glass distillery. They hope to start distilling on site in 2024. But for now, we’re trying a sourced whiskey they matured, finished and bottled: The Liberator Storehouse Special Malt X Moscatel. Yes, that’s a very long name.

Glendalough 13-year-old Mizunara Oak Finish

27th April 202228th April 2022Coldorak

We’re back after a short break, and before reaching my own 200th whisky review and start a series with some closed distilleries, let’s do a quick trip between Ireland and Japan. What we’re tasting today is an Irish whiskey bottled by Glendalough, that has been finished in Japanese Mizunara oak casks. It had been some months since I wanted to try this whiskey… and I had kind of forgot my good friend Wim @dram_gazette had sent me a sample ages ago! So let’s talk a bit about Glendalough and about what Mizunara is, then we’ll review the Glendalough 13-year-old Mizunara oak finish.

The Whisky Cellar Series 004 Tweet Tasting

10th April 202210th April 2022Coldorak

The Whisky Cellar is back with its fourth series of Private Cellars Selection bottlings, but not only. Keith Bonnington, The Whisky Cellar‘s founder and ex-Edrington employee, bought, a few months ago, from his former employer, the Brig O’Perth blend brand. One of his other projects, Scalasaig, also is not only an island whiskies blend, but also now a bottler, with, I imagine, single malts coming from all the distilleries making up the Scalasaig blend. So for this fourth Whisky Cellar Tweet Tasting, we’ll try the Brig O’Perth, a Tobermory bottled under the Scalasaig brand, and three single malts and one single grain part of the Whisky Cellar Private Cellars Selection Series 4. We enjoyed a lot Keith’s selection during the first three Tweet Tastings, so I think we can have high hopes for this Whisky Cellar Fourth Tweet Tasting.

Timorous Beastie 40 year old

2nd March 20222nd March 2022Coldorak

Two hundred. This whisky marks the two hundredth whisky reviewed on those electronic pages. And I’m feeling quite happy we (with Julien, with whom I created More Drams Less Drama, and Mac who contributed two reviews as a guest) have reached this humble milestone. Humble, sure, some fantastic writers I read every morning deliver 200 reviews a year and more, and of a high quality to top it all. This is a level acquired with talent and experience, and a level I hope to reach one day. But for now, it took us two and a half years to reach two hundred whiskies reviewed, that’s our small milestone, but we are happy to have reached it. Out of tiny acorns mighty oaks grow, as they say. And that mighty oak will become a beautiful cask to mature fantastic whisky, right? The casks that were used to make this Timorous Beastie 40-year-old were made from oak that came one day, long ago, from tiny acorns.

Compass Box Orchard House

21st February 202221st February 2022Coldorak

There are several ways a whisky grabs your interest. It might be because it’s a new release from your favourite distillery, blender or independent bottler. You might really like the bottle or the label. There might be a finish you like or you want to try. It may have been reviewed by a whisky blogger you trust or in a whisky magazine or website and it got a good review. Maybe it was on offer at your off-licence or online shop, and you’re feeling adventurous. It might be because you’re getting bored with this introduction that still doesn’t get to the point. Or because friends recommended this bottle, giving it high praise. And in Compass Box Orchard House’s case, it was the latter. I didn’t have time to go taste it at Whisky Live Paris in 2021 as I was there as an exhibitor, but people I met there, owning a great pub in Rennes, and friends from the Whisky Circus, highly recommended this blended malt. It was cheap, too. And I like Compass Box. And the label was beautiful. So I decided to trust them and buy a bottle. For at least the three first reasons, but the fourth was the cherry on top.

Sixty-eight years of Glenburgie

31st January 202231st January 2022Coldorak

Glenburgie is one of those distilleries with a severe lack of love from their owner company for the brand as a single malt. Glenburgie is currently owned by Chivas Brothers (Pernod-Ricard) and has been for a long time one of the main components of the world’s second best-selling Blended Scotch whisky, Ballantine’s. They don’t have a dedicated website for the distillery, nor a visitor centre at the distillery. The only current official bottlings are branded with the blend name: two Glenburgie 15 and 18 years old from the Ballantine’s Signature Malt range, also having two of its other main components, also owned by Chivas: Miltonduff and Glentauchers. But they’re bottled at 40%. It seems cheap but very hard to find, the only shops I could find for this being in Greece and Germany. So, it means that Glenburgie fans must turn to independent bottlers, as luckily, they don’t seem to run out of good Glenburgie casks to bottle, allowing us to have a ‘burgie fix. And let’s have our fix today, with three independent bottling of Glenburgie, all in their twenties.

Caol Ila 2010 Signatory Vintage

15th January 202215th January 2022Coldorak

Caol Ila, located on the world’s home of peated whisky, the Scottish island of Islay, is this island’s number one distillery in terms of capacity. Though its peated malt is one of the components of Johnnie Walker, the distillery features a full core range of single malts. But that wasn’t always the case, as until 2002, Caol Ila’s single malt would appear only in the Flora & Fauna and the Rare Malts range. But from 2002, the regular 12-and-18-year-old as well as a Cask Strength version (about 10yo) appeared, joined the next year by the 25-years-old. Since then, Moch – without an age statement – and the Distiller’s Edition, with a moscatel finish, joined the core range. But Caol Ila’s single malt is not just available on the distillery’s official bottlings, it’s also highly available to independent bottlers. Gordon & Macphail, Elixir Distillers, or like today, Signatory Vintage, have bottled dozens and dozens of casks from the distillery located in Port Askaig. And that’s what we’re going to try today, with a Caol Ila 2010 Signatory Vintage.

Isle of Jura 1998 Hidden Spirits

23rd December 2021Coldorak

Isle of Jura is a distillery that I don’t understand. Their official bottlings, at least the ones I’ve tried, are a mess, especially the Seven Wood. But thanks to The Whisky Cellar, I’ve been able to try a good indy one recently, and I tried another one, more than okay, bottled by SMWS at the absolutely marvellous Dornoch Castle Whisky bar in 2019, a 1983 called Islands Hopping. But apart from those two indies, nope, no good one. However, I often hear good things from friends about other indy Juras. So let’s keep an open mind and see if the Italian independent bottler that never disappointed me until now got it right with this Isle of Jura 1998 Hidden Spirits.

Auchentoshan 2000 Signatory Vintage

20th December 202120th December 2021Coldorak

After a short break for the daily articles about drams from the advent calendar, we’re back today with another distillery there was nothing written about on those pages: Auchentoshan. I must admit Auchentoshan it a distillery that was quite under my radar, even though I have a couple bottles from them at home. I haven’t tried many drams coming from them, the only ones that come to mind are the American Oak, an entry-level NAS, and the 21-years-old, a bottle my parents brought back from the distillery with a handfill I have yet to open. Now while, in my opinion, Auchentoshan flies a bit under the radar of many whisky drinkers, it has something setting them apart in Scotland (with just a very few other distilleries doing – partially – the same thing): they use triple distillation. While this is quite often seen at Irish distilleries, this stays an exception in Scotland and other countries, as I’ve told you in my Armut Triparva review a few days ago. So today, we’re having (well, I am) an Auchentoshan 2000 Signatory Vintage 20 rue d’Anjou.