Reviews Archives - Page 22 of 23 - More drams, less drama

SMWS – A small cigar can change the world

18th November 201921st July 2020Ainulindale

Lineup of the tasting — What a mighty lineup

Early september, I discovered there was events where you could taste SMWS whiskies as well as cigars – and boy what that an excellent discovery.
This time around, the French ambassadors reached out to me and asked me whether I would be interested in an “exclusive” session where we would taste a whisky selected just for France – SMWS 7.217 – Joie de vivre. This session would again be at Gentleman 1919, which I’m starting to love more and more.

Obviously, I accepted – and I can only thank them for that as I missed the Whisky Live due to friends having the bad idea of having their wedding that week-end. This was then the occasion for me to forget about the sheer pain it caused and soothe my broken heart by downing some drams.

SMWS – Come in here, dear boy, have a cigar

16th October 201921st July 2020Ainulindale

When I joined the SMWS, I first did it as I wanted to partake of some cask strength unfiltered goodness. Obviously, for a whisky aficionado, this is one of the good places to be a member of.

Then, at one random point in time I realised there was an “event” category on the website where things were actually organised. I remember thinking – surely there’s nothing in Paris. Boy, was that a stupid thought. You can find the full account of my first SMWS tasting session here.

This time around, yet another discovery: I realised there were events in a small committee at a Speakeasy where whiskies were paired with cigars. My blood just went boiling at the sheer idea of the combination of both, being a fan of cigars (H. Upmann & Romeo y Julieta in particular if you wish to know).

The lineup for the tasting: 6 SMWS bottlings. — Our whisky line-up for the evening

So I purchased my ticket and eagerly went to Gentleman 1919, in Paris, a quite excellent venue. It was 21h. I got back home at 1h45. Here’s why.

Glen Scotia Victoriana review

14th October 201914th October 2019Coldorak

Two years ago, I was still completely “alone” in my then simple appreciation of whisky. I had only a dozen of bottles (yes, only one dozen), I was sharing a glass with friends that would come at my home but didn’t know about exchanging samples, I was a complete newbie, by myself in this big whisky world.

Arran 14 year-old review

29th September 201921st July 2020Coldorak

This evening, I tasted for the first time an Arran 14 year-old, or any whisky from this distillery for that matter. That is the thing when you’re still quite a newbie in the whisky amateur world: you still have the joy of discovering something new for you, though you may have prejudice, but sometimes you’ll regret starting this late, especially with today’s prices and secondary market. Not that it’s a problem for this dram though, fortunately.

Triple distillation and a triplet of Bushmills

24th September 201912th May 2022Coldorak

A few days ago, the #MiniTasting gang had a minitasting of 3 Bushmills, and since I had two out of three, I decided to crash the party. Bushmills is an Irish distillery that does triple distillation to create its whiskey with an e. They’re not the only one to triple distil, but what does triple distillation mean, and what’s the difference with the classic double distillation that is used by most distilleries? Then we’ll review three Bushmills from the lower end of their range.

Bushmills Original review

24th September 201912th May 2022Coldorak

This whiskey is the entry level of the core range. It’s a blend of triple distilled malt whiskey and grain whiskey aged in a combination of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks, with the malt part being above 50% of the blend. It’s bottled at a cheap 40% ABV and is probably chill-filtered and coloured. It’s sold for around 17-20€ in France, and £16-20 in the UK.

Bushmills Black Bush

24th September 201912th May 2022Coldorak

Third whiskey of the range, Bushmills Black Bush contains more than 80% of 7 to 9-year-old Bushmills single malt, and is matured mostly in ex-Oloroso Spanish oak casks. As the two previous ones, it’s bottled at 40% ABV and probably chill-filtered and coloured.

Bushmills Red Bush review

24th September 201912th May 2022Coldorak

Second whiskey of the range, Bushmills Red Bush is a non-aged statement blend of single malt and grain whiskey aged exclusively in first fill, medium-charred ex-bourbon casks. As with the original, no mention regarding chill-filtering and colouring, so expect both, and it’s bottled at 40% ABV. You can find it around 23€ in France and £20 in the UK.

A.D. Rattray Tweet Tasting

13th September 201913th September 2019Coldorak

A few days ago I had the pleasure to be once again a participant of the A.D. Rattray Tweet Tasting, organized as usual by Steve Rush. On the menu were 3 releases already on the market, and two exclusive previews of special Cask Islay editions that will be available next month for one, and in 2020 for the other one.

Armorik Double Maturation review

6th September 20196th September 2019Coldorak

After the tour I did of the Warenghem Distillery, we went to the tasting room upstairs in the visitor centre, to taste two drams: the Armorik Sherry Cask first, then the Armorik Double Maturation reviewed here.