An easy going blog for easy going malts
In this article I will attempt to explain as concisely and simply as possible how malt whisky is made in Scotland. Fundamentally, whisky in other countries follows roughly the same idea with the odd tweak here and there. TL;DR Step 1 – Grow some barley The basic raw ingredient of whisky is barley. For most […]
A recent impulse trip to the Good Spirits Company in Bath Street Glasgow lead to an impulse purchase of a special little miniature. The Distillery The Balblair distillery in its current location was built in 1895 because of the coming of the railways. It was mothballed in 1911 but it took until 1932 before all […]
Another sample I am very grateful to get from the Yorkshire based Claxton’s. I really like the Arran distillery and this is the oldest expression I have tried so I am hoping for something interesting. The Distillery The Arran distillery started production in 1995 as an independent business by Harold Currie who recently passed away. […]
I was very grateful to receive in the post two samples from the latest outturn from Claxton’s. I already have three single casks bottles from them which I bought last year so I am excited to see what they bottle in 2017. My last review from this bottler was an 8 year old Ardmore which […]
I really enjoy a peated Bunnahabhain there is something slightly different about the peat in a Bunnahabhain over the other offerings on Islay. The barley is peated at Port Ellen maltings and is also used in the Ledaig offerings from the Tobermory distillery on the Isle of Mull. Both distilleries having the same parent company […]
Finally the last post in our mini series is on the history of Johnnie Walker and the plant in Kilmarnock. Using photographs from a number of sources we can see the changes in the people, the equipment and the town. John Walker Shop The story starts with a grocers shop in the centre of Kilmarnock. […]
I recently went through a major life changing milestone. One which I have to admit I had been dreading for a least a year previously. That milestone was….turning 30! The only consolation was a “celebratory” dram but what to choose? The prices of older (much much older!) single malt whisky has become out of the […]
This is my first quarterly roundup post on what I enjoyed in the last three months and what I did not like as much. I am not sure if these will work but I will give it a few shots this year and see how it works out. Top 3 Whiskies Claxton’s Ardmore 8 Year […]
Lets talk about the elephant in the room when it comes to enthusiast blogs on whisky. The biggest problem with basing your purchasing decisions on any blog is no matter how hard the author tries to be impartial there is always the risk of confirmation bias. Confirmation bias is defined as a tendency to search […]
Malted 