Archive For December 31, 2014
2014 was a hell of a year! I started Malt and Oak in the very last days of April as a means of talking about my personal whisky journey while providing an “objectively subjective” view on the world of whisky and of the expressions I’m tasting, and as a way of integrating more deeply in…
Yesterday I reviewed a sherry matured 1998 Laphroaig, and today I review a same vintage Laphroaig matured in a bourbon cask, bottled for Aquavitae in 2011. It’s interesting to note that while the sherry matured Laphroaig has no vinegary notes, this one has them in abundance. This being the first Malts of Scotland bottling that I’m…
Earlier this year I was in Berlin, and bought a bottle of the Ultimate Laphroaig 1998 at cask strength (reviewed here). This cask was bottled just a few months short of its 14th year. At the end of last year, Dutch bottler van Wees released sister cask 700354 at 46% and my friend Erik Olink sent me a…
Going through my tasting notes I just realized that yesterday’s 39.99 and the 39.92 are both ex bourbon hogsheads distilled in 1990. The 39.99 was distilled in April 1990 and the 39.92 was distilled in October 1990 and was exclusive to the Canadian market. Linkwood is a distillery that plays a part in many of Diageo’s…
My friend Richard Barr (@BarrRichard) is a miracle worker. The Society in London has a monthly event in which you get a steak dinner and five drams out of the new outturn, and like all society events, this one sells out quickly. I get to London only once a year or so, but Richard – a…