Commemara Cask Strength

Bought – Nickolls & Perks, 17th September 2013

Ratings:
90/100 – Whisky Bible 2013
90/100 – Whisky Bitch – Her review on YouTube

Teacher’s Highland Cream

Bought – Tesco, 23rd August 2013

Ratings:
90/100 – Whisky Bible 2013
88/100 – Ralfy, of www.ralfy.com
Review: – Ralfy – Teacher’s Highland Cream – YouTube

Teacher’s Highland Cream takes me back to my youth, back in fact to a time when I had teachers! That’s when they weren’t on strike of course. Maggie Thatcher and teachers didn’t get on, unlike Winston Churchill and Hankey Bannister who were great mates! But in the 70s and 80s, growing up in Scotland, we used to have the Christmas fun of watching Rikki Fulton in ‘Scotch & Wry’. For some reason I always imagine the ‘Scotch’ part of that title to be Teacher’s. Either that or Grouse. Or maybe even Bells.

Here’s a trip down memory lane (at least for me anyway) and a reason not to drink too much Highland Cream on Hogmanay! – New Years Day

Blair Athol 1999 12-year-old Provenance

Bought – Nickolls & Perks, 17th September 2013

Ratings:
84.5/100 – Whisky Bible 2013
80.67/100 – Whiskybase (average from 3 member votes)

I was slightly surprised to find this version of Blair Athol in the Whisky Bible, thinking it was a bit obscure, but there it was at the bottom of page 56. This is my first bottle of ‘Provenance’ by Douglas Laing & Co. Apparently it has a “sherry butt” which Jim Murray doesn’t feel adds anything to the dram. Nevertheless 84.5/100 is a good score and I’d rather have a sherry butt than cottage cheese thighs any day! With no added colour,  non-chill filtered and 46% it has all the good things going for it.

Tobermory 10-year-old

Bought – Drink Supermarket, 28th July 2013

Ratings:
85/100 – Whisky Bible 2013
86/100 – Ralfy, of www.ralfy.com
Review: – Ralfy – Tobermory 10yo – YouTube

Glenlossie 1984 (Carn Mor c.25-year-old)

Bought – Nickolls & Perks, 17th September 2013

Ratings:
83.31/100 – Whiskybase (average from 15 member votes)

This Glenlossie is part of the 24 x 20cl bottles that make up the Carn Mor Vintage Collection. Distilled in 1984 and bottled in 2009, it’s from a limited edition of 2596, Cask No: 2537. Non-chill filtered,  no added colour and 46%, so the makings of something very tasty! 11 members of Whiskybase certainly think so because 83.31/100 is a very good mark. You’d hope so from a dram with 25 years of maturity but age doesn’t always mean quality. A comment says “I quite like this, a nice daily sipper”.

Allt a’Bhainne 1995 (Carn Mor c.17-year-old)

Bought – Nickolls & Perks, 17th September 2013

Ratings:
81.25/100 – Whiskybase (average from 4 member votes)

This Allt a’Bhainne is part of the 24 x 20cl bottles that make up the Carn Mor Vintage Collection. Distilled in 1995 and bottled in 2012, it’s from a limited edition of 290, Cask No: 125285. Non-chill filtered and no added colour, it’s just a pity there’s so little of it. But then it wouldn’t be so special if there was lots!

81.25/100 on Whiskybase is a good score where one member leaves these tasting notes:

Nose: Light and sweet. Starts grassy followed by honey and vanilla. Some yellow apples. Flowery notes as well.
Taste: Unexpectedly punchy for its 46%. Toasted oak. Sugared almonds. Cinnamon. Liquorice at the background.
Finish: Medium long. Dry. Lots of bitterness of pink grapefruit. Gingery. Pine and spearmint.
Comments: Excellent aperitif whisky for a Sunday afternoon.

Tambowie 12-year-old

Bought – Online source over 10 years ago.

Ratings:
84.5/100 – Whisky Bible 2013

Jim Murray has re-included the Tambowie into his bible because of improvements and the 125th anniversary of the long departed Tambowie distillery. Jim doesn’t mention what age of bottle he’s reviewing but, when I found this online many years ago, there was also an 8-year-old. Tambowie is classes as a ‘bastard’ malt or, as I prefer to call them, a ‘mystery’ malt because it’s unclear which distillery is behind this reincarnation of this long-dead whisky. Personally I got it for family reasons, as a gift, and I kept a bottle for myself. I found it online, phoned up about it and was told that it was only produced for the Swedish market. After a bit of arm-twisting I was told the owner would have to get it “out of bond”. Quite why James Bond had it is beyond me but, after a lengthy car chase and a few murdered KGB agents, I got the bottles in the post.

The label on the back of the bottle says “Built in 1780, Tambowie Distillery once used the secret caves of the notorious Rob Roy MacGregor to mature the casks of its fine malt whisky. Legend has it that when the Distillery was destroyed by fire, the Manager, in an attempt to save the precious liquid, burst open the casks and drained all the whisky into the adjoining burn, which flowed into the nearby village of Milngavie. He reckoned however, without the ingenuity of the locals who were drunk for days on the “water of life” which they rescued from the river by the bucket-full.”

Talisker 10-year-old

Gifts from many years ago. One bottle remains unopened but another is being gradually drained.

Ratings:
93/100 – Whisky Bible 2013
89/100 – Ralfy, of www.ralfy.com
Review: – Ralfy – Talisker 10yo – YouTube (first review)

I’ve included Ralfy’s first review of the Talisker 10yo done in 2009 because it’s closer to the age of the bottles I have. He reviews it again here in 2013 where he down-grades it to 86/100 proving that versions of whiskies do vary from release to release, year to year, like wine depending on how good the summer was for the grapes.

Springbank CV

Bought as part of the ‘Campbeltown CV Collection’ (3 x 20cl bottles) along with the Hazelburn and Longrow CV, Drink Supermarket, 4th September 2013.

Ratings:
81.78/100 – Whiskybase (average from 11 member votes)

I thought I’d take this chance to include a link to Ralfy’s video where he creates his own whisky by combining Springbank, Hazelburn and Longrow. Since all 3 are from the same distillery this kept the resulting mix as a ‘single malt’. My brother and I ended up having a debate about this, which only goes to show that even two Scotsmen aren’t exactly clear on what constitutes a ‘single’ malt.

Here’s Ralfy’s interesting video: Bankrowburn

Here’s Jo of Whisky Wednesday with his review of the Springbank CV (Jan 2015):

Spar Finest Reserve Blended Scotch Whisky

Bought – Spar, 30th August 2013

Ratings:
90.5/100 – Whisky Bible 2013

Yes, it’s another one to try and cure me of any whisky snobbery I might have. You’re probably thinking “why the heck did he get this?!” and you’d be right because I’m not sure either. I was bored one evening and went through the Whisky Bible writing a list of all the supermarket brands, both single malts and blends. I was surprised to see how good some of them are according to Jim Murray. 90.5/100 falls into the realms of being “brilliant” based on the bible’s score chart. Really?! We’ll have to see.

My main issue with supermarket brands of whisky is the lack of imagination they sometimes have with their namings. I give Aldi and Lidl credit here with their bottlings of ‘Glen Mornach’ and ‘Ben Bracken’. They start to conjore up visions of misty glens filled with heather and bracken. Just the sort of additional romance and mystery that a whisky deserves to be surrounded by. “Finest Reserve Blended Scotch Whisky” doesn’t have the same ring to it. I feel I should be hiding its boring name in a brown paper bag and taking it to the park to drink alone, with shame, on a soggy bench. Why waste a blend that gets 90.5/100 on such a yawnfest of a name?! My next career move is to become a ‘brand namer’ for Spar.