The OCUK Whisky (and Whiskey) review thread

khimbar said:
Anyone any thoughts on The Glenlivet 15-Year-Old French Oak Reserve? Its on special at Waitrose at the moment for £25 so I'm probably going to try a bottle anyway but would like to know anyones thoughts on it?
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I like it. I prefer the 12 though as a regular drink (only £20 at the moment!) and prefer the Nadura over that.
 
NickK said:
And what did you think to it? I have a soft spot for this distillery (in part because they sent a sample of the Bere barley that's not commercially available).
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I liked it, but I sampled it at a stage in the afternoon when my taste buds were broken and I was getting a bit tipsy.

Can't really remember what it tasted like to be honest, apart from a thick, slightly oily mouthfeel. I'd stopped taking notes by then.
 
Just been given some Glenfiddich standard 12yo. I'm convinced it's been taking a downturn in recent years. The last few drams I've sampled have been wronguns and this bottle's no better. The finish just isn't particularly nice and something in it deadens the taste buds.

If you fancy Glenfiddich, go for at least the 15 yo or get the 12 yo toasted oak.

And I know some don't like it but Monkey Shoulder is worth a punt if you're a Glenfiddich fan. It's mostly Glenfiddich anyway.
 
No better place to ask..

I had a whisky once that had a very orange tinge to it, I'm not a whisky drinker, but that stuff went down so well.

Any ideas what it could have been?

If I saw the label, I'd know it
 
bledd. said:
No better place to ask..

I had a whisky once that had a very orange tinge to it, I'm not a whisky drinker, but that stuff went down so well.

Any ideas what it could have been?

If I saw the label, I'd know it
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Sorry you said tinge not taste ignore
 
Went to an Islay tasting last Friday

Quick notes write up:

Bunnahabhain 12yo 40%
n. Butterscotch and sherry. 23
t. Smoky, spicy oak. 20
f. Resiny, hot. Fades to oak. 20
b. Fairly light but pleasant. 20
Overall 83

Bruichladdich Rum Cask 17yo 46%
n. Rum and apple. 22
t. Spicy. Chillies, creamy sweetness. Black pepper. 23
f. Oranges. Spicy heat. 23.
b. Spicy fruity dram. 23
Overall. 91

Bowmore Tempest. 10yo 55.3%
n. Faint hint of peat. Some sweet barley or maybe sherry. 23.
t. Smooth, sweet peat, chewy. A hint of citrus. 24.
f. Hot wood smoke, becoming dry at the end. 24.
b. Lovely sweet peaty Islay. A bit like lagavulin's blonde sister. 23.
Overall. 94 (several others at the tasting rated this their favourite)

Port Ellen (provenance bottling) 25 year old. 46%
n. Peaty but not particularly smoky. Hint of heather. 22
t. Peat and spiced oilyness. 23
f. Hot. Then long dry peat 22
b. Something about this doesn't really hang together for me. Good but not amazing. 21
Overall 88

Caol Ila (The Wee Dram bottling) - 10yo 46%
n. Peaty. Alcoholic sting. A hint of burned rubber. 20
t. Medicinal and rather oily. Some peat. 20
f. Ther rubber returns. 19
b. Interesting - a little raw. Can't say I like the rubberiness. 18
Overall 77

Tried the lagavulin 16yo, which I've reviewed previously. Great. I made notes and rated it 97 this time.

Laphroaig (Signatory bottling) 8yo.
n. Medicinal. Sea breeze. 22
t. Surprisingly malty for a Laphroaig. Peat comes in with the dram still in your mouth. 22
f. Seaweed and that medicinal iodine. Something reminds me of mackerel right at the end. 22
b. It's not as nice as the standard 10yo you can find in the shops. It doesn't seem much like the laproaigs I've had before. Surprisingly little peat. Still - pleasant enough. 22
Overall 88

Ardbeg Corryvreckan 57.1% (I've put up notes here before, rating it at 94, but spent a little more time with it here)
n. Some peat lingering behind the alcoholic sting. There's some floral heather here. 24
t. Sweet toffee melting into peatiness. Becomes earthy and dry in your mouth. 25
f. Dry ethanol. A medicinal quality. Some smoky peat, lingering a while. 24
b. One of the best tasting whiskies I've come across. Stunning. 24.
Overall 97
 
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Realised I've not reviewed my Glen Moray or Ardbeg 10. Here goes...

Glen Moray (No age statement) 40%
n. Werthers Original wrappers unfolding, revealing sticky toffee and malt with honeyed notes. 22
t. Light ginger from little sips but a mouthful is more malty. There's an oakiness to it before the alcohol takes over. 21
f. Orange Marmalade with a hint of lime. Fades to a chilli-like aftertaste warmth. Citrus notes and pepper remain a long time. 23
b. A fine, light, easy drinking yet surprisingly complex Speyside. 22.
Overall 88.

Ardbeg 10yo 46%
n. Sea breeze over meadows with a maltiness but move the glass closer then peat and smoke kick in. Some hints of oranges and apples in there. 23
t. Salty, then powerful peat smoke. Hints of kreosote. White pepper and the tiniest hints of sweet barley. 24
f. Hot and oily. Fishermen's friends. Fading, drying, becoming earthy and then settling with peat. Drys the mouth for a while after drinking. 24
b. Very complex. Changes with each mouthful. I get the feeling I could rate this down or up on a given day. 24
Overall 95

bledd. said:
I had a whisky once that had a very orange tinge to it, I'm not a whisky drinker, but that stuff went down so well.
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Glenmorangie?
 
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Well since I have a bottle here, I'll do a review of Glenmorangie Nectar D'or. (Sadly the bottle of original stuff was consumed a couple of months ago ;) )

Nose;
Strongly alcoholic, discreet hint of peaches. Very little beyond vodka-like nose. 10

Taste;
Earthy, red wine acidity, slight aniseed hint, delivers a real kick of heat similar to a madras curry. Gentle smokeyness. Overall, pleasant but not quaffable. 20

Finish;
Clean, aniseed and slight celeriac taste. Again the alcohol lingers significantly compared to more mature whiskies. 18

Balance;
Plenty of body delivered by the potency. A drink for warmth as opposed to flavour or smoothness, appreciable in it's own way. Spiciness without side effects. 15

Overall;
63, nothing to write home about, but nothing to be offended by either.
 
Yamahahahahaha said:
Overall;
63, nothing to write home about, but nothing to be offended by either.
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Really? According to the scoring system on the first post, that would make it 'nasty and well worth avoiding'.

0-50: Nothing short of absolutely diabolical
51-64: Nasty and well worth avoiding
65-69: Very unimpressive indeed
70-74: Usually drinkable but don't expect the earth to move
75-79: Average and usually pleasant though sometimes flawed
80-84: Good whisky worth trying
85-89: Very good to excellent whiskies, definitely worth buying
90-93: Brilliant
94-97: Superstar whiskies that give us all a reason to live
98-100: Better than anything I've ever tasted
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It's why I saw fit to define the scores using an existing system; without definition assigning a numerical value to something like whisky is pretty meaningless.
 
I've just bought a bottle of Glenlivet 18yr old single malt from asda for £27 (on offer). Going to try build up a nice little collection. I'm a bit of a novice with whisky so i hope this one is a good starter, but it must be in my genes as all the family drink the stuff.

I must say that Whisky reminds me of christmas every time, probably due to my mother giving me a little bit to knock me out on christmas eve when i was a kid!
 
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The Glenlivet 18 is a very pleasant dram. I think it was reviewed very early on in this thread. Long time since I've had one though. Glenlivet generally seems great value at the moment with the 15 and 18 yo both under £30 at Waitrose and the 18 yo at Asda.

Thinking back, it may have been a Duty Free bottle of Glenlivet 12 that got me started on this hobby.

Edit: Yep...
DAvE18 said:
Okay here goes with one of my favorites and I have a large and varied collection :D

The Glenlivet 18Yo Single Malt, Speyside 43%
n: quite sweet and with subtle floral layers, hint of peatiness and a slight hint of the sherry oak 22
t: slightly flowery with a hint of sweetness but then developing smoothly 19
f: good long lasting after taste switching between sweet and bitter flavours 21
b: delightfull embodies everything their should be in a good whisky of this region and age overall a good package of all aspects. 22

84 overall shall we post pics?

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"Is there difference between whisky and whiskey?
When you check your English dictionary you'll find that the word 'whisk(e)y' is spelled in two ways; either with or without an 'e'. I'm not a linguist (so I don't know the proper phrase to describe this weird linguistic phenomenon), but let's call it 'the fluid E' for now. As far as I know, there's no logical explanation for this, but when a whisky is produced in Ireland or the USA, it's usually spelled with an 'e' as in 'whiskey' - otherwise (Scotland, Japan, France, Australia, India, Thailand, etc.) usually just as 'whisky'. Don't ask me why; it doesn't make sense to me either...
I guess it's just one of those inexplicable things in life one simply has to accept, like the popularity of rap music or spontaneous combustion. From now on I'll use 'whisky' as a group name that includes both whisky and whiskey"

Taken from here

Personally i wondered if there was a difference.
 
Been looking at the Glenlivet 18 offer in Waitrose, might pick a bottle up now. The 12 is a pretty good, non-offensive, every day whisky so I guess the 18 can only be better?
 
Gadge said:
Personally i wondered if there was a difference.
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Not fundamentally no. There are differences in production techniques between Blended, Vatted, Single Malt, Bourbon, Tenessee, Rhye etc.

Traditionally Irish whiskey used a combination of malted and unmalted barley. A Scottish whisky uses only malted barley (although it may be mixed with grain whisky in a blend).

However, you can have a single malt Irish or American whiskey. Scottish grain whisky (made using corn not malted barley) is produced in a somewhat similar way to bourbon and tastes quite similar but it's still called whisky.

Just tradition I guess.
 
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khimbar said:
Been looking at the Glenlivet 18 offer in Waitrose, might pick a bottle up now. The 12 is a pretty good, non-offensive, every day whisky so I guess the 18 can only be better?
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Yes in the case of Glenlivet, but older doesn't necessarily mean better for all whisky.

For example, peatier whiskies often lose some of their more powerful flavours as they get older. A whisky that's left in a barrel or butt for too long can lose some of its character and become very woody tasting.

Another thing is that the age just means the youngest whisky in the bottle. For example I'm aware that the current Ardbeg 10yo has quite a bit of 17yo whisky in it. 'Single malt' just means it's from one distillery and each destillery often blends their own products to give some consistency. 'Single cask' means it came from one barrel and hasn't been blended at all.
 
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