The OCUK Whisky (and Whiskey) review thread
- Thread starter Uriel
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I would not bother with Macallan you are paying a large chunk for the name.
These are safe and very good:-
GlenDronach 21 Year Old Parliament
Redbreast 21 Year Old
Balvenie 21 Year Old PortWood Finish
I would go with GlenDronach 21 if I was you.
What does your dad drink at the moment?
Soldato
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This a magnificently opulent whisky, at an extremely reasonable price (in whisky terms!)
Going slightly off piste with this one.....
It popped up on instagram as a sponsored ad and anyone who's a fan of 'Still Game' may recognise the name!
£35quid direct from their website limited to 2 per person https://jackandvictor.com/ I bought one as a Christmas present and the other to stick in the cupboard as I'm not a whisky drinker. Blended whisky by the Loch Lomond Distillery
"‘Honeyed orchard fruits and sweet malted barley wonderfully balanced with a delicate peat smokiness, notes of fresh vanilla and oak spice' – it says here, Jack".
It popped up on instagram as a sponsored ad and anyone who's a fan of 'Still Game' may recognise the name!
£35quid direct from their website limited to 2 per person https://jackandvictor.com/ I bought one as a Christmas present and the other to stick in the cupboard as I'm not a whisky drinker. Blended whisky by the Loch Lomond Distillery
"‘Honeyed orchard fruits and sweet malted barley wonderfully balanced with a delicate peat smokiness, notes of fresh vanilla and oak spice' – it says here, Jack".
Any good?Going slightly off piste with this one.....
It popped up on instagram as a sponsored ad and anyone who's a fan of 'Still Game' may recognise the name!
£35quid direct from their website limited to 2 per person https://jackandvictor.com/ I bought one as a Christmas present and the other to stick in the cupboard as I'm not a whisky drinker. Blended whisky by the Loch Lomond Distillery
"‘Honeyed orchard fruits and sweet malted barley wonderfully balanced with a delicate peat smokiness, notes of fresh vanilla and oak spice' – it says here, Jack".
As i said above, I've just got it to stick in a cupboard as I'm not a whisky drinker. The guy who I'm giving the other bottle to may be able to pass on a review after Christmas though!
Soldato
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Guys can you spec me a whiskey, budget around £60-£70, its for my dad, I've tried a few with him recently, latest was a Lagavulin 16. Not really sure what to look for next, needs to be fairly smooth. not too peaty either.
Ledaig 18 or Glendronach 15. I've tried neither but only ever read good things and they are the first two bottles I'd buy for that range that are easily available at RRP. Ledaig I think is a little peaty but not a monster. The Glendronach is more sherried. So if you know which way he leans on that then it might help - if he likes the Lagavulin then I'm sure the Ledaig will suit well too.
If you can find Kilkerran 16 that would be a winner too but it's not easy to track down.
Soldato
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Soldato
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Where from please?
Anyway I got the Ledaig 18 in the end, but may check some of the others another time for myself . Cheers
It can be bought from their Web shop. I was at the distillery so picked them up while there.
The Abhainn Dearg Distillery is by far the best I have visited. It isn't a typical tourist destination with the refined and rehearsed tour process. It's whisky distillation without the faff. Absolutely brilliant. They grow their own barley and malt it themselves, which is rare nowadays.
Soldato
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Nice, one to check out then. Thanks.
I wonder why MoM class them as a "scotch spirit" and not whisky?
Also £70 for a 10yo seems steep, for a distillery I've personally not heard of. Not hating on them, just not sure something so obtuse is a good recommendation for someone looking to spend good money for a relative. I will certainly do some research though.Ledaig is a good shout although I've not tried their older ones. A friend of mine just asked me for recommendations around that mark - actually my other friend's wife asked him for recommendations for him
I suggested these;- The Yamazaki Single Malt Whisky - Distiller’s Reserve (had this on my Pour and Sip sub, I thought a lot of Japanese whiskey was overpriced for what it is but this was absolutely beautiful. I still think Japanese drams are kinda special and appropriate for a gift)
- Bunnahabhain 10 Year Old - Discovery (Gordon & MacPhail) (bought this on a whim, as an intro to indie bottlings. I've decided I'd like everyone to buy me indie bottlings for presents as they're always a 'punt' but generally quite interesting! Generally an indie bottling would be interesting for someone who's into their whiskey)
- Laphroaig 10 Year Old Sherry Oak Finish (new this year I think, I missed it on the PAS taster sub but by all accounts it's amazing. I love the peaty sherry finishes like my Ardbeg Ugge)
Soldato
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Thanks for all the recommendations.
I wonder why MoM class them as a "scotch spirit" and not whisky?
Could be an out of date description on MoM since the distillery started out in 2008 so is fairly recent.
I learned not to judge whiskies on age alone as it is a terrible indicator of quality.
Their 10yo is fantastic. Not chill filtered, no caramel colouring and bottled at 46% - it's as genuine a whisky as one can buy. They only do single cask bottlings too which intrigues me as all of their casks are different - whether that's in size, wood type, stave width or what - so all have their own unique flavours. The owner told us that because of this he couldn't guarantee the exact same flavour in two separate 10yo casks.
I come back to the growing of their own barley and malting it burning peat from local sources on the island. This is impressive to me since the majority of distilleries outsource the barley/malting and I don't like that.
Of course, whisky is down to personal preference. There were four of us on the tour and all agreed the 10yo was the best, and beats other whiskies we tried (Raasay, Oban 14, Little Bay & Distillers edition, Torabhaig).
It's up there in my top 5 of all time.
Back to @beachBOYken - the Ledaig 18 you bought will no doubt be fantastic. I haven't tried that (as far as I can remember) but I have tried other Ledaigs and they are top notch. What you need to do now is make sure you know how to pronounce it! I Googled it and found it should be "Led-Chuk" but when I bought a dram (10yo) a couple of weeks back the Scottish gentleman said "Led-ae-sh". The conclusion of the matter for me is I won't use the name, I'll just point at it and say "this one please".
Soldato
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Back to @beachBOYken - the Ledaig 18 you bought will no doubt be fantastic. I haven't tried that (as far as I can remember) but I have tried other Ledaigs and they are top notch. What you need to do now is make sure you know how to pronounce it! I Googled it and found it should be "Led-Chuk" but when I bought a dram (10yo) a couple of weeks back the Scottish gentleman said "Led-ae-sh". The conclusion of the matter for me is I won't use the name, I'll just point at it and say "this one please".
I'm sure I will get to try it as well, I will update in a months time as its for Christmas.
Yeah, that's all good stuff. I'm interested and will definitely make a note for further investigations!
EDIT: I think it's Le-chig but I don't know where I got that from... It won't be as bad as me (very new to whiskey at the time) proudly going into a shop and saying I really like "Oh-shen-tow-shan" because I thought it was Japanese
Soldato
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It's more halfway between the chuk and chig (finishes with a k sound, and the le is lay) - as long as you don't say le-daaaaayyyyyyg
Soldato
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Just been looking through my random whisky collection (mostly gifts I've never got around to opening) and found this 18-year-old Glenmorangie. Worth keeping for a special occasion, or just get it drunk? I'm assuming it's a bit more expensive than the £25/bottle I'd usually be spending?
