The OCUK Whisky (and Whiskey) review thread

dl8860 said:
I've never had Auchentoshan so can't comment on it myself, but are you familiar with the concept of the neck pour?
What is a whisky neck pour | Whiskipedia

Some say it's a myth and can be explained by other factors, but I'm fairly sure that first pour does taste a little different to me. Did you let it sit in the glass and rest for a bit before trying it?
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Huh, interesting!

I always let it sit in the glass for a good 10 minutes anyway (purely because that's what my dad always insisted om doing).
To be quite honest it could just be that my palette isn't refined enough or that it just changes day to day, but I've found very few whiskeys stay consistently 'on point' for me glass to glass. I'm drinking that same Auchentoshan right now and finding it reasonably enjoyable, much more so then I did even just a few days ago. The only bottle I've finished so far and thought that every glass was at the very least consistently good was the Classic Bruichladdich.
 
Dad brought over a bottle of Singleton 12 (£22 at Asda apparently) and its quite nice. Found its one of the few single malts I've tried so far that benefits from a little water. Not that it's too harsh, more that it brings out a bit of depth.
 
DrToffnar said:
Dad brought over a bottle of Singleton 12 (£22 at Asda apparently) and its quite nice. Found its one of the few single malts I've tried so far that benefits from a little water. Not that it's too harsh, more that it brings out a bit of depth.
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I always like to experiment and see what they're like with a bit of water too. My main problem is the accuracy...I free pour the whisky, and the bottles are so different in design that it's quite a challenge to pour a similar quantity: a few ml here and there is quite a bit in the scheme of whisky things given the already small quantities involved. This means my water adding (by pipette might I add!) is rather pointlessly precise for any form of repetition.
 
Had a first pour in a while from my bottle of Benromach 10 last night, there's about 1/3 left.
Benromach 10-year-old - Ratings and reviews - Whiskybase

It's unbelievably good value at about 30 quid. Perfectly fits the bill for what you'd call a daily sipper. Some good punchy flavour, more than a hint of smoke and lovely rounded edges with a great balance of bourbon and sherry influence - at least after having been left in the bottle for a bit. I do remember it being a bit less friendly upon first opening. Perfect to slurp while watching the golf.


On another note, I cracked my bottle of Big Peat recently. It's just the standard bottling, 'small batch'.
Big Peat DL - Ratings and reviews - Whiskybase

It wasn't as I expected really. I've gone back to it a couple of times over the last few weeks. There's zero smokeyness at all, and the peat is not exactly earthy. It's purely vegetal I'd say. And I can't say I'm getting many other notes at all. Doesn't seem to match up to any tasting notes I can find anywhere. Wonder if anyone else has tried this one?
 
After doing a bit of reading I have started to dip my toes into buying some collectible whiskies.

I picked this bottle a few weeks ago, one of 300 made.

Little mill has a cool history to it, Scotland’s first and oldest licensed whisky distillery in 1772 which closed down in 1997 and burned down a few years later in 2004.

https://www.littlemilldistillery.com/history/




The next one i want is Bowmore no corners to hide
 
Charles Darwin said:
After doing a bit of reading I have started to dip my toes into buying some collectible whiskies.

I picked this bottle a few weeks ago, one of 300 made.

Little mill has a cool history to it, Scotland’s first and oldest licensed whisky distillery in 1772 which closed down in 1997 and burned down a few years later in 2004.

https://www.littlemilldistillery.com/history/




The next one i want is Bowmore no corners to hide
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So you won't drink it?...
 
I know to a whiskey lover it seems stupid but it's more interesting for me to track down difficult to find bottles and maybe make a bit of cash in the long term. It's like collecting anything and not using it to maintain its value, cars, watches...

I am more than happy with an 18-year-old Macallan.
 
Have a bottle of The Macallan Classic Cut Limited 2018 given to me by my Dad just before he died.

Can't make up my mind to drink it or keep it for a few years, what does everyone think ?
 
marin said:
Have a bottle of The Macallan Classic Cut Limited 2018 given to me by my Dad just before he died.

Can't make up my mind to drink it or keep it for a few years, what does everyone think ?
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Crack it open on a special day you would have wanted to share with your dad. Marriage, birth of a child, divorce (joke), child’s graduation….
 
Dr House said:
Crack it open on a special day you would have wanted to share with your dad. Marriage, birth of a child, divorce (joke), child’s graduation….
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Yes I think that is a good idea - our Pearl Wedding Anniversary (30th) is coming up in a few month, will take it with me and open it on that day - I think my Dad would have liked that - cheers.
 
Charles Darwin said:
I know to a whiskey lover it seems stupid but it's more interesting for me to track down difficult to find bottles and maybe make a bit of cash in the long term. It's like collecting anything and not using it to maintain its value, cars, watches...

I am more than happy with an 18-year-old Macallan.
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Hope this post was the reason you've been perma'd :p
 
Was gifted this today; may well sample later

IMG-20220414-152630-01.jpg
 
DoggyX said:
Aberlour 12 yr single malt, currently £29 in Sainsburys - imo, very nice for the price.
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Ooooft that is a good price. Shame it's not the same for their online grocery store. There's not really one near me :(

The Aberlour A'bunadh is quite heavily discounted on Amazon atm, was £71 last time I checked which is the cheapest I've seen it since the horrible price hike.
 
The WhistlePig 10 year Rye is going for £59.99 on Drink Supermarket and I couldn't resist at that price. Really looking forward to trying it as a close friend has been singing it praises for an age now.

Grabbed the Bruichladdich Port Charlotte 10 as well, just cus :)
 
Went to Grain and Glass again in birmingham on Saturday. Such a cool place. The staff are fantastic and the range is superb.

Drank Ardbeg 10 for most of the evening but fanned out to most of the Port Charlotte range as the hours went on. There was one chap there (clearly loaded as he was drinking Octomore 10.2 for most of the night) who picked up the second half of my tab and brought pizzas for us and the staff. Whiskey is one of the few drinks that treats me well the next day but man, that was tested come Sunday morning. Had a break in the weather where I had to do some gardening and it was damn near traumatic!

Whistlepig 10 year arrived yesterday and I had a few glasses whilst watching the match. I couldn't immediately discern too much of a difference between this and the PiggyBack, but after a while I noticed how it would develop on the palate a lot longer and the sweetness is definitely more pronounced. It's surprisingly oily for a Rye. Very leggy on the glass but not too chewy. Enjoyed a lot but on not entirely sure I'd be willing to fork over the extra 20-30 quid when I could jsut get the PiggyBack for under 40.
 
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when we got married we were given a bottle of this 30yo St Magdalene:
linlithgow-1973-30-year-old-whisky.jpg


At the time it wasn't too expensive (£200-300 - still a lot, but not off the chart) so we opened it and had it at special occasions. We're now down to about 1 inch or so in the bottle. When we last looked at maybe getting another it was going for £1.5k. In a way I'm glad we opened it before we knew that as I would just worry about how to look after something that expensive. In another way though, I do wonder if the person meant us to keep it as an investment of some kind. Ah well. tastes fantastic. Does slightly ruin all other whisky we can afford to buy in our usual £50-100 bracket, but glad I've been able to have the experience, and share it with friends over the years.
 
Any recent favourites around the £30-40 mark? I've been through the usuals (Talisker, Ardbeg, Bunnahabein, Lagavulin, etc). I've been loving the Mackmyras recently, but fancy branching out.
 
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