The OCUK Whisky (and Whiskey) review thread

[Martynt74]

I got given a bottle of the 10yr stuff by a woman at work. It's fairly smooth if a little bland i thought. A decent drink for after a few beers i think.

The only other Japanese Whisky i've had was the 12yr Miyagikyo which was far better.

http://www.masterofmalt.com/whiskies/miyagikyo-12-year-old-whisky/

 

[ramdrive]

So bumped into some Japanese whiskey in Sainsburys and got me thinking that I never tried their stuff and know nothing about it. Can anyone recommend a good bottle to start with to get to know them better, ideally under £60?

I have tried most Japanese whiskey and I would recommend Nikka from the Barrel

http://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/P-2928.aspx

http://img2.thewhiskyexchange.com/300/japan_nik10.jpg
** No Hotlinking - Please read the Rules on posting images before replacing image tags***

Be careful as the quality of the spirit coming out of Japan at the moment has gone down hill, there are some shockers out there.

 

[ramdrive]

One for the collection

 

[FTM]

ooh that looks nice, lovely colour...looks well sherried, seems a fair price as well fro a 23/24 year old whisky

 

[~Divine~Wind~]

grandad was having a clearout and I got home to a crate of random spirits lol
Majority of them already opened unfortunatley but heres a few pics:

This is lovely!!
57.3% yet so smooth.
The onyl relevant piece of info to ID the bottle appears to be a random string of numbers on the back... 100/0000055/89
Any help getting an age on the Laphroaig would be appreciated.

I think the Southern Comfort is ancient and tastes way better than todays !!
The grouse not a clue.

 

[FTM]

the laphroig will be pre-2009 as they went over to batch numbers then for the cask strength 10 (so batch 4 or 5 is the current one I think)

but other than that it could go back years..certainly that label style was used around 2000-2006..red strips cask strength flash may have come in 2002/2003 , it might have been a green stripe before that, previous to that I dont know as I couldnt stand it back then!!



you could try emailing the distillery

 

[delta0]

Anyone tried Smokehead? Looks like a young whisky but with huge smoke. Fancy giving one a go.

 

[Martynt74]

I went to a Whisky tasting on Friday. It was the first I've been to and I found it very good. I've lost my card of tasting notes already but from memory the whiskies on offer were

Bladnoch
???
Glenkinchie
Bowmore
???
One of the Fishermans Retreats own whiskies, which was based on Arran and finished in an Australian Muscat cask. Which gave it a slight sweetness.

Christ my memory is worse than I thought it was! From memory I’d say that the Bladnoch was my favourite, a pretty easy drinking whisky that also had quite a lot going on rather than being a little bland.

 

[One More Solo]

I went looking in Lidl for this and they didn't have it.

They did have a 5 yo blended malt called Glen Orchy for the same price. I'm actually impressed with it. It's comparable with a ligher Speyside malt or a lowlander. I'd put it on par with something like Monkey Shoulder. Not bad for under £14.

Edit: Turns out Glen Orchy 5 yo has won awards and got an 88.5% review in Jim Murray's Whisky Bible.
http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-re...ands-nearly-10-times-the-price-236912201.html

On a similar note, the Highland Black from Aldi is a nice easy drinking whiskey and has won a few awards too.

 

[Antony101]

I've not had an alcoholic drink in about 15 months, friends wedding is coming up and I promised I'd have a few when I'm there, being best man and all.

The only drink I've ever enjoyed was whisky/whiskey. However I'm not looking forward to starting again having not drank for so long. What would be a good whisky to get back into the swing of things? I don't mind paying extra for good stuff but I don't want to be spending a fortune. £30/40 a bottle would be best I think?

 

[Ahleckz]

Balvenie Doublewood.

 

[Antony101]

Balvenie Doublewood.

Any reasons?

 

[Ahleckz]

Hah, I guess I should have justified it.

Well it's easy to get, all supermarkets carry it.
It's on budget (usually around £29 - £36).
It has a great depth of flavour, and is much more interesting than a Macallan 10. The double casking (it's aged in two different barrels) creates this.
It's nice and smooth, as it's a Speyside so no peat or smoke which means it's nice and easy to drink.
It's just a great all round dram for that price. You really can't do better if you want an easy drinking whisky.

Others around that mark are the Auchentoshan Three Wood, but it's more pricey and less available.
Macallan 10 but it's not nearly as interesting.

If you want something a bit rarer, get anything in budget by Glen Garioch.

 

[Antony101]

Hah, I guess I should have justified it.

Well it's easy to get, all supermarkets carry it.
It's on budget (usually around £29 - £36).
It has a great depth of flavour, and is much more interesting than a Macallan 10. The double casking (it's aged in two different barrels) creates this.
It's nice and smooth, as it's a Speyside so no peat or smoke which means it's nice and easy to drink.
It's just a great all round dram for that price. You really can't do better if you want an easy drinking whisky.

Others around that mark are the Auchentoshan Three Wood, but it's more pricey and less available.
Macallan 10 but it's not nearly as interesting.

If you want something a bit rarer, get anything in budget by Glen Garioch.

Thanks, great help. Is it normally served in pubs?

 

[Ahleckz]

Umh, depends on the pub to be honest. And, I reckon that being in Glasgow our pubs are a lot more likely to carry a few whiskies than pubs down south.
It's not overly common in pubs, but it's not rare. Like I said, you'll always find it in a big Tesco in Scotland.

 

[Antony101]

Had a few doubles and feel slightly drunk. It's definitely been a while.

 

[krooton]

I thoroughly enjoyed the Balvenie, so asked the dude in the whisky shop for a similar recommendation, and he advised the Aberlour (£28, happy with that price).

Haven't tried it yet, but try some Yamazaki 12 year old at Duck & Waffle on Saturday (at an eye-watering £15 for a single!) and it was too smokey for me. I'm clearly not in to smoke and peat.

 

[Ahleckz]

Had a few doubles and feel slightly drunk. It's definitely been a while.

Hah, good man! 24 hour licensing, oh I'm jealous England.

 

[delta0]

I thoroughly enjoyed the Balvenie, so asked the dude in the whisky shop for a similar recommendation, and he advised the Aberlour (£28, happy with that price).

Haven't tried it yet, but try some Yamazaki 12 year old at Duck & Waffle on Saturday (at an eye-watering £15 for a single!) and it was too smokey for me. I'm clearly not in to smoke and peat.

I've not really considered Japanese whiskey. Didn't know there was smokey ones. I will have to check that out.

I mentioned earlier about Smokehead. I've got hold of some from Selfridges. I'm enjoying the smoke from it. It is a young whiskey, fairly unrefined taste. It reminds me of Laphroaig with the strong phenolic taste and everything else is similar to an unrefined Ardbeg. The smoke like many islays will linger for a long time. I'm enjoying the whiskey. I wouldn't rate it above Lagavulin or Ardbeg.

 

[bsoltan]

I thoroughly enjoyed the Balvenie, so asked the dude in the whisky shop for a similar recommendation, and he advised the Aberlour (£28, happy with that price).

Aberlour 10? It is a really easy drinking whisky and a great one for people as an intro. It is currently £20 in Tesco and I picked up a bottle just to keep around. I want to try some of the other Aberlour varieties.

I got a bottle of Old Putney Navigator as that was on offer too.