What whisk(e)y are we drinking? (Part 2)

Had a nip off the Aldi Samuels Bourbon just because Im using it for cooking, sauces etc.

Your absence was noted. Welcome back and more importantly congratulations on the birth of your daughter. Some of your old self might go but she will open up a different world for you. Nothing else will ever come close to it.

Like you said your enjoyment of a special whiskey is worth more than the few quid you might have made by selling it. The memory will last a lifetime but the money would disappear soon enough.

Don't leave it as long next time to check back in!

Alright yeah. Tastes like bourbon anyway. Sweet enough.

Bottle kill 11/12/21. Opened 25/12/20.

Very nice, easy, mindless sipper, and good as a palate setting starter if you’re moving on to taste some others. The grumpy oul’ fart in me is not too gone on the new look. Instead of replacing it I got the Sexton instead.

Bulleit Bourbon is €30 in Tesco at the moment. Usually €42-45. Well worth it.

Bushmills 2008 Muscatel Cask (56.4%)

Bushmills has the largest aged single malt stocks in Ireland but I don’t think they have always showcased that enough. However a recent brand refresh has seen an exciting number of releases planned in the next few years.

The 2008 Muscatel Cask was one of the first of these new releases as part of the Causeway Collection and was the first cask strength Bushmill release in over a decade.

For the Causeway Collection Helen Mulholland, Master Blender has been working for the past fifteen years exploring secondary maturation in different casks and at cask strength.

Tripled distilled and triple wooded the Muscatel release was first distilled in March 2008 and filled in a mixture of Olorroso sherry butts and bourbon barrels which was then aged for 8 years.

On St Patricks day 2016 these casks were then combined and filled into four deep red muscatel casks for a further four years. This willingness to give the whiskey the time it needs to be at its best is to be commended and it shows in the beautiful deep and rich rose gold colour.

Olorosso or Pedro Ximinez are amongst the most popular varieties used in sherry finished Irish whiskey but muscatel cask finishes aren’t as common. An Irish only exclusive of only 1454 bottles and it is non-chill filtered with no colour added.

As this is bottled at 56.4% an addition of a small amount of water really allows the flavours to come out. It also dulls a little bit of the harshness from the high abv.

Details and Tasting notes

Distillery – Bushmills

Region – Ireland

Type – Single Malt, Cask Strength, Muscatel finish

Cask – Olorroso sherry, Bourbon, Muscatel

Age – 12 years

ABV – 56.4%

Full bottle RRP – €100

Nose – Caramel biscuit malt, cherry blossom, tropical fruits, orange peel, sweet toffee apple 

Mouth – Tropical fruits, stewed apples, vanilla spice, nutella, grapes, dried fruit

Finish – A long finish. Dried fruits, Christmas cake

A great start to the Causeway Collection and I am looking forward in seeing where it goes in the next couple of years. I’m also glad to see a cask strength Bushmills for a change as I’ve always felt that their 16 and 21 year old whiskey would benefit from a higher abv than their current 40%. I would recommend getting a bottle or sample to try.

https://onlydrams.wordpress.com/2021/12/05/review-bushmills-2008-muscatel-cask-56-4/?preview=true

A glass of Blacks 18 year old Rum Cask Finish. €590 a bottle in Celtic Whiskey. Good whiskey but not that good.

Yeah I tried it. Wasnt a fan. Too much chocolate, in a cheap stout sort of way.

I feel the same about the Fathoms aswell.

All sure that's just a suggestion. I've drank much worse 😂

An Dúlman Gin with a big strip of dulce is one of the strangest and delicous gins I've ever had. It's definitely a love or hate thing.

Midnight Silkie sounds good but I've defintely now reached my limit for Christmas. Greenspot Leoville Barton and Redbreast Cask Strength arrived in the post yesterday!

Securities Commissioner Travis J. Iles entered an emergency cease and desist order to stop an illegal international whiskey investment scheme. The order names Whiskey & Wealth Club Limited, a firm based in England and Scotland, as well as its principals and sales agents. 

According to the order, Whiskey & Wealth Club is advertising the scheme through the internet – using a website, and promoting advertisements published in Reddit, and social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and LinkedIn. It is also allegedly using other media to bolster its legitimacy, including various press releases and articles published in Forbes, Bloomberg, Yahoo Finance and Fox Business News. 

The pitch is simple: whiskey improves with age and investing in whiskey improves returns over time. Investors purchase casks of whiskey from foreign distilleries, store the whiskey in overseas facilities and then sell the whiskey for a profit. Whiskey & Wealth Club is touting the returns – claiming investors can earn between 12 and 20 percent annualized returns if investors hold their whiskey for at least three years and preferably five to 10 years. Whiskey & Wealth Club purportedly provides discounted brokerage services, permitting investors to liquidate their whiskey for a below-market fee.

https://m.independent.ie/business/irish/alternative-investor-whiskey-and-wealth-club-targets-24m-in-revenue-38432991.html

Next up is some GlenDronach 21 Year Old Parliament. A whiskey made for Christmas full of rich sherry and dark fruits. Could nose it all night. Stunning colour. Spicy finish.

My friend who gave me the sample thinks the 18 is better though so I'm holding onto a little bit for a comparison tasting.