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

I've met James a number of times over the years back to before they even started and he is always completely zero bullshlt when talking about their whiskey and their business. I'm a big fan of them and what they've done so far. I must get up for a visit!

Nikki from the Barrel is one of my favourites. I had heard good things about it and was still nicer than I expected.

Opened a Blue Spot and Redbreast 10 cask strength this Christmas and shared out some samples. I didn't get to try any myself until New Year as I came down with a sinus infection. Both very enjoyable but preferred the Redbreast , goes down easier than 59% should 😁

Got a Tyrconnell Malt iN a uk airport duty free .£17/19 ?! After four or five ‘sittings’ Im convinced they’re putting 5-10% Connemara Peated in with this .Not a positive development to what was a rock solid choice in my opinion .Have they just made it slightly ‘peated’ this year ?( to appeal to Islay scotch fans ?) Anyway the medicinal hint is def there for the first time .I think this Christmas may be the first time in a 4-6 year whiskey ‘journey ‘ I’ve had four bottles on the go simultaneously .Powers , Sexton , Tyrconnell and Redbreast . It’s probably a good idea as long as you don’t just quaff them all four times faster !:-( A few nights I used a bar measure to work my way through them with some restraint .A pleasant experience :-)

Id def go for the basic Powers and Redbreast as my faves .That Sexton bottle is a pain with built in spillage and the inability to see hoW much is left .And I’m not happy with the ‘peated ‘ flavour of Tyrconnell .

Having spent a lot of my €22’s ( or whatever the govt have decided I can buy my bottles for ) in the Bushmills camp recently I was pleased to try a nip of Powers on a near 24 hour ( intermittent ) fasted palate .It had knockout biscuit/ vanilla sweetness .I still miss the aul gold label bottles but it’s good stuff .The Redbreast is a serious ‘desert island ‘ product !

Happy new year everybody ! Dry January can start when my two remaining bottles are drained !

Finished off the Kilchoman Sanaig last night watching the darts. I shared about half the bottle out in samples but it's probably the quickest I have got through half a bottle in a long time. Kept reaching for it. I'm on a self imposed ban from buying whiskey as I have too much of it in the house but this is one I will be replacing when the stocks get a bit lower.

Had a Fercullen Single Grain Amarone Finish tonight and it was very pleasant. Don't think I've had any Fercullen before and I had to google Amarone to find out it's red wine 🤣

I'm surprised it was too, don't think the red wine casks did much to the flavour and it was very light in colour. Very nice though, extremely strong honey flavours, almost heading into mead territory, and very smooth. I'd gladly have some more but I only had a sample bottle!

That's not typical of Whistler output - the ones I've had and enjoyed weren't peated eg Calvados cask, Sherry Cask, Dark Symphony.

You could try and tame it with ice and \ or a small splash of something like lightly sparkling water such as San Pellegrino.

Must be this one - Good Bad and the Smoky

https://boanndistillery.ie/product/the-good-the-bad-and-the-smoky-irish-whiskey/

Thats interesting! Cheers for the heads up!

This is a lovely drop. Aged in bourbon casks for 5 years and finished in medeira casks for 6 months so a lot going on. Lovely spice and fruit to it.

Currently some Redbreast 15 year old . decent stuff ,

Might try picking up a hinch to try

Seeing more of it all the time now

While it's a few years since I've had Dalmore, it's a lovely drop IMHO. It's not heavily peated and is smooth and sweet if that's to your taste

That sounds OK actually. I'll give it a drink during the week, maybe even tonight.

Got this reduced to £20 in Tesco NI yesterday and thought I'd open it. 30% of it is 16 year old Bushmills.

Really pleasantly surprised. No grain burn at all. Very fruity and tropical and also rich! Great value for money tbh