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Whisky

Exploring Global Whisky: A Personal Advent Calendar Journey (The conclusion)

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With Christmas Day my Advent Calendar came to an end. There are no more whiskies to try. (In my Advent Calendar). There are still thousands, millions maybe, of whiskies still out there. I can drink a different whisky every day, from today until I run out of breath. By then, I would just about have scratched to surface of all that this wonderful drink has to offer.

Dec 25th – Christmas Day

Our final whiskey is a Bourbon from the United States, from Kentucky to be precise. Made by Michter’s, they claim to trace their lineage back to America’s first whiskey company in 1753. I do suspect that whiskey had been produced unofficially long before then.

It is Michter’s US★1 Kentucky Straight Bourbon. It has an ABV of 45.7% and is dark amber in colour. Its nose has leather, dried fruit and just a hint of smoke. They char their barrels, and I think that is where the smoke comes from. On the palate I got sweetness, somewhere between maple syrup and caramel, with nutmeg and cinnamon. Followed by a hint of the oak char.

I enjoyed tasting this whiskey. Online the price it is offered at varies considerably. But I think it is reasonable value. It and the other Bourbon (Maker’s Mark) in the box have made me think. I should try a few others.

My Advent Calendar whisky journey has taken me from the far North of Sweden, south to New Zealand, then west to Kentucky and Tennessee, in the United States, and east to Japan and Taiwan. We have visited quite a few other countries on route.

I won’t say I liked every every whisky, but I did enjoy the experience of trying them. As the blurb on the box says, in the worst case scenario, it saves you from having twenty-five nearly full bottles of something that you don’t really get on with. Every whisky drinker has one or two of those.

There are a few that I wouldn’t drink again. There are many that I would happily accept as a gift. Some of them I would pay hard-earned cash for.

I didn’t get on with any of the Rye whiskies. I was surprised by how much I liked the Bourbons. I have never been a fan of sherry cask whiskies in the past. However, I was surprised by a couple of them. When it came to the whiskies that I liked best, I am a huge fan of Islay malts. Especially the slightly less peat prominent ones, like Caol Ila. So it is no surprise to me that the two whiskies I liked best, have similarities to Islay Malts. Those two are the Connemara 12 year old and the Yoichi single malt.

All of this is purely my personal opinion and taste. As I said right at the start, I am no whisky expert, just someone who enjoys a dram. And I did enjoy these twenty five, very different drams.

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Exploring Global Whisky: A Personal Advent Calendar Journey (Part 6)

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I am coming to the end of my Advent Calendar. I have five more whiskies to experience. I shall write about the next four (up to Christmas Eve) in this post. I will do a separate post about the Christmas Day whisky. Which I hope will be something special, but fear will be the World whisky equivalent of a generic blended Scotch.

I will also try and summarise my experience. I will try and decide my favourite whisky from the twenty five.

Dec 21st

Today’s whisky comes from Sweden. The distillery is near the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia, about five hundred kilometres north of Stockholm.

High Coast Hav comes in at 48% ABV. “Hav” is the Swedish word for sea.

It has an attractive pale amber colour. I found notes of peat, smoke and oak on the nose. Tasting it gave me fruit, spice and peat smoke.

This was another whisky that I found a drop of water helped to open the whisky up.

The distiller likes to experiment with different mash combinations. They use a variety of barrels to achieve different effects on the final product. Clearly, in this case the experiment works. This was a whisky that I liked. While it is not cheap I feel that it is reasonably priced.

Dec 22nd

We are back to Ireland to sample another Mitchell and Sons Spot Whiskies. We tried their Red Spot on the 17th.

Today’s offering is Green Spot Single Pot Still Chateau Léoville Barton Bordeaux Cask

Taken from the Website:
Green Spot Château Léoville Barton represents the coming together of two historic families, two stories of Irish endeavour and enterprise who together are the inspiration for this special edition whiskey.
Our whiskey is finished in Château Léoville Barton French oak casks, the very casks that play a vital role in the wine’s distinctive balance, bouquet and flavour, that we’ve used to bring something extra to our Green Spot Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey.

As you can see from that, the whiskey is finished in Bordeaux Casks. This is where, I would suppose, that the very dark gold colour comes from. The nose, I found is heavily influenced by the cask. I got fruit and wine as the main elements . Taste wise fruit and spice were the main elements.

I have never been totally convinced by wine barrel whiskies. This one did nothing to change my mind.

Dec 23rd

The whisky today comes from Canada. It is made by Hiram Walker. It is a blend of Corn and Rye whiskies aged in rum barrels

Pike Creek 10 year old comes in at 42% ABV. It is brown in colour. on the nose I found that the rum cask was the predominant theme, followed by a hint of sweetness. Taste wise, again rum was prominent, as well as spice from the rye and sweetness from the corn.

This was a pleasant enough whisky. It is reasonably priced, but there was nothing about it that said, “buy me”

Dec 24th

Our Christmas Eve whisky came from New Zealand. When we were on holiday there, last year, I found that New Zealand creates some very drinkable whiskies. The Cardrona distillery produced some exceptional ones. The Cardrona distillery is situated in the South Island. Today’s whisky is produced in the North Island, in the small town of Pokeno, about fifty kilometres south of Auckland.

Pokeno Discovery is a single malt with a 43% ABV. It is matured in Bourbon casks and Oloroso sherry casks. It has an amber colour. I found the nose to be fruity with a hint of honey. Its palate gave me dried fruit and cinnamon, with a hint of chocolate.

This was a whisky that I enjoyed drinking. I was one of the few that I did not feel the need to add water to. Most of the others needed a drop of water, either to open them out, or in some cases alleviate the alcohol burn.

It is not a cheap whisky but I would say worth paying for.

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Exploring Global Whisky: A Personal Advent Calendar Journey (Part 5)

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Dec 17th

For today’s whiskey we go back to Ireland. Red Spot is a 15 year old single pot still 46% Irish whiskey. Matured in Bourbon, Sherry and Marsala casks, it is amber in colour.

On the nose I got fruit and nuts. Taste wise, there was again fruit, with a hint of pepper, and vanilla. While I found that it was fine straight from the bottle, a couple of drops of water improved it. This opened it out.

I quite like this whiskey. The price tag is well over £110 for a bottle though. I didn’t like it enough to pay that money.

Dec 18th

This Japanese whisky is the only one in the calendar, so far, that I have previously drunk. I was given a bottle as a gift by my step-son who had been on holiday in France. I don’t know why someone would buy a bottle of Japanese Cask Strength whisky in France. Especially as a gift for a Scotch whisky drinker. It does mean that I have a 50 cl bottle of Nikka from the Barrel sitting on my sideboard. It comes in at 51.4% ABV. It is blend of various malts and grain whiskies.

It is pale amber in colour. I found caramel and fruit on the nose. The palate gave me toffee, a hint of fruit and chili. Though as with most whiskies over 45% ABV, I needed to add a drop of water to get the nose and the palate to open out.

This is whisky that I would recommend.

Dec 19th

Our whisky adventure takes us to Canada today. To Nova Scotia to be exact. Nova Scotia, having been settled mainly by the Scots, has probably been producing whisky since the c17th. Red Bank, which has the actor Keifer Sutherland as one of its founders, only goes back to 2022

The Red Bank Blend comes in at 40% ABV. It combines mainly wheat whisky, with corn and rye whiskies also added. This process gives a reasonably balanced and quite drinkable product.

The colour is pale gold. I found fruit and oak on the nose. The palate was sweetish, with some fruit and spice. It was a pleasant enough whisky, but without anything to make it stand out from the pack.

Dec 20th

We journey back to India for today’s offering. I wasn’t too sure what to expect of this whisky. I was not overly impressed by the last Indian whisky in the calendar.

Amarut Fusion single malt comes in at 50% ABV. It has an amber colour. The nose gave me smoke and fruit, with a hint of sweetness. It tasted of pepper, oak and sultanas, with a gentle touch of peat smoke. Again I felt that a little water opened up both the nose and the palate. I liked this Indian whisky much better than the first one.

Click on the names of the whiskies. You can also click on the pictures of the bottles. Both actions will take you to the appropriate distillery website.

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Exploring Global Whisky: A Personal Advent Calendar Journey (Part 4)

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Moving on, with my thoughts on the next four whiskies in my advent calendar. Blogging about the very varied whiskies that I am finding in the calendar is an interesting experience. I am finding that it is making me think about what I am drinking. Instead of just drinking the day’s whisky, I reflect on it. I consider whether I like it or not and share my thoughts. Drinking mindfully, if you like.

Dec 13th

We journey back to Japan for today’s whisky. The Yoichi distillery has been producing whisky since 1934. It is situated in Hokkaido, in the far north of Japan. Their stills are heated by coal fires, which gives their whiskies some of their character.

My whisky today, was the Yoichi single malt with an ABV of 45%.
It has a lovely pale gold colour. I found the nose had a little bit of smoke, sultanas, and other fruit. The palate had apples, honey, and citrus, with a hint of spice.

This was whisky that I liked a lot.

Dec 14th

Today’s whiskey surprised me. I have mentioned, in an earlier blog, that I am not generally fond of cask strength whiskey. But I found that the Maker’s Mark Cask Strength Kentucky Bourbon at 55.1% ABV was surprisingly approachable, even before the addition of some water.

The colour of the whiskey is dark amber, almost brown. Its nose gives aromas of vanilla and maple syrup. On the palate I found, caramel, chocolate and spice, with a slightly herbal finish.

I found that the addition of a little water opened up the nose. It also enhanced the palate. But, I found it very drinkable at cask strength.

Dec 15th

For today we have an English whisky. Fielden is an English Rye Whisky at 48% ABV. According their website the name “Fielden” comes from the Old English and means “from the fields”, or “of the fields”. They apparently use rye wheat and barley in various combinations. Still, I am fairly sure that my whisky was at least 50% rye.

Colour wise the whisky is an attractive amber. It has quite a floral and sweet nose. Taste wise, like the earlier rye whisky, it had a hint of rye bread, as well as nutty sweet marzipan notes.

It wasn’t a whisky that I was particularly fond of. I have never drunk that much Rye whisky in the past. It is possible that they are not my thing, or that I have yet to discover the one for me.

Dec 16th

Our whisky today comes from down under. Melbourne to be precise. The Starward distillery has been making whisky since 2007. Recently they have been exporting to the UK. I noticed a bottle of today’s sample in my local Waitrose.

Starward Left Field single malt comes in at 50% ABV.
It is very dark in colour, almost brown. The predominant note on the nose is fruit. The whisky is matured in red wine casks. (There is a lot of wine produced in Victoria.) So I assume that is where the colour and the nose come from. The palate is fruity and quite sweet, I would describe it as a biscuit sweetness.

I tried the whisky as it came and also with a drop of water, but it didn’t appeal to me. I calls itself “Left Field” and their website talks about “moving beyond tradition”. Often things are done traditionally, because that works.

Click on the names of the whiskies. You can also click on the pictures of the bottles. Both actions will take you to the appropriate distillery website.

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Exploring Global Whisky: A Personal Advent Calendar Journey (Part 3)

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We are moving on to the next four whiskies.

Dec 9th

Today’s offering is another Irish single malt. This time it is the Connemara 12 year old with an ABV of 40%. It is apparently the only peated Irish malt. This surprised me, given the amount of peat to be found in Ireland.

It has a pale straw colour. The nose is essentially smoke and peat, but not overwhelming, like say Laphroiag. There is also just a hint of lemon. On the palate, there is smoke, obviously, but there is also a hint of sweetness and vanilla.
I liked this whiskey a lot. I am a big fan of Islay malts, and this could almost be an Islay malt

Dec 10th

Taiwan is not a country that I would have thought made whisky. Today’s whisky, though, comes from Taiwan.

Ka Va Lan Single Malt Sherry Cask , it comes in at 40% ABV.
It has a very dark amber colour.
The nose is predominantly sherry, although other things like berries and chocolate are noticeable.
On the palate, sherry comes through quite strongly, but, honey, and stone fruit are observable.
I am not usually that fond of sherry cask whisky, but I quite liked this one.

Dec 11th

Today’s whisky comes from Finland. I think of Finland as a place where vodka is produced rather than whisky. The Kyrö distillery has produced a single malt using rye rather than barley.
The Kyrö Rye single malt is matured in American Oak and comes in at 47% ABV. Its colour is dark golden. I found it nutty and sweet on the nose. It tasted of bread, rye bread presumably. There was also a hint of peppery spice.
I was not sure what to make of this whisky. Because rye whiskies are a new thing to me, I had difficulty assessing what I was drinking. I don’t want to dismiss it out of hand, but with an unfamiliar taste, I didn’t like it that much.

Dec 12th

Another Nordic offering today. This time from Denmark.
Fary Lochan, which has an ABV of 48.9%, is a rather unique whisky. The malt is smoked, but not over peat, as is normal in Scotland, but over fresh nettles. This makes for a dram that is very different from the norm.

It is very pale in colour. The nettle smoke comes through on the nose, as does a herbal note. Herbs and grass are the prominent notes in the palate, accompanied, by hints of spice, and a slightly sweet finish.

Like yesterday’s rye malt, I’m not quite sure about this one. It is not really to my taste, but it is an interesting and different whisky. If it comes your way, do try it and see what you make of it.

Click on the names of the whiskies. You can also click on the pictures of the bottles. Both actions will take you to the appropriate distillery website.

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Exploring Global Whisky: A Personal Advent Calendar Journey (Part 2)

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Continuing on from my earlier post, let us see what the next few days have brought.

Dec 5th

We are off to Wales for our next whisky adventure. The Pendyryn distillery have been producing whisky since 2000, with their first sales being made in 2004. (Whisky must be matured for at least three years before it can be legally sold in the UK.)

Pedyryn Portwood finish at 46% was today’s offering. It is quite a dark coloured whisky, I would describe it as amber coloured.
On the nose I got dried fruit with a hint of sweetness. Taste wise, it had notes of burnt sugar and spice.

I am not a big fan of port and/or sherry cask whisky, but I found this pleasant to drink.

Penderyn

Dec 6th

We are back to Japan again for our next whisky.
Hibiki Harmony Blend at 43%. It is manufactured by Suntory, who have a long distilling history. This whisky is a blend.
It is pale golden in colour. The nose was basically apples on the palate I found apples and spice, cinnamon and cloves.
It was a pleasant enough whisky, though a little on the bland side for me.

Dec 7th

My next whisky experience took me to Denmark.

Stauning Høst Danish whisky 40.5% is unusual in that it combines a single malt with a rye malt.

It is amber in colour. On the nose I got straw and roast chestnuts. It had a slightly sweet fruity palate.

The inclusion of the rye malt makes it very different whisky. The 30 ml sample that came in the calendar wasn’t enough to let me decide on the whisky. I think I would need another glass. Maybe two, to fully make up my mind as to whether I liked it.

Dec 8th

We journey back Ireland for our next whiskey,
Redbreast Single Pot Still 12 year Cask Strength 57.2%. I am not a huge fan of cask strength whiskeys. I find that at cask strength the alcohol content overpowers everything else. This one was no exception. I trust the distiller to add the correct amount of the distillery water to bring out the characteristics of their product. I think that it is better than me trying to guess. Having had my little rant, on to the whiskey.

It is a very attractive honey gold colour. On the nose I found dried fruit and vanilla. When it came to the palate, all I initially tasted was alcohol. Adding some water improved it. I found a very pleasant mix of honey, tropical fruit and vanilla.

This is a whiskey that I liked. If I were buying it for myself, I would probably choose the 12 year old 40% expression. I would prefer it over the cask strength. It is also nearly £30 less expensive.

I think writing about four whiskies at a time is enough. I will fill you in an days nine, ten, eleven and twelve in the next post.

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Exploring Global Whisky: A Personal Advent Calendar Journey

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My lovely wife bought me a whisky/whiskey advent calendar. Whisky/eys off the world. Yes, whisky is produced in other countries besides Scotland. Ireland, Japan, Canada and the USA all produce decent whiskey. Thailand also produces something that they call whiskey. My step-son and his partner brought me some back, the less said about it the better.

I should note before I start that I am in no way a whisky expert. I am just someone who enjoys a dram.

I shall try to get the correct spelling of whisky or whiskey. Scotch, is whisky, as is Canadian and New Zealand. Irish and United States is whiskey. I’m not sure if other countries use whisky or whiskey, please don’t shoot me if I get it wrong.

On to the advent calendar.

December 1st

Today’s whiskey was Irish. Saints & Sinners & Rebels & Rouges 40%. It is a 21 year old blend . There were definite hints of vanilla and honey on the nose. It is very smooth, as you would expect with a 21 year old, slightly too smooth for my tastes. I like a slight bite in my whiskey. On the palate, honey and sultanas were the notes that I found. It was a whiskey that I liked.

Whiskey bottle

December 2nd

Today’s whisky is Indian. Indri Drú Cask Strength – 57.2%. No barrel age is given. Their website mentions that the high temperatures in Northern India speed up the maturation process.
I found tobacco and burnt fruit on the nose. Like almost all cask strength whiskies, I found it initially too fiery for me say anything about it. Diluting it about 1 part water to 3 parts whisky calmed it down.
I found hints of spice but not that much else. It was an interesting whisky to try, but not one that I would think of buying.

December 3rd

For today’s whisky, we move further east, to Japan. A country that has a longer whisky making tradition than India.
Yamazaki Distiller’s Reserve is 43% and is made by Suntory who have been distilling whisky since 1923.
The nose was floral, incense was a word that came to mind. On the palate, there were hints of dried fruit and vanilla and cinnamon.
The whisky is pleasant enough. It shares a few characteristics with Highland malts.

December 4th

We are still in Japan for today’s whisky.
It is Hakushu Distiller’s Reserve 43%
Its nose it is slightly smoky with a hint of dried fruit. On the palate I found smoke, fruit and a hint of peppery spice. Again a pleasant enough whisky, but without any thing that would encourage me to buy it.

Further revelations will follow