*Thanks to the good folks at Impex Beverages for the sample. The Isle of Arran's lone distillery, producing the appropriately named The Arran Malt is one of Scotland's newest distilleries. Founded in 1993 and producing spirit by 1995, Arran the distillery has combined traditional distilling practices, interesting limited edition bottlings outside of its core range, … Continue reading The Arran Malt 14 Year Old – Review
Whisky Reviews
The Yamazaki SIngle Malt Whisky, Aged 18 Years – Review
There are times that I think the story of Suntory's Shinjiro Torii and Nikka's Masataka Taketsuru and his Scottish wife Rita would make for a great movie. Unfortunately, if Hollywood ever got their hands on it, Tom Cruise would probably force his way into one of the title roles and there'd be a lot of … Continue reading The Yamazaki SIngle Malt Whisky, Aged 18 Years – Review
Master of Malt 1982 Inchgower 29 Year Old – Review
Thanks to the excellent people at Master of Malt for the sample. As far as I can tell...or at least as far as my prerequisite 10 minutes of google-ing can tell me, the name Inchgower means "the goat's isle". The only mention I found of this was from a book entitled "Geographical Etymology: A Dictionary … Continue reading Master of Malt 1982 Inchgower 29 Year Old – Review
Chieftain’s 1990 Rosebank 20 Year Old – Review
*Thanks to the good folks at Impex Beverages for the sample. Poor, poor Rosebank. Long thought to be perhaps the finest of the Lowland distilleries, it has a rich history dating back to the early 1800's but came to a fairly ignoble end, completely unfitting its status and popularity. In 1988, one of the warehouses … Continue reading Chieftain’s 1990 Rosebank 20 Year Old – Review
Master of Malt 1990 Bunnahabhain 20 Year Old – Review
Thanks to the excellent people at Master of Malt for the sample. At the recent SMWSA Extravaganza in Chicago, I overheard a guy telling his buddies that he preferred "Breech-laddick", and then expressed his disappointment at not seeing that particular brand at the show. Now, I can only assume that he meant Bruichladdich, and while … Continue reading Master of Malt 1990 Bunnahabhain 20 Year Old – Review
W.L. Weller 12 Year Old Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey – Review
William LaRue Weller's story is perhaps a somewhat typical one of successful men and women of the American 1800's. There's war, there's tragedy, there's family, there's dogged perseverance, and there's whiskey. Weller was pretty much born into bourbon making. His grandfather, Daniel, was operating a distillery close to Bardstown, KY as early as 1800. His … Continue reading W.L. Weller 12 Year Old Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey – Review
Chieftain’s 1984 Benrinnes 26 Year Old – Review
*Thanks to the good folks at Impex Beverages for the sample. Benrinnes, from the Scots Gaelic, Beinnroinn, means "promontory hill". A rather uninspired name if you ask me, but maybe on the day it was named it was bitterly cold, wet, and windy and the group of guys out naming stuff had had enough and … Continue reading Chieftain’s 1984 Benrinnes 26 Year Old – Review
Chieftain’s 1997 Caol Ila 14 Year Old Jamican Rum Cask Finish – Reveiw
*Thanks to the good folks at Impex Beverages for the sample. Perhaps let's start with a very brief, hopefully briefly accurate history of rum. Like whisky, hell, like all spirits, rum got its start when some genius, no doubt tired of drinking too many filling yet low-alcohol fermented beverages, decided to distill said same fermented … Continue reading Chieftain’s 1997 Caol Ila 14 Year Old Jamican Rum Cask Finish – Reveiw
St. George Spirits Breaking & Entering Bourbon – Review
The Casks has left San Francisco and moved to Minneapolis and wouldn't you know it, early October, there's snow in the forecast. So with no small amount of wistfulness, I thought it appropriate for the first review from the new locale to be from one of my favorites from the old locale, St. George Spirits … Continue reading St. George Spirits Breaking & Entering Bourbon – Review
Chieftain’s 1994 Longmorn 17 Year Old – Review
*Thanks to the good folks at Impex Beverages for the sample. Let's say (for the sake of relating something to something else in order to create some kind of post) that you wanted to heat up some kind of liquid; there are basically two ways of applying this heat, directly or indirectly. If you want … Continue reading Chieftain’s 1994 Longmorn 17 Year Old – Review
THE CASKS 