I was suppose to taste these whiskies as part of a virtual tasting lead by Tomintoul Master Distiller Robert Fleming, but I suppose I missed something when I signed up for the tasting, because I don't think I would have registered knowing it was happening at 11am on a Tuesday. I'm dedicated, but not that dedicated. What follows then is my impressions of these whiskies. Tomintoul 10 Year (40% abv) I can't find much information on the cask types used for maturation of Tomintoul 10. The website doesn't even mention "finest oak casks" so I'm a bit worried over here. Are the folks at Tomintoul ..read more

The old version I've enjoyed every Douglas Laing blended malt I've tried. Whoever is responsible for the cask selection over there is doing a fantastic job. Rock Oyster is a vatting of malt whiskies from the various islands on Scotland's West Coast. Curiously, this offering was recently renamed "Rock Island" because, according to some internet sources, the name "Oyster" put some people off. Weird. Oh well. Changing a name isn't as big a deal as, say, removing Non-Chillfiltered from your official packaging (I'm looking at you, Glendronach). Rock Oyster 18 Year Old is bottled at 46.8% a ..read more

There are times I try to get clever when publishing one post with multiple reviews. This is not one of those times. I'm not feeling all that creative these days, so here are the reviews.  Lot No.40 Cask Strength 2019 Release (57% abv) Lot 40 Cask Strength has generated plenty of interest and enthusiasm since the first release, a 12 year old in 2017. I liked 2018's 11 year version even more but both were fantastic pours. The 2019 release (I know I'm late to the party) received mixed reviews. I'm not sure if it was the lack of an age statement or the use of French Oak casks, but it wasn ..read more

 WARNING: I AM NOT A RUM EXPERT ! I love rum and I'm learning more about it all the time, but my views and reviews come from a whisky lover's perspective. Please don't send me hate mail telling me my opinions are worthless because I haven't tasted the first Foursquare ever released or the actual rum that Henry Morgan drank on the day he died in what is now Jamaica. If you want to read stuff from people who actually know what they're talking about, check out Rum Revelations , Roob Dogg Drinks , The Lone Caner, or The Fat Rum Pirate. The people writing those blogs kno ..read more

Current mood I haven't published anything in awhile, so I thought I'd share a few tasting notes with you. I was going to develop each of these into separate blog entries, but I haven't the motivation to see these things through these days. Ergo, this brief snapshot will have to do for my tens of fans. (That was a joke. I'd be surprised if anyone other than my mother is reading at this point). That said, I've included two distilleries that aren't reviewed quite as often along with a review of my latest bottle of Laphroaig 10. I'm not going to hide the fact that I'm sort of following ..read more

To be, or not to be, that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles And by opposing end them. Please don't run away or close your web browser; I promise I'm not going to bore you with an existential soliloquy, at least not today. Why bring up Shakespeare then? Well, Arran was, for a time, one of those "secrets" that wasn't on the mainstream whisky drinker's radar. As the better-known bloggers and vloggers started talking about Arran, the word got out. Arran became more popular, and rig ..read more

Please allow me to begin this review by horrifying the ghosts of all my universtiy professors by quoting Wikipedia: In astronomy and astrobiology, the circumstellar habitable zone (CHZ), or simply the habitable zone, is the range of orbits around a star within which a planetary surface can support liquid water given sufficient atmospheric pressure.The bounds of the CHZ are based on Earth's position in the Solar System and the amount of radiant energy it receives from the Sun. Due to the importance of liquid water to Earth's biosphere, the nature of the CHZ and the objects within it may be inst ..read more

I'm Canadian. That means I have a complicated relationship with geese. As the Canadian legend goes, all the anger and hatred was sucked out of the Canadian populace and channelled into its geese in a secret ritual known only to Rick Mercer, Avril Lavigne, Sandra Oh, and Ed the Sock. The ritual worked, but it worked too well. Our geese are the most spiteful and evil creatures on planet Earth, whereas a Canadian citizen is likely to say "Sorry, eh!?" even if YOU bump into them.  Australian wildlife recoils in horror at the thought of fighting a Canada Goose.  Rumour has it that even C ..read more

I reviewed Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select here and liked it well enough. It didn't change my life, but I had absolutely no complaints. The standard offering from Woodford "tastes like bourbon". That may sound ridiculous, but it's the simple truth.Woodford Double Oaked is basically the regular Woodford Reserve Distiller’s Select re-barrelled in a second virgin oak barrel for a little under a year. The second barrel used is deeply toasted before being lightly charred.  So what's the pricier ($20 more, to be precise) Woodford like? Is it worth the price tag? Neat from a Glencairn ..read more

I haven't been posting or reviewing much lately, because frankly I'm more interested in rums (true, unadulterated rums) these days. I'm tired of the steadily climbing whisky prices and what I perceive as the declining quality of the product, not to mention the increasing absurdity of "whisky origin stories". There are enough curmudgeons in the whisky reviewing world and I'm not that well-known anyway. That said, I've stumbled upon a young star and I thought I'd share it with anyone still reading. By "young", I'm referring to the age of the whisky and not to the distillery. I'm not sure if this ..read more