Matthew's Journal

24. The XL blench batch 1 £549. Another example of how it's good to taste the whisky before figuring out the 3cl bottle would cost upwards of £20 to buy :) Notwithstanding the tasting notes, I thought there was a distinct Port note on the nose. This is a complex and well-balanced whisky (perhaps heather, smoke, and some woodyness) with a long finish which I enjoyed, but. I'm not sure it's my favourite of the 24, and I don't think I'd find myself shelling out for a bottle any time soon!

So that's it for the advent calendar. Thanks again to the friend who very kindly bought it for me (you know who you are :-) ) - I tried a number of whiskies I would probably have never thought to try otherwise, and some of them were real winners :)

I'm not actually drinking at this hour of the morning, but I tried these a couple of days ago, and not had time/space to write them up. But I'm running a bit ahead of schedule this morning, so, before I entirely forget...

21. Aberfeldy 12yo £33. A slightly sweet, gentle malt.


22. Balvenie Peat Week 14yo 2003 vintage £60. As the name suggests, this is a pretty peaty offering. What surprised me was how round it was to taste - plenty of smoke, but not quite the mouthful of phenol you sometimes get with very peaty whisky.


23. Bunnahabhain Stiùireadair £38. An Islay malt finished in sherry casks, which I thought worked rather well. I'm rarely convinced by the suggestion of maritime notes in whisky, but I thought there was a slightly briny hint here

Number 24 later this week, perhaps...

After a lot of singing today, whisky is medicinal, right? :)

19. Jim Beam Rye £25. Nice enough, but there's not a lot going on here.


20. Peat's Beast £42. No, not a joke about management style at work, this one does what it says on the tin. Very smokey, phenolic whisky.
    

I'm in danger of not getting to 24 before Christmas again, but I'm not giving up just yet ;-)

17. Irish Single Malt #1 13yo from That Boutique-y Whisky Company £60. A real winner this, smooth and sweet with just a hint of smoke.


18. Glenfarclas 105 Cask Strength £47. Good assertive scotch, even watered down somewhat. Dried fruit, perhaps?

I thought it might be worth returning to the whisky advent calendar, what with it being Advent again :-)

Number 16 is Rock Oyster £37. It's a blend of island malts, and felt a little over-peated to my taste.

The first of these I had a while back, but didn't get to writing up; the other was this evening's accompaniment to some GoT...

14. Kavalan Single Malt £54. I think the first whisky from Taiwan I've ever had. The tasting notes talk about mango and tropical fruits, which I didn't get at all, but there is a gentle sweetness here.
    
15. The Glendronach 12yo £39. I wouldn't have said "very heavily sherried", but there are some sherry hints.
    

...is Cardhu Gold Reserve £39. It's a slightly sweet, warming comfortable dram. It's not the most complex whisky, but I enjoyed it :)

Time for a couple of drams this evening...

11. Cotswolds Single Malt £47. The first expression from the Cotswolds distillery; some pleasant sweet notes to this, although I couldn't detect any hints of the red wine casks its spent time in.
    
12. Kilchoman Machir Bay Whisky £43. I do like a good Islay, and haven't had this one before. Plenty of smoke, but it's not overpowering nor one-dimensional. A winner :)
    

...is Kirkwall Bay £36, from a distillery on Orkney. It's quite gentle for a single malt from one of the islands.

I'm still quite far behind on these; but this gets me up-to-date with the ones I've actually tasted (a few evenings this week):

6. Hudson Baby Bourbon £50. This is made from corn spirit, and did have an unusual smell to it; interesting, but perhaps not my thing.
   
7. Monkey Shoulder Smokey Monkey £30. A gently smoked whisky; nice but not doing anything very complicated.
   
8. The Glenrothes 12 Year Old £41. A nice, slightly sweet Speyside.
   
9. Nikka Whisky From The Barrel £33. 51.4% abv, so needs a fair bit of water to make it more drinkable. Even then, I was not really impressed (which is strange, as we have a bottle of this, so I was obviously keener on it at some point!)