Discover Whisky

As part of our efforts here to keep focussed and get information on whisky, tasting notes etc out as quickly as possible we’ve been working hard to develop our new posting schedule - so that all of our subscribers are able to get regular updates.

From February we’ll be doing two ‘core’ postings a week.

• Mondays - The Discover Whisky Weekly Digest
  • Look at Whisky News from the week that was
  • Look at up coming stories
  • Interviews
• Thursdays - Discover Whisky Tasting Notes
  • Review of a whisky every week

February Whisky Tastings

Over February we’ll be posting four brand new tastings of Malts from across Scotland - Bill’s focussing on Islay whiskies so everyone better keep him right!

1. Caol Ila Malt Whisky Review ¹
2. Ancnoc 12 year old Review ²
3. Ardbeg ³
4. Glenmorangie ‘Qunita Ruban’ ⁴

That will bring us up to the end of February and we can start saving up our pennies to get some new reviews/tasting notes for March - I’ve got my eye on doing a tasting of Cragganmore ⁵ in March.

Thanks from Discover Whisky in January

Thanks this month go to the guys at Spencerfield Spirit - I’ve been chatting to Alex by email and on the phone and hope to get over to Fife to meet them. They’ve also got a blog - good to see that whisky is becoming big online and that lots of people are starting to get involved.

Footnotes

1. Caol Ila Website - they don’t seem to have a website so link points to an information page about Caol Ila
2. anCnoc Website
3. Ardbeg Website
4. Glenmorangie Website
5. Cragganmore Website - no Cragganmore website so this link points to an information page too

Slainte

As we enter 2008 I thought it was about time that we said a bit about 2008 and said thank you to all the people who’ve helped make this site a success.

2008 - More tastings in more locations

In 2007 we’ve conducted a couple of tastings - trying to develop our scoring system has been our main concern. As none of us as ‘professional whisky tasters‘ we’ve been trying to develop a score card that we can put online so that everyone can add their views using the same criteria. At these tastings we’ve had close to one hundred people giving their views on how they taste whisky and what they use to determine a ‘great whisky‘ and how they determine a ‘poor whisky‘. This has been a harder task than we first envisaged. But we hope to have this done by the end of March.

Also in 2008 we’re hoping to arrange a public tasting - it may be a very limited public tasting of about 20 people and we’re currently finalising details as we speak. It is hoped to have something arranged in Edinburgh after the Festival is finished - as it’ll be less busy and Edinburgh always regains its sense of self at this time.

Thanks for 2007

A big thanks should go to Spider Writing and Amimono Design. Each of these companies have helped with hosting, design, installation and some other bits and pieces to do with the site.

A big round of applause goes to all at Glenmorangie. They helped arrange whisky for one of our small tastings at the tail end of last year - review coming soon. The whisky they sent us has also became one of the corner stones when developing our scoring system. They sent us a Christmas present too which was great.

So all the best to all of you in 2008.

Slainte

Just as a good whisky matures over the years so do our taste buds. My first experiences of single malts were at the age of 18, and thinking back to the types that I enjoyed then they were vastly different to those that I now favour. Back then I appreciated smoothness; the soft, sometimes almost honeyed flavours of the Speyside malts, Glenfiddich, Glenmorangie, and with Glenlivet the undoubted king. In many ways this reflected my tastes in food, which were only just branching out from a fairly bland British culinary upbringing. Just as I appreciated a good steak over a modest stew, I could recognise the quality of rich smooth malts over the rougher blends.

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On Saturday this week I took a stroll into Edinburgh - it was its customary grey colour and I spent most of the day outflanked by people who were either delusional, unfunny or both. Its currently the fringe in Edinburgh and every one who ever held beliefs that they were funny seems to take this week out of the asylum to foist their mis-held belief on the world. That said I did see a Radio 4 production of Loose Ends - Arthur Smith was funny ,hungover yet funny. After that I lunched at a quaint Chinese restaurant which was a nice change from the grey outlook. Got soaked to the skin and called the day a wash out. Continue Reading »

I’m gonna start this week with my thoughts on the Glenmorangie Port Wood Whisky.

This whisky has been matured in two distinct phases :

1. Whisky is matured at first in Oak Casks from America
2. The matured whisky is then finished in Port Wood ‘Pipes’

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