Whisky of the Week review and tasting notes for whiskies that I rated as Divine. Divine means that after tasting the whisky, I try not to finish the bottle in one sitting. Just perfection. Rating: Divine
Today I try a blend; the Ballantine’s Finest blended Scotch whisky. Ballantine’s Scotch whisky dates back to 1827. George Ballantine began supplying a selected range of blended Scotch whiskies to distinguished customers from his grocery store in Edinburgh.
A year or 2 ago, I noticed a few interesting sounding tasting notes on Twitter. They were for the Port Askaig Islay single malt Scotch whisky. Not too long afterwards, John had lunch at Bottega’s, and Savi brought him a glass of the Port Askaig 8 yo whisky. He loved it and immediately bought me a bottle. I think it is time that I try this bottle.
John got this bottle of Glenfiddich Gran Reserva 21 year old whisky as a gift, and I decided why not. Let’s end this year on an old note. I started this year with the Three Ships PX cask. I will begin next year with the Three Ships Pinotage Cask. But first, I end 2016 on a high note with the Glenfiddich Gran Reserva 21 year old single malt Scotch whisky.
Amrut is a brand of Indian single malt whisky manufactured by the Amrut Distilleries in Bangalore. It is the first single malt whisky to be made in India. The brand became famous after whisky connoisseur Jim Murray declared Amrut Fusion single malt whisky as one of the world’s best whiskies in the 2010 edition of his annual Whisky Bible.
Time and again, this blend impresses me. I have yet to meet a bottle of Ballantine’s that I do not love. The Ballantine’s 17 yo and the Scapa Distillers Edition are divine whiskies. And today I am trying one of the older releases in my collection. The Ballantine’s 30 year old blended Scotch whisky. What a long time that is. A whole lifetime.
This past week was just full of drama, and after all of this, I needed a dram to cheer me up. I grabbed a glass of the Glenkinchie Distillers Edition 1986 single malt Scotch whisky and went to sit in the sun on my own for a while to relax.