Whisky of the Week review and tasting notes for whiskies that I rated as Excellent. Excellent means that after tasting the whisky, I want to pour a second and third glass. It is whisky that I want to keep on drinking and when the bottle is finished, I will buy another one. Rating: Excellent
From Islay comes the Laphroaig 10 year old single malt Scotch whisky. Mention the name Islay and visions of a windswept lonely island in the Atlantic ocean comes to mind. The ocean played an integral part in Islay’s history as it brought explorers, wanderers and conquerors.
A whisky I have written about before in a twitter tasting, but I think it deserves its own blog post. The Douglas Laing’s Rock Oyster blended malt Scotch whisky is a firm favourite. Rock Oyster was released in 2015 as a blend of single malts from Scottish islands, including Orkney, Arran, Jura and Islay.
An extraordinary tasting this week: The Paul John Mars Orbiter Indian single malt whisky! During this last year or two, this whisky brand from India has taken SA by storm. From being an unknown distillery to being stocked in all the good liquor stores, the Paul John whisky is the one people want to try.
Now and again there are twitter tastings hosted by Steve from Whisky Wire. Most of them are for releases that are not available in South Africa. However, it is a wonderful opportunity to see what interesting whisky is available and what I need to look out for when we travel.
During December, Segan, a whisky friend tagged me on a post on Instagram. He tried a new Checkers Private Barrel Co release and loved it. He described it as ‘… the best tasting Irish whiskey for the sub R300 range that I’ve had this year and has a nose like a hummingbird cake.”
The second in my series on my Top whisky gift guide and I titled it ‘ Great Whisky gifts under R1000 to make you smile’. I am moving to a more accessible group, looking at whisky between R500 and R1000. In this category, you are spoilt for choice.