I had a couple of days up in Scotland this week. Unsurprisingly whisky featured rather heavily. I didn't do in-depth tasting notes, but here's the ones I tried and any thoughts looking back:
Bruichladdich 1990 (20 yo) Chateau Margaux Cask. Not as heavily wine-influenced as I thought it might be but beautifully smooth and you hardly notice its hefty 50.2% abv.
Compass Box 'Great King Street.' A rather good 'aperitif' blend.
A very clean, extremely smoky Ardbeg 17yo from Cadenhead's. I think this one was from the 'Authentic' collection, bottled at 55.7%.
Ardbeg 1976. This was a lot more earthy than the Cadenhead's bottling. I didn't have a lot of information on this one but it was absolutely superb.
Benromach 10. Steady Speysider.
Two Cask-strength Bowmores, one at 12 and one at 17 years old. They were quite different, the second showing a lot more citrus fruit which surprised me since it was the older of the two, but both were lively and fiery.
Longrow 14. I was, somewhat heretically, on
Kelburn's excellent Pivo Estivo by the time we got to the
Pot Still, home of the whisky drinker's dream come true back bar (pictured above) but I did a have a cheeky sip of a friend's peaty Springbank.
Isle of Jura 21 yo from the Glenkeir Treasures range. Almost ethereal it was so light.
Isle of Arran Sauternes Cask. I enjoyed this one, great sweet lemon sherbet flavours coming through from the wine cask.
Compass Box 'Spice Tree'. I think the best was the '76 Ardbeg but for the money I thought this was brilliant, and it's one I might go for in the future since by budget doesn't stretch to seventies Ardbeg bottlings!
I'd also recommend the
Chaophrya Thai restaurant on Buchanan Street in Glasgow. Good food in a really beautiful setting.
 |
| Whisky. A LOT of whisky. |
My stay up there was all too brief, although a chance meeting meant I did get a quick look at the
Claive Vidiz collection at the
Whisky Experience in Edinburgh. By way of contrast my journey back was unfortunately far too long because I was sitting on the train for an hour and a half, looking at the Angel of the North, waiting for some points to be fixed. I began to wonder if the Angel was doing it on purpose, maybe wondering where its share of all those whiskies was?
The colour is as you'd expect although the head was darker than many black IPAs I've had before, with a tan hint that made it look a bit more like an imperial stout. Some black IPAs don't really get off the ground with the 'dark' side of their nature, but this one balances the roasty chocolate and liquorice notes really well with the 'lighter' IPA elements of tropical fruit and citrus pithyness.
