Whisky Blog

Caption competition!

We have a bunch of Famous Grouse branded Scotland vs. England rugby beanie hats and some Q-jump passes for the weekend game to give away. All you need to do to get your hands on them is

Where is the love?

Nose: Leather wax, ski wax, all wax. Really mature Camembert or melted Raclette. Hot tyres, Play-Doh, old chewing gum. All wrapped in sharp tones of sweet over-ripe pear, fantastically out of place, like a pinball machine in a church.
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I just got home from the ‘bloggers tasting’ at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society. They organise one [...]

Get your whisky cheaper!

To some of you it won’t come as a surprise that we are now tightening our bond with Master of Malt, an excellent online whisky retailer. It is run by generally rather cool guys (apart from the fact they are mostly English) and we get on with them very well. The results of this international [...]

Why exactly is Smokehead so dear?

As I would imagine somebody will be quick enough to point out, this isn’t really a post with a point. It’s more of a musing, maybe a push for some discussion. I was looking at the price of Smokehead 18 year old yesterday and was struck by just how expensive it really is. In case [...]

Thumbs up, thumbs down

I had this idea to include a small thumb up/thumb down picture with every Quick Dram we do (see previous post on Tamdhu), just to be perfectly clear on whether we liked the whisky or not. What do you think? Vote and leave us a comment. If you give the idea thumbs down we’ll drop [...]

Distillery Focus

Hello, Euan here. Some readers blessed with a good memory may remember my name from a few previous posts that I’ve made here and hopefully you will be seeing a little bit more of me in the future.
Anyway, I’m here to introduce you to a new (and all things going to plan, regular) feature I’ll [...]

New Year Bars

Travelling to Edinburgh for New Year?  Not keen on standing on Princes Street, as the temperature plummets below zero and the alcohol becomes scarcer and scarcer?  Here is my advice: Find a bar with an excellent selection of whisky, that’s nice and warm and has good food on offer. Get a comfy seat and have [...]

Merry Christmas!

Sitting in my parents’ house with a smoky wonder number 76 from the SMWS in one hand and a Ferrero Rocher in the other (typing with my toes) I am mentally and phisically ready for all the excess of the hours and, indeed, days to come. I have some real crackers lined up; apart from the 76 there is [...]

Diurachs went bonkers for Facebook

Whyte & Mackay peeps are currently running a promo where you can stay in the famous Jura Lodge for two nights for absolutely nothing. I shall maybe add that normally it costs £300 a night, so it definitely ain’t grease B&B.
Obviously it’s not just free-for-all / please-ruin-us-completely kind of a deal. In order to qualify, [...]

A Quick Dram: Pittyvaich 20yo

Pittyvaich 20yo
Filled in 1989, bottled in 2009
Bourbon cask
6000 bottles
57.5% ABV
£127 from here
The Distillery closed its gates in 1993 after only 18 years distilling. It was demolished in 2003.

Nose: Honey, heather, violets, apples. A very light nose.
Palate: Oranges, caramel, leather, earthy. Quite different from the nose. With water gets citrusy and zesty.
Finish: [...]