Another tasty dram from Lagavulin

Okay, now one of the stupidest things you can do is go to whisky tasting, get partially liquored up and then pop down to the showroom at Regional and shop for whisky. Not that the showroom isn't a wonderful place! They have probably the best selection of single malt in the Wellington area and definitely the best prices. It's certainly my happy place!! :-) I have purchased some beautiful tasty whisky over the last year and will purchase many more (Longrow Gaja Barolo is next). But good decisions are not made after 7 whiskies!

Anyway, as it happens after the wonderful "Malts of the Midlands" tasting, I wandered downstairs to check out the comprehensive selection of single malts and one specific malt took my eye. A Lagavulin 12yo cask strength! It is 56.4% and bottled in 2007.

It lacks a little of the complexity of the 16yo but it is still a most salubrious drop and so very very tasty! The peaty, phenolic taste is still there and while it doesn't linger as long on the palate as its older sister but it's still unmistakeably Lagavulin!! It's so good, that it is in my top 5 favourite whiskies of all time and I polished off half a bottle within a week. I may have to send this bottle off site like the octomore just to make it last a while.

Michael Jackson rated this Lagavulin "expression" at 91\100, only 4 shy of the wonderful 16yo.

Find it, buy it, drink it! Do it now!!!!

Tasty Japanese Whisky - Nikka 12yo

Earlier I mentioned a rather interesting evening out on the town with my mate Ian and the tasty Old Malt Cask Bowmore we tried at Matterhorn. Well on that fateful evening we also wandered a little further up Cuba Street to a fine establishment called 'Good Luck'. It's a basement bar with a excellent atmosphere and a reasonable selection of whiskies including this fine drop.

It as Nikka Yoichi 12yo, single malt from Japan. Yoichi is one of Nikka's two distilleries situated 50km west of Sapporo city on Hokkaido.

Japanese whiskies like there Scottish counterparts come in many varities, both the filthy and the very tasty. This whisky is a very interesting drop. There are definite traces of peat which immediately endears it to me, but in my humble opinion it tastes more like a speyside whisky than anything. It has definite traces of sherry on the nose which are also somewhat evident when you taste it.  Fruity, Peaty, Fruity is the best way I can think to describe it. It's just a salubrious dram and an excellent alternative to your average scotch whisky. Can't wait to try the 15yo.

Whisky Tasting from the Midlands

What : Whisky Tasting - Malts of the Midlands

When : April 29th, 2009, 6pm

Where : Regional Wines & Spirits - Wellington

Who : Me (of course), my friends Donna & Ian + 24 other fine citizens

Why : Duh!

Well last Wednesday I attended latest regional whisky tasting - "Malts of the Midlands" with a couple of mates. Now, I'm crazed Islay fan so I was a little skeptical of the whole 'Midlands' thing, but the whole reason I go to tastings is to learn what I like and don't like. You can usually find one or two standout drams amongst some truly filthy whisky.

The tasting as always was blind, and we had 7 whiskies to contend with including a mystery malt.

Our average scores are as follow:

Malt: Gordon & McPhail, Glenturret 16yo 40%

Score: 5.86

Malt: Chieftans, Glenturret 11yo Port finish 43%

Score: 6.2

Malt: Glengoyne 21yo 43% unpeated

Score: 7.19

Malt: Glengoyne 16yo unpeated Ltd Edition Scottish Oak Finish 53.3%

Score: 7.89

Malt: Adelphi GlenGarioch 17yo cask #2689

Score: 8.2

Malt: Edradour cask strength Gaja Barolo finish Mystery Malt

Score: 7.53

Malt: Edradour 'Straight from the cask' 10yo sherry butt finish

Score: 8.44

Highs and Lows

Filthiest whisky of the night - Edradour cask strength with Gaja Barolo finish (96 Octane)

Find of the night - Edradour straight from the cask, Sherry Butt #84

It's amazing how two whiskies from the same distillery can be so very different. But there you have it, that's why you go to whisky tasting, to find these things out! And that's why I have booked the next two already! Hooray for great company and good whisky!