discerning drunks classy alcoholics
A new Famous Grouse! Well, not quite. The Famous Grouse Smoky Black is the new branding for The Black Grouse. Which is a little odd since they’re still offering the Black Grouse Alpha Edition – maybe they had extra labels left over. Speaking of labels, this one tells you exactly what you’re getting – Famous … Continue reading The Famous Grouse Smoky Black with Dan
Well, you knew this was going to happen, of course. It’s not a brand sampler without a BattleScotch to tell you which is worth your time or money. Always a little tricky with the tiny bottles, but when it comes to ranking Glenfarclii, here’s what we thought: nose Dan – 12y Simon – 10y Bowick … Continue reading BattleScotch! Glenfarclas with Dan & Bowick
Alright, the last of the Glenfarclii, the 12y. We can jump right to the notes, here’s what we thought: nose Dan – old banana, salty baked bread, fresh fudge Simon – old candies, cereal, smoked fish Bowick – coffee, wheat neat Dan – spicy & salty, fried melon Simon – sting and spice, not … Continue reading Glenfarclas 12y with Dan & Bowick
Second out the box of Glenfarclas it’s the 105! Named after something, I’m sure, but as we said last time the website is a little light on information. They suggest serving this as a “210” (a double) which might blow your face off, honestly. The 105 is offered at a cask strength of 60%, or … Continue reading Glenfarclas 105 Cask Strength with Dan & Bowick
Aw yiss, Glenfarclas at last. We’ve seen Glenfarclas 10y on the shelves for a while, and I was tantalizingly close to getting a bottle through Secret Santa one year. I recently found this sampler pack at the airport liquor store in Edmonton, which grimly was open at 7am. But hey, I bought liquor at 7:05 … Continue reading Glenfarclas 10y with Dan & Bowick
Jameson Caskmates Stout Edition. A bit more title than necessary, since this is the only version of Caskmates available at the moment, or mentioned anywhere on the internet, but whatever. Aging beer in whisky barrels is one of our favourite tricks at iScotch and aging whisky in the used barrels of other liquors is only … Continue reading Jameson Caskmates Stout Edition with Dan
Crown Royal XO – picked this out of the Christmas exchange at work – thanks Matt! Our third Crown Royal and the first from their Master Series, the XO is a Cognac barrel aged expression of a “blend from 50 of our finest whiskies”. The Master series includes blends with as few as three whiskies, … Continue reading Crown Royal XO with Dan
Suntory Whisky’s Toki! It’s been a while since we’ve had a Japanese whisky, so thanks to Steve for this wicked Christmas present. Japanese whisky follows the Scottish tradition, including how to blend – this has whiskies from three different Suntory distilleries from across the country, including grain and single malt. Oh, and Toki in Japanese … Continue reading Suntory Toki with Dan, Steve & Goran
Here we go, the other Stalk & Barrel blend, the Blue. So what’s going on here? Stalk & Barrel is retiring the 1+11 blend and instead offering the Blue & Red Blends as the entry and midrange bottles, respectively. We really enjoyed the 1+11 originally, but anecdotes suggest it may have changed over time – I’m not … Continue reading Stalk & Barrel Blue Blend with Dan
Stalk & Barrel Red Blend! Aged single malt, rye & corn whiskies blended by the lads in Concord. It’s been a while since we’ve had a new S&B, but since we did this one at Dan’s place for a party, the notes are… not great. Here goes: nose: vanilla, floral, wood, books, sharpness, lemon & … Continue reading Stalk & Barrel Red Blend At A Party
