Boutique-y Whisky: Benrinnes (17 year) Batch 5

November 11, 2019November 10, 2019 The Scotch NoobReviewsLeave a comment 3148 views

Benrinnes, owned by John Dewar & Sons until it was sold to Diageo in 1997, is a storied Speyside distillery that was known for a complex form of partial-triple distillation … This one, a 17 year from That Boutique-y Whisky Company (TBWC) is the fifth batch of Benrinnes from the bottler. There’s precious little info on the website or online, so all I can do is guess that this is ex-bourbon (by the color), and the age tells us that this was partial-triple-distilled.

Rowan’s Creek Bourbon

November 4, 2019October 26, 2019 The Scotch NoobReviewsLeave a comment 9168 views

Rowan’s Creek, despite listing “Rowan’s Creek Distillery” as the bottler on the label, is a brand owned by Willett (formerly Kentucky Bourbon Distillers or KBD) and sourced from somewhere else. It is straight Kentucky bourbon, bottled at the obnoxious ABV of 50.05%, presumably so they can say it’s 100.1 proof.

Boutique-y Whisky: Three Ships (6 year) Batch 1

October 28, 2019October 27, 2019 The Scotch NoobReviews3 Comments 3118 views

Three Ships is a single malt whisky from the James Sedgwick Distillery in Wellington, South Africa, made by master distiller and former Cricket star Andy Watts. James Sedgwick is a shockingly old distillery, in operation since 1886. It’s known for Three Ships as well as Bain’s Cape Mountain Whisky. This release (batch 1) from That Boutique-y Whisky Company – is the first ever independent bottling of Three Ships.

District Made Bourbon

October 21, 2019October 19, 2019 The Scotch NoobReviews1 Comment 12817 views

The District Made Straight Bourbon is an unusual “four-grain” (corn, wheat, rye (malted and unmalted), and malted barley) bourbon made from regional ingredients … The bourbon is aged for 2 years in new charred oak and bottled at a robust 47.5% ABV.

Compass Box – The Circle No. 1

October 14, 2019October 13, 2019 The Scotch NoobReviews1 Comment 5501 views

…together, they created a blended malt scotch whisky that they describe as “Sunshine in a Glass”. It is comprised of a majority of first-fill ex-bourbon Tamdhu, about 15% refill ex-sherry Clynelish, a little ex-bourbon malt “from Orkney” (which means Highland Park or Scapa – I’d guess HP since it’s peated), and a scant 1.5% of Compass Box’s standard French Oak cask Highland blend. If you’d like to know the ages…

The Tariffs

October 8, 2019 The Scotch NoobNews11 Comments 969 views

I’m not going to go into much depth here or give any opinions, I just wanted to give a heads up to anyone who hasn’t already heard: The US, in an ongoing spat with the EU over airline subsidies, has announced – in retribution – a set of tariffs against retail products imported from the …

Legent Bourbon

October 7, 2019September 29, 2019 The Scotch NoobReviewsLeave a comment 13268 views

Legent is a love-child of classic American bourbon and Japanese blending artistry, which is intended to show how these two disparate whiskeymaking styles can harmonize. Fred Noe, Jim Beam’s master distiller, and Shinji Fukuyo, Suntory’s chief whisky blender chose 5 year-old barrels of Kentucky bourbon…

Big Peat

September 30, 2019September 29, 2019 The Scotch NoobReviews2 Comments 8699 views

The liquid itself is 100% Islay single malt from the distilleries of Caol Ila, Bowmore, Ardbeg, and Port Ellen and is bottled without added color or chill-filtration at 46% ABV. The whisky is so pale as to be almost clear and bears a striking resemblance to Lagavulin 8 year, although the same could be said of most younger peated malts. That Port Ellen component is interesting, as Port Ellen is basically gone from retail markets.

George Dickel Bottled In Bond Tennessee Whiskey

September 23, 2019September 23, 2019 The Scotch NoobReviews10 Comments 13532 views

This Bottled-in-Bond batch, from the Fall 2005 distilling season, was aged for 13 years and is bottled at the required 50% ABV. It is chill-filtered through sugar maple charcoal, like the rest of Dickel’s whiskies. … The Tennessee whiskies are all made at Dickel’s historic Cascade Hollow Distillery near Tullahoma, Tennessee, from a mash bill of 84% corn, 8% rye, and 8% malted barley…

Compass Box – Story of the Spaniard (Batch 1)

September 16, 2019September 15, 2019 The Scotch NoobReviews4 Comments 5319 views

The Story of the Spaniard is a blended malt whisky (that is to say, multiple single malts but no grain whisky) that is composed of malts aged in ex-sherry (48%) and Spanish red wine casks (25%). The vatting is bottled without added color or chill filtration at 43% ABV. As usual with Compass Box, all of the information you could possibly want is available online except for…