Bruichladdich Octomore 11.1

September 28, 2020September 28, 2020 The Scotch NoobReviews1 Comment 20408 views

Octomore, for those who haven’t had the pleasure of shelling out $150+ for a bottle of one of the past ten editions, is the most heavily-peated whisky in the world. It’s bottled at cask strength and comes out every year in either 3 or 4 varieties. In brief, 11.1 is 5 years old and was aged only in ex-bourbon American oak. … this year was distilled in 2014 from the 2013 harvest of Scottish-grown (not on Islay) Concerto and Propino barley. The barley was malted by Bairds in Inverness to 139.6 ppm and the final 30,000 bottles were bottled at 59.4% ABV. The release was aged for…

Laphroaig An Cuan Mòr

July 27, 2020July 25, 2020 The Scotch NoobReviews2 Comments 17668 views

I’m impressed that in a side-by-side comparison, it’s clear that this is Laphroaig “plus”. You get extra cinnamon, extra vanilla, and extra oaky sweetness from the European oak that’s just simply missing from the standard expression. It does not taste older, nor mellower. If you feel like your standard Laphroaig could use a little more flavor that isn’t peat, you’ll probably enjoy…

Caol Ila Moch

July 13, 2020July 11, 2020 The Scotch NoobReviews1 Comment 23135 views

Moch, meaning “Dawn”, is an attempt by Caol Ila to justify the industry-wide practice of NAS (no age statement) bottling by marketing it as the “first” single malt from the distillery where barrel selection was done by taste instead of by age or other factors. Putting aside the fact that you’d think taste would be of primary importance to barrel selection for every…

Caol Ila (18 year)

January 6, 2020December 29, 2019 The Scotch NoobReviews2 Comments 18851 views

Most of Caol Ila’s output is peated and most of it (95%!) ends up in various blends, as it’s the go-to standard for adding smoke to blended malts these days because of its inherent softness and willingness to play with others. This being a Diageo malt, there is essentially no information online. It’s clearly been aged in ex-bourbon casks for its 18 years of maturation, but…

Big Peat

September 30, 2019June 27, 2022 The Scotch NoobReviews2 Comments 20668 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.

Compass Box – Peat Monster (2019 Edition)

September 2, 2019August 25, 2019 The Scotch NoobReviews4 Comments 17240 views

The new formula still relies on Caol Ila and Laphroaig, but at a different ratio and without the extraneous peated Highland malts. The new Peat Monster contains 64% Caol Ila and 35% Laphraoig, plus 1% of the French Oak-aged batch of blended Highland malts that John Glaser seems to be throwing into everything these days.

Lagavulin (8 year)

August 5, 2019July 19, 2019 The Scotch NoobReviews10 Comments 27376 views

We have here an 8 year-old Lagavulin bottled at 48% ABV, and so pale that it’s almost clear. This was originally released as the distillery’s 200th (bicentenary) anniversary limited edition, but has since been added to the core range. With that, the information available online dries up. To my palate, this seems to be missing the sherry portion found in the 16-year. Like the 12-year, I would guess this is entirely from ex-bourbon casks.

Caol Ila (18 year) Unpeated – (Special Release 2017)

July 9, 2018January 6, 2020 The Scotch NoobReviews10 Comments 16095 views

I’m always up for a chance to try something new without having to purchase a whole bottle! The “Unpeated Style” releases, from an annual run of unpeated Caol Ila made by the distillery for blending purposes, are a Special Release series bottled by Diageo once a year, often at different ages and always at natural cask strength. …

Ardbeg An Oa

February 19, 2018February 3, 2018 The Scotch NoobReviews13 Comments 24359 views

A no-age-statement (shock! awe!) vatting of various casks of Ardbeg including new (virgin) charred oak, Pedro Ximénez (PX) sherry, and first-fill bourbon. These are all dumped into a French oak “Gathering Vat” in the new “Gathering Room” at Ardbeg. Note that most other distilleries call this a “marrying vat” or “marrying tun”, but we’ll let them have their cutsey name. The result is bottled at the randomly-chosen 46.6% ABV without chill filtration.

Port Askaig 110 Proof

November 6, 2017November 5, 2017 The Scotch NoobReviews14 Comments 18531 views

To its credit, this first US release of Port Askaig (named, you guessed it, after a port town on the Scottish island of Islay) is bottled at cask-strength (55% ABV) and without chill-filtration or added coloring from a small batch of “2 to 40” barrels per batch, which means whatever you’d like it to mean. The barrels in question are from an “unnamed” Islay distillery and are all ex-bourbon casks.