by tashmcgill | Jun 3, 2017 | Opinion, Tasting Notes
Earlier this year, I was having lunch with Dr. Bill Lumsden, master distiller and my favourite whisky chemist. We were celebrating the release of the long-awaited Glenmorangie Bacalta, a baked madeira finished whisky and their 8th Private Edition release but I...
by tashmcgill | May 31, 2017 | Tasting Notes
I’ve had a few of the Old Particular independent bottlings from Douglas Laing & Co. Their single cask bottlings are sourced from some of my favourite distilleries – Aberlour, Auchentoshan, Ben Nevis, Bowmore and Speyburn just to name a few. They are a...
by tashmcgill | Jun 7, 2016 | Drink, Opinion, Tasting Notes
The days are getting colder and in my neighbourhood, the smell of burning wood and charcoal is hanging in the night air by 6pm each night. That smell reminds me of the burning peat I smelled in the same dark air hanging over Islay. I imagine the dark cove in Ardbeg...
by tashmcgill | May 31, 2016 | Opinion, Tasting Notes
About a month ago, I tried my first Ballechin. It’s a peated whisky release from Edradour. This weekend, I tried my second. I jumped to the 6th release of the Ballechin, bourbon-cask finished. It’s a NAS (non-age statement) whisky, peated to a minimum of...
by tashmcgill | May 25, 2016 | Tasting Notes
There’s a special kind of time they talk about at the end of the long road to Ardbeg. They call it Islay Time. The kind of present that is so closely linked to the past, everything slows down. It’s not hard to imagine the life of Celtic monks who found...
by tashmcgill | May 24, 2016 | Tasting Notes
The bottle alone is something to gaze at. Be warned, it doesn’t pour that well and takes a practiced hand. You’ll get plenty of practice though, because for a young whisky it exudes character beyond its years. Not surprisingly, because this is a Talisker...
