Whisky Tasting Notes

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Right, I've got a £5 off whisky voucher to spend at Royal Mile Whiskies, so what should I buy? Here's my old favourites:

Regular favourites

• Highland Park 12yo - £25 - no Highland Park at either Whisky Fringe, but I tried both the 12yo and 18yo recently and think the 12yo might well be the perfect dram! Less impressed by the very similar 18yo. Alas, money cannot buy a bottle of the special edition single cask bottling of Rebus 20.
  
• Glemorangie Port Wood - £35 - Scotland's favourite single malt in a Port cask. I tried the new range from behind the table at this year's Whisky Fringe, same taste, only they've gone for some fancy naming. This is my last chance to buy a bottle with the old branding.
• Glenlivet 12yo - £20 - one of the most popular single malts in the world, with a great distillery and history. My favourite Speyside dram.
• Glenlivet 16yo (1990 - Cask Strength) - £35 - can only be purchased from the Glenlivet distillery. Perhaps too strong to enjoy the Glenlivet flavour.
• Aberlour 10yo - £20 - a reliable Speysider - my first Edinburgh bottle.
• Tamnavulin 12yo - £20 - a typical Speysider from a mothballed distillery - the highest in the Cairngorms
• Caol Ila 12yo - £30 - a strong peaty Islay. Nice in small doses, an entire bottle takes too long to finish off as I get bored of it.
• Ardbeg 10yo - £30 - the perfect peaty Islay, as above.
• Laphroaig 10yo - £20 - a very old favouite
• Bowmore 12yo - £25 - I think this was my viva party dram... though can't remember!
• Edradour - never at Whisky Fringe. I really must pay Scotland's smallest distillery a visit some day to buy a bottle of their finest.
• Isle of Jura 10yo - £25 - must buy a bottle sometime

I could buy a cheap 12yo and get 20-25% off, but you can buy these anywhere and supermarkets often have good deals on them anyway. So, I'll need to get something special. So, I'll collate my whisky tasting notes from both the 2007 and 2006 Whisky Fringe events. Of course, the more whisky I drunk the better it tasted... in 2006 I numbered my tastings, I really should have done the same this year for calibration purposes! ;-)

Fringe favourites

• Gordon & MacPhil's Private Collection: Old Pulteney 1994 Sauternes - £40 - the whisky of 2007! A nice balance of peat, but is it worth paying twice as much as a regular Old Pulteney?
• Old Pulteney 12yo - £20 - the discovery of 2007, a great new regular single malt
• Craigellachie 14yo - £30 - a nice Speysider from 2007's tastings
• Gordon & MacPhil's Secret Stills 6.1 - £30 - a nice Highlander from 2007's tastings
• Duncan Taylor's Glenlivet 1968 - £60 - it's recognisably Glenlivet, yet with more flavour. Old but good value, a blend of two different '68 casks stored in the Glenlivet distillery. Oddly, I tried this both in 2007 and 2006 without realising!
• Old Ballantruan (Tomintoul) - £25 - very peaty. One of my last drams for 2007 - the only table still serving.
• Tomintoul 27yo - £50 - My last dram of 2007, so an unreliable score, but it is part of the official selection! I can't even read my note about it...
• Benromach 1968 - £140 - Strong of flavour and taste

Enjoyable

• Benromach Organic - £30 - almost like a bourbon.
  
• Benromach Peat Smoke - £25 - very peaty as expected
• Adelphi Glen Garioch 1990 - £60 - has a bit of an edge to it, but it was an early dram of 2007.
• BenRiach 12yo - £25 - slightly peaty (2007)
• Singleton of Dufftown - £30 - light and very drinkable (2007)
• Ardbeg Uigeadail - £40 - cask strength Ardbeg - says it all really (2007)
• Aberlour a'bunadh - £35 - cask strength Aberlour enjoyed in 2006
• Auchentoshan Three Wood - £35 - a mixture of finishes leaves this whisky with a variety of sweet additional flavours. I loved it in 2006, but thought better in 2007. Not sure I'd enjoy it as a regular dram.
• Sheep Dip - £25 - a nice blend from 2006
• Old Rip Van Winkle 10yo - £35 - best bourbon of 2006

Unimpressive

• Canada Club - Canadian regular bourbon
  
• Mackmyra Preludium 05 - £40 - a Swedish Whisky!?! Has novelty value, but nothing else!

Avoid

• Arran Tokaji finish - £40 - Horrific! Tokaji is a Hungarian wine. This whisky was very bitter.
• Arran Robert Burns - £20 - this isn't a whisky, too sweet! Only 7-8yo, but not advertised.
• BenRiach 12yo Tawny Port - £30 - not that bad, but peaty whisky + Port isn't a great combination
• Compass Box Hedonism - £45 - a blend that I gave a 100% to in 2006, but as my first dram in 2007, it was majorly disappointing, though it was a new batch.

Or I could go for a rum; both Whisky Fringe events had some fantastic rums, the highlights being the Rum Nation: Guatemala 23yo in 2006 (£35), and the Ron Millonario 15yo in 2007 (£30). I couldn't find the former at Royal Mile last year, but I've seen a few bottles of the latter this year. I also tried this year the Seales 10yo, a good £25 bottle - drier and more refined than others, Elements 8 Gold - fancy looking £30, reasonable, and the Foursquare Spiced Rum, apparently "what a spiced rum should taste like" - £15 - I decided I'm not a fan of spiced rums. Also good last year was the Rum Nation: Panama 18yo (£25).

The official selection as voted by all (sober) Whisky Fringe attendees of 2007:

1. Bruichladdich 18 - this must have been under the table, I didn't see it
   
2. Talisker 18 Year Old - £40 - always a favourite, but I'm not a big Talisker fan (though I did like the "distiller's" edition.
   
3. Glenfarclas 30 Year Old - at £100 it must be good, I didn't even notice they were there
   
4. Glenrothes Select Reserve - £35
   
5. Speyside's Finest 1965 Old Malt Cask - another £100 one
   
6. Laphroaig Quarter Cask - £25 - I should try this sometime
   
7. Port Ellen 1983 Old Malt Cask - £100 - had this at Eric's place, I was not impressed, I preferred the 15yo Dalwhinnie!
   
8. Tomintoul 27 Year Old - £50 - see above, good stuff
   
9. Ardbeg Airigh Na Beist - £45 - the only Ardbeg I've not tried, guess it's much like the others.
   
10. Arran Tokaji Finish - £40 - horrific stuff, see notes above
    

Having seen "Gordon & MacPhil's Private Collection: Old Pulteney 1994 Sauternes" in the Royal Mile Whisky shop I may well go for it! :-)

Check out Eric's tasting notes too.