Year 2016 highlights!

Let's establish the tradition to tamp the results of each year and name TOP-5 in 3 categories. 

Balmenach 14 yo Sestante 57.5%

Repetition of a New Year and second antique Italian bottling in a row...

Miltonduff trio: 1963 G&M 40%, 25 yo Maltbarn 51.2% and 14 yo Sestante Pluscarden Valley 57.4%

Gradually 3 bottles of Miltonduff gathered on shelf, so why not taste them together?..

Benriach quartet: 16 yo Virgin oak cask 3269, 18 yo Rum Barrel cask 1644, 32 yo Refill Bourbon Barrel cask 7512 and 18 yo Oloroso Butt cask 7353

Tonight we'll retaste set of 4 single cask Benriachs bottled for Ukrainian Whisky Connoisseurs Club.

Longmorn 20 yo 1992/2013 DL Director's Cut 53.6%

One of the recent facts I discovered about this distillery was one Japanese guy working there on probation in 1919. His name was Masataka Taketsuru and you might have heard something about Nikka distillery.

Ukrainian Whisky Connoisseurs Club - December 2016 tasting

Last tasting in 2016 was including the best malts we've met during this year. And also some new expressions bottled exclusively for UWCC and Whisky Corner. 

Littlemill 1990/2013 22 yo BR cask #16 46%

Distillery was stopped in 1996, the remains were destroyed by fire in 2004. Possibly one of the oldest Scottish distilleries with roots going back to 1750 (at least Littlemill bottles are still more or less available on the shelves). 

Friday tasting part 2 (mainland): Mannochmore 10 yo 59.1%, Auchroisk 9 yo 60.6%, Glendullan 13 yo 58.7% and Clynelish 20 yo LMDW Artist #5

Now we move from the islands of Scotland to the mainland and take a set of Manager's choice releases. 

Friday tasting part 1 (islands): Arran 16 yo Private cask, Bunnahabhain 25 yo 46.3%, Ardbeg Auriverdes 49.9%, Caol Ila 19 yo Maltbarn 52.8%

New Year is coming, only two weeks left and too many samples are looming. But let it be our biggest problem to solve :)

Laphroaig 10 yo CS batch 008 59.2%

Haven't tasted the most medicinal Islay spirit for quite a long time... 

Ledaig 18 yo 46.3% and Ledaig 21 yo Cadenhead 53.6%

A pair of Ledaigs tonight. Winter is coming... 

Highland Park 25 yo 48.1% vs Tobermory 32 yo 49.5% vs Fettercairn 35 yo 53.5%

Three great whiskies standing on a wall... Quite spontaneously Sergii and me decided to make tough contest among the malts that really impressed us this year. They are the champions already, but which one is the best?..

Islay tasting: Cask Islay, Bunnahabhain 1997 van Wees, Kilchoman 10 yo Private cask, Caol Ila 2003 Potstill, Laphroaig 23 yo (1991 vintage)

Nice Islay tasting took place on 07.12.2016. Four bottles from independent bottlers and one official release. 

Kilkerran 12 yo 46%

First official release from Glengyle distillery being founded in 1872, closed in 1925 and restarted in 2004 as a sister distillery of Springbank. It doesn't happen often when you taste first core release of a new distillery :) 

Highland Park 15 yo 40%

Discontinued and often neglected bottling. Still available on the web or small shops.

Benriach 11 yo single cask for Whisky Dram, Hazelburn 9 yo Barolo Cask and Springbank 12 yo CS batch #13

TGIF. And Friday evening is a perfect time to have a couple of new drams in Goodwine whisky location.

Ledaig 10 yo Artist #5 cask 900179 60.4%

Hello, my little malty-mono-Mull maniacs! Tonight we have quite unusual Mull inhabitant - Ledaig 10 yo dressed in the height of latest Paris fashion.

Glenglassaugh 30 yo, Braes of Glenlivet 22 yo Maltbarn and Fettercairn 35 yo

The best tastings often occur when you don't plan them :) dropped in on my friend's apartment only for an hour, 4 hours spent instead but it was just great...

Port Ellen DL Platinum 29 yo 1979/2009 53.2%

Port Ellen from bottlers is always different. Tonight we have the one from Douglas Laing.

Whisky felling #1. Gems of Speyside: Glen Grant 60 yo 1952/2012 GM 40%, Glen Grant 1967/2008 40%, Macallan 18 yo (vintage 1966) 43%, Macallan 20 yo 1985/2005 Sc 54.4%

Aside from having Black Friday on 25.11.2016 one more event took place in Kiev - five malt maniacs gathered together to taste quite rare and unique Speyside malts.

Ardbeg Uigeadail 54.2% vs Ardbeg Airigh Nam Beist 1990/2006 46%

Uigedail is one of 3 essential modern Ardbeg releases (Ten, Uigedail and Corryvreckan), earlier versions from 2003-2004 are trading well above EUR 200 now. A perfect way to start with Ardbeg anyway :)

Highland Park Sigurd 43%

Quite new travel retail expression of Highland Park bottled in 2013. Sad reality is shifting from vintage expressions (1973, 1990, 1994, 1998 etc) to NAS releases with loud Scandinavian names. 

An Cnoc 39 yo 1975/2014 44.2%

One of the rarest active distilleries you can meet on shelves. Just 51 release known by Whiskybase. And today we have the oldest one of the range. 

Ukrainian Whisky Connoisseurs Club - February 2016 tasting

Oh Islay, with all thy faults I love thee still. I said in Bowmore and have not forgot it... As you might have guessed February tasting was dedicated to the newest Islay releases available on a market. 

Ukrainian Whisky Connoisseurs Club - January 2016 tasting

An evening dedicated to former Ukrainian Whisky Club President Alexey Savchenko the I, who has gone a few years ago, so today we will taste his favourite distilleries, slainte to Him!

Clynelish 2004 SMWS 26.101 59.3%

This one has been tasted recently, comments as follows. 

Highland Park 25 yo 48.1% vs Highland Park 30 yo 48.1%

Well, both of these malts are quite legendary and sort of Holy Grail for me. Would be that be interesting to make them sing together?.. 

Ben Nevis trio: McDonald's, 18 yo Sansibar and 15 yo single cask #737

Small but unique distillery still doing malts slowly. And that's good. 

Whisky Dram 2016

Second Single malts Festival that took place on 12.11.2016 in Kiev. Possibly the best whisky event in Ukraine so far. Over 60 brands available for tasting, lectures from whisky ambassadors, rare bottlings and so on, and so on. Though let's start from the very beginning.

Bunnahabhain 1968 Auld Acquaintance 43.8%

A very special bottle for me. Got acquanited with Auld Acquaintance (nice word play, isn't it?..) in 2009 in Harbour Inn, town of Bowmore, Islay.

Old Spirits Tasting: Glen Albyn 1963, Imperial 1970, North Port 1970, Dalwhinnie 1963, Mosstowie 1970, Convalmore 1969, Edradour 1972, Aberfeldy 1969, Dailuaine 1971, Benrinnes 1968

As an alternative to present-day malts this summer evening was dedicated to old and almost antique miniatures.

Set of Maltbarns: Clandestine "Very old", Benrinnes 24 yo, Speyside 41 yo, Caol Ila 13 yo and Talisker 27 yo for dessert

Hooray! They finally arrived :) Can't wait to start tasting, Maltbarn is doing very nice cask selection nowadays.

Black Bull 40 yo Duncan Taylor batch 4 41.9%

A blend with only 10% of grain malt and 90% of well aged malts of at least 40 yo. Why not try it?..

Trio of dolphins: Bowmore 25 yo 43%, Clynelish 18 yo SV 55.4% and Ledaig 9 yo Potstill 61.9%

Haven't tasted whisky for 3 days so I decided to build evening set of 3 malts with sea influence: Bowmore (Islay), Clynelish (Highland) and Ledaig (Mull). The order would be from the oldest to the youngest sticking to strength growth.

Glenugie 30 yo Deoch an Doras 52.13%

Distillery you don't meet everyday. Though it's considered to be Grand Cru Classé at Whiskyfun. Let's give it a try.

Two sherried Islay girls, i.e. Caol Ilas: 17 yo McKillop's Choice and 14 yo Maltbarn

Being the biggest Islay distillery Caol Ila can boast of a high quality spirit that sounds and tastes nice both in sherry and bourbon casks.

Cadenhead's small batch tasting: Glen Moray 17 yo, Benriach 19 yo, Glen Spey 19 yo, Glenlossie 21 yo, Glen Garioch 23 yo, Linkwood 28 yo and Glenlivet 42 yo

Long awaited Cadenhead tasting consisting of 7 different bottles. Let the war  tasting begin...

Sergii birthday on 28.10.16: bundle of Bowmores and some more...

Long delayed tasting of Bowmores finally took place as a celebration of our friend Sergii birthday.

Springbank 32 yo 46%

Springbank 32 yo 46% - distillery and malt you don't need to introduce. Bottled in a remote year of 2004 with spirit itself laid in casks in 1971.

Set of Maltbarns: Clynelish 21 yo, Tullibardine 27 yo and Invergordon 44 yo

This German bottler has already gained very good reputation and we are trying to get all new releases for tasting.

Littlemill 21 yo First Release 46%

We've been thinking for a long time whether we should buy a bottle for tasting and finally we did it.

Brora 1982/2015 GM and Linkwood 1987/2015 Cadenhead

It's always nice to taste some Brora, do not hesitate to call me anytime :)

Summer tasting 08.06.2016: Bladnoch 21 yo, Highland Park 1975, Port Ellen 1969 and Tomatin 40 yo

On drear days you should take old Tomatin...

Sherry gems of Speyside 08.07.2016

Sherry gems of Speyside. One more summer tasting with Kiev malt band: Sergii, Valerii, Alex and Andrii. The idea was to take different sherried speysiders from small to large.

Summer tasting 02.08.2016: Taketsuru 12, 17 and 21 yo, Tobermory 20 yo, Benriach 1976 and Blair Athol 25 yo Artist #4

Quite interesting line-up today :) my friend Sergii was leaving for a business-trip so that was perfect reason for a tasting, you know...

Summer tasting 27.07.2016: Glendronach 15 yo, Islay and Linkwood 31 yo Cd

What about drinking some Islay in summer?.. Off-the-cuff tasting with Sergii took place this week.

Miltonduff 42 yo 1964/2006 Signatory cask #1152 45.1%

Hello world! This summer I've enjoyed a very interesting format of blind tasting in one of FB groups...

Springbanks super set 2016 and Talisker 35 yo

Springbank is one my favourite distilleries. Autumn has come so it's definitely right time to taste their new expressions.

Valera's birthday tasting on 22.09.2016: Dalmore 18 yo, van Wees set, Longmorn 25 yo GM, Signet and Glenglassaugh 41 yo

I have a comrade much more fond of whisky than I am. At least I can't taste 20-30 drams a day as he does during some festivals. I will work on that, I promise :)

Macallan 1971 GM Speymalt 40%

I was a bit afraid of commercial strength (I won't even tell the price of a dram as my wife can read this), but I was wrong.

Ukraine Independence Day 2016 tasting

A national holiday was coming and we decided to have some nice holiday tasting. Actually we don't need reasons for it, but when you have the one it's easier to open something really special :)

Ardbeg Airigh Nam Beist 1990 46%

Ardbeg... What can we say about this distillery except for having the best canteen on Islay? :) 

Glenfarclas 21 yo 51.5% (bottled in 1974 for Mr Edward Giaccone)

Nothing extraordinary was going to happen when suddenly such Glenfarclas appeared on horizon... 

Highland Park Earl Haakon 18 yo 54.9% vs Highland Park 25 yo 48.1%

Let's start my blogging experience with one of my favourite distilleries (if not the most favourite one). The idea is to compare 2 great malts from Highland Park distillery I absolutely adore.