Whisky felling #14. Eyes wide shut: Imperial 1997 DT (Glen Karadag) 46%, Littlemill 24 yo Mba 50.6%, Caroni 1974, Ardbeg Alligator 51.2%, Springbank Local Barley 16 yo 54.3%, Highland Park 1983/2003 cask #1096 56.4%

The idea of this tasting was to repeat blind session format we had on Whisky felling #10 with quite a few surprises planned in advance... 

Year 2018 highlights!

It would be 3-rd time I sit down and sum up what malts impressed me the most during the year. 3 categories as usual, let's go...

Whisky felling #12. New Year Ardbegs: Ardbeg 1991 MoM 50.6%, Ardbeg 1991 WFY 50%, Ardbeg 1990 Airigh Nam Beist 46% and Ardbeg Lord of the Isles 25 yo 46%

Idea of this session was trying older Ardbegs, so we put three Ardbegs from 1990s and one Ardbeg from 1970s (I wish we had more of them, but this stuff is too costy)... 

Jim McEwan and Stewart Laing evening: Glen Scotia 20 yo 1991/2011 MM 57.6%, Bruichladdich 30 yo 1973/2003 40.2%, Bruichladdich 32 yo DNA 1977/2010 47.4%, Glenlivet 33 yo 1977/2010 Celtic Heartlands 47.7%, Springbank 24 yo 1993/2017 Edition Spirits 53.3%, Bowmore 22 yo Moonlight 43%, Ardbeg 26 yo HL the Kinship 49.7%

The whiskies themselves were stunning, but the possibility to chat with some of the most respected men in the industry was even more stunning!

2 new Highland Parks (Rebus 30 and Valkyrie) + 5 malts worth 90/100 or even more: Springbank 12 yo Burgundy, Springbank 21 yo single cask, Glen Ord 28 yo, Tomatin 30 yo and Ardbeg Airigh Nam Beist

Actually it all should have ended with Glen Ord, but we decided to add Tomatin 30 yo for dessert and eventually a sample of Ardbeg was summoned to this rank of warriors...

Glenglassaugh 30 yo, Glenglassaugh 39 yo, Glendronach 25 yo Grandeur, Brora 30 yo IM and Ardbeg Kelpie CR

Initially it was planned as comparison of two Glenglassaugh, but then three more malts were added.

Friday tasting: Ardbeg Kelpie, Compass Box Flaming Heart, Imperial 21 yo TWA and Bowmore 15 yo TWA

A couple of new malts combined with a couple of old TWA friends, that should be good. 

Year 2016 highlights!

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

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 :)

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 :)

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. 

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.

Ardbeg Airigh Nam Beist 1990 46%

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