It’s one that I haven’t tried yet, but you’ve certainly piqued my curiosity. Not cheap at ~£140 a bottle, so it should be a good 'un.
I’m a bit of an Ardbeg fan - currently have Corryvreckan, Uigeadail, the standard 10, 5yo Wee Beastie and a 19yo Traigh Bhan. I recently finished a bottle of Supernova Stellar Release which was spectacularly immense.
I cracked it last night but only had a wee. It was mighty tasty! It was really smooth and reminded me of their Blaaack and Perpetuum releases. Not medicinal and smoky like a Corryvreckan (my favorite non-limited Ardbeg) with far less pepper than their latest limiteds, such as Bizzare-B-Q and Ardcore. I will need to explore it a bit more before ranking it with my other Ardbegs.
I’m up in Scotland this weekend visiting my Dad. We spent part of the day at the “reborn” Rosebank distillery in Falkirk, now just over a year into production, having filled their first cask in July 2023.
He just poured me a dram of this:
He was gifted this bottle by the organiser, for his help at the 2023 Edinburgh Whisky Festival.
A rare and spectacularly good dram. It easily rubs shoulders with 25 yo Glengoyne, 31 yo Red Cask Cambus Single Grain, and is the closest thing in overall depth and character I’ve tasted to Tullibardine’s 1966.
I love hanging out with my Dad. He recently spent some time with the great, great, great grandson of John Jameson and has a phenomenal depth of knowledge of the history of Jameson Whiskey. The Jameson distillery was originally set up by the Stein family who owned both the Kennetpans and Kilbagie distilleries which lay just a few miles from where Dad currently lives and where I grew up. The Kilbagie site later became home to a papermill, where I worked as a process and product development technician in the early '90s.
Hi
Anyone been to The Whisky Castle in small quaint village in the highlands near Inverness?
Would like to send pictures of their prized Scotch which I took on recent Globus bus tour but don’t know how??
Including a 3000 pound sterling of 30 year old Logavulin— it was on sale/ discounted!!
click Reply:
then “Upload”:
browse and choose your photos. click upload in the resulting window, then Reply again to post.
Thanks will give it a try soon
I have tried that just once about 18 months or so back - at The Ceilidh Place in Ullapool (we were on our way to Stornoway).
A very nice tipple - and the meal that proceeded it was exceptionally good as well.
10 days later we were in Mull sampling Tobermoray:
And Ledaig 18 year old (from Tobermoray distilery but lightly peated):
Also very nice. Of course the enjoyment might have been somewhat enhanced by a very warm and clear evening on the balcony of our hotel restaurant overlooking the Sound of Mull and Ben Nevis beyond.
sounds like a delightful evening.
Enjoying a bottle of Ardbeg’s Wee Beastie these days…
Ledaig 18 is a fantastic dram and a bit of a hidden gem imho. It’s much cheaper than other high street 18yo’s like highland park, but also much better. 46%, uncoloured, unfiltered etc. sure, it’s never gonna beat a cask strength offering, but for an accessible bottle, it’s a delight.
A Christmas gift from my father:
Bottle 35 of 130. An absolutely spectacular dram. 24 yo Port Dundas single grain finished in a sherry butt that previously hosted a 15 yo Glen Allachie. I have a bottle of the Glen Allachie on it’s way to me.
These bottles are currently open:
Inchgower Cadenhead’s Original Collection 14y 2009/2024 46%
Linkwood-Glenlivet Cadenhead’s Original Collection 10y 2013/2024 46%
Cadenhead’s Enigma Highland Single Malt 14y 2009/2024 53,9%
Edradour Eilean Dubh "The Dark One 57,1%
Kilkerran 12y 46%
Merry Christmas everyone!
Fabulous. I’m an Islay fan myself.
feels like a contradiction.
incidentally, I recently discovered Jackson Lamb prefers Talisker.
Aside from the “slap in the face with a smoked kipper” experience of Laphroaig, it is quite light in character. I’m a sucker for a heavily sherried Islay. A slap with a smoked kipper and a generous bite of Christmas cake on the side!
Kilchoman Sanaig and Ardbeg Uigeadail spring to mind.
