This week, we’re at SA Whisky Live, my 15th in a row, looking at why the show keeps pulling me back: the friendships with the people behind the brands, the first-timers finding their dram, and some incredible pours at the Independent Bottlers Challenge. Plus, the latest whisky news and tons more.
This week, we’re talking Advent calendars, and why the end of October is already late to be ordering one when you factor in possible shipping and customs delays. Plus, The Macallan 30 Year Old Double Cask, two Fellowship Pours from opposite ends of the world, and a reminder about Whisky Live next week.
This week, we’re looking at OND, the October to December run of tastings, launches, festivals and dinners that fills every whisky diary, and spare a thought for the retailers, brand ambassadors and event teams who keep it all moving. Plus, Lagavulin Nick Offerman 11yo Guinness Cask Finish, Fellowship Pour and tons more.
This week, we’re getting into the chemistry of the cask, exploring how oak, heat and time build the flavours we find in our whisky. Plus, a cracking Three Ships 9YO single cask, your latest Fellowship Pour submissions, and a cask chemistry quiz for those who like their whisky geekery with a scientific twist.
Vanillin, oak lactones and tannins — the compounds behind the vanilla, coconut and drying finish we all reach for in tasting notes, and where they come from.
A flavour wheel has hung on my office wall for over a decade, so this week it gave me a subject. Where the whisky flavour wheel came from, why there’s more than one of them now, and how to actually use one. Plus Metanoia’s second travel retail release, a port-finished 10 year old from Boplaas, and the Fellowship Pour.