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.
Port Dundas: the lost Glasgow distillery that started Barnard’s tour. Plus a Port Dundas in the glass, two pours from the community, and the latest from the Fellowship.
Four Roses decoded: what OBSF, OESK and OESO actually mean. Plus Kilchoman Sanaig Cask Strength, yeast and whisky production, and the latest from the Fellowship.