Celebrating St Patrick’s Day With the New Teeling Irish Whiskey

Teeling Whiskey - Small-Batch, Rum Cask Finish

Millions of revellers are celebrating Saint Patrick’s day across the globe. A day of mirth and merriment for many – a day filled with lots of laughter and more than a few pints of Guinness and drams of Irish whiskey. Instead of pouring myself a Bushmills or Jameson tonight as my hat tip to the … Read more

A Fun Evening Tasting Midleton’s Single Pot Still Whiskeys

Irish Single Pot Still Whiskey Tasting

Technology is awesome. Could you imagine coordinating and hosting a whisky tasting across multiple continents in real-time 10 or 20 years ago? 20 years back it would have most likely involved sending faxes to each other with a phone tucked under an ear. 10 years ago it would have been via email or an IM … Read more

WhiskyBrother – Joburg’s First Speciality Whisky Store

WhiskyBrother in Hyde Park shopping centre

When I started my whisky journey a few years back my first contact with a South African whisky guru was with WhiskyBrother a.k.a. Marc Pendlebury. His sheer passion and willingness to teach me about – and expose me to – whisky was a fantastic stepping stone on my whisky journey. Our first face-to-face meeting was … Read more

Johnnie Walker Platinum Label Is Here And It’s Good

First pour of Johnnie Walker Platinum Label

It’s been a long wait since I heard that Johnnie Walker would be releasing its two latest expressions in South Africa – Platinum Label and Gold Label Reserve – but they’re finally here. Johnnie Walker Platinum Label was launched back in mid September with a really interesting campaign. It revolved around a “One Bottle” shop … Read more

The Springbank Single Cask Conundrum

It’s always nice getting an email from the folks over at Master of Malt – especially when it presents the reader with an interesting proposition: would you help us choose a Springbank cask for a MoM bottling? As First World problems go, it’s not a bad one to have don’t you think? Here’s the letter … Read more

Balvenie 50 – A Tribute To Craftmanship

Balvenie 50 - a classic example of beautiful craftsmanship

Just when I thought I couldn’t top tasting a recreation of a 100 year old blend along came the opportunity to taste the magnificent The Balvenie 50. 88 bottles of precious whisky were filled from Cask #5576 at Balvenie after having spent 50 years quietly minding its own business in the warehouse. It did have … Read more