The Whiskyphiles

£50

  • Yellowstone Select

    An easygoing Bourbon with plenty of expected sweetness and some rather herbal spice notes keeps this one interesting and entertaining. 84/100 Continue reading

    Yellowstone Select

  • Chateau de Lacquy VSOP

    Quite neutral despite its obvious fruity nature the sweetness has been tempered by plenty of wood talking here and saying good things. I really enjoyed this one. 85/100 Continue reading

  • Drouin Reserve Des Fiefs

    Superb, creamy textured and vibrantly fruity this has something of a curd or yoghurty nature and the youth comes through as banana milkshake (estery and creamy). A great insight into Drouin’s base spirit nature. 84/100 Continue reading

  • Islay #1 10 Years Old Batch 3

    Basic but delicious Islay malt, an oddly unsalted sweet and smoky combo. 84/100 Continue reading

  • James E. Pepper 4 Years Old Rye Batch 3

    Quite spicy Rye as you’d expect but also a nice cake-y sweet & malty feel to it, I was surprised to discover this was ale-cask finished after tasting it – so very well integrated cask-finish here. 83/100 Continue reading

  • MacNair’s Lum Reek Peated 12 Years Old

    Solid. A touch non-descript in places though I often find with blends it can be hard to discern distinct taste notes. A good mixture of sweet and peat without resorting to too much ‘cask’ influences. 83/100 Continue reading

  • Starward Solera

    Fruity and spiced, well balanced and with plenty of maltiness here too. Tasting blind/forgetting the heritage of this one I assumed some Australian Red wine casks had been at work here. 84/100 Continue reading

  • Benromach Contrasts Peat Smoke

    A delicious experience of dry and sweet from the combination of peated malt and sherry casks. Still quite a lot of minerality and salinity which had me viewing this as not your ‘usual’ Benromach. 85/100 Continue reading

  • Torabhaig Allt Gleann

    A little sweeter with more fruit and a touch more spirity perhaps than the Legacy release, plenty of flavour here with sweet barley, smoky & peppery peat and salty coastal influences. Continue reading

  • Ailsa Bay 1.2 Sweet Smoke

    I enjoyed this one much more than the first release. Remarkable similarity in my comments – Promises Islay but doesn’t have the weight/structure or malty backbone to deliver it. This expression has lots of sweet fruitiness to balance the dry… Continue reading

    Ailsa Bay 1.2 Sweet Smoke