Reviews Archives - Page 21 of 23 - More drams, less drama

Quick review: Teaninich 11yo batch 2 TBWC

4th December 201921st July 2020Coldorak

Behind the fourth window of That Boutique-y Whisky Company’s 2019 Advent Calendar we will be reviewing each day until the 24th of December was hidden a a Teaninich 11 year-old batch 2. Bottled at 47.9% abv, this single malt bottled by that Boutique-y Whisky Company is matured in ex-bourbon casks. Teaninich is a little-known and dull-looking Highland distillery owned by Diageo and mostly used for blends north of Inverness. While little known, it has a big capacity of production of 10.2 million litres of pure alcohol per year. I could find a German website selling the 50cl bottle for around 40€ but not shipping to UK.

Quick review: New York Distilling Company 2yo b3 TBWC

3rd December 20193rd December 2019Coldorak

Behind the third window of That Boutique-y Whisky Company’s 2019 Advent Calendar we will be reviewing each day until the 24th of December was hidden a 2 year-old rye spirit from the New York: the New York Distilling Company 2yo Batch 3. Bottled at 47.7% abv, this rye spirit bottled by that Boutique-y Rye Company is not whisky yet (in Europe and UK, but in the USA it is), but it’s available from Master of Malt for £37.95. But if it’s not whisky yet, should we review it?

Quick review: Speyside #3 8yo b1 TBWC

2nd December 20192nd December 2019Coldorak

Behind the second window of That Boutique-y Whisky Company’s 2019 Advent Calendar we will be reviewing each day until the 24th of December was hidden a 8 year-old whisky from an undisclosed distillery in Speyside: Speyside #1 8yo Batch 1. Bottled at 50.7% abv, this whisky is not yet available in UK or France, but if we trust the Boutique-y brand ambassador Dave Worthington, it’s available at least in Denmark and Netherlands.

Quick review: Bourbon Whiskey #1 24yo b1 TBWC

1st December 20191st December 2019Coldorak

Behind the first window of That Boutique-y Whisky Company’s 2019 Advent Calendar we will be reviewing each day until the 24th of December was hidden a 24 year-old Bourbon from an undisclosed distillery: Bourbon Whiskey #1 24yo Batch 1. Bottled at 48% abv, the bottle was usually sold at £199.95 on Master of Malt but was on sale for half that price on the evening of the 1st of December. But let’s crack on and taste this bourbon!

That Boutique-y Whisky Company Advent Calendar 2019

1st December 20196th December 2019Coldorak

As I did last year when I was even newbier in whisky than I am now, I bought a Whisky advent calendar. Last year I bought the Premium Whisky Advent Calendar from Drinks by the Dram, and this year, I chose to buy That Boutique-y Whisky Company’s 2019 Advent Calendar 2019. And this time, I brought Ainulindalë aboard, as I had him buy one too, so that we can do our “double notes” reviews. Hmm I should trademark this.

A blind evening with friends and Yoichi whisky

29th November 201929th November 2019Coldorak

On Friday 22 of November, I organized a small blind tasting with friends I had sent samples to months ago. After a few last minutes cancellations, we were finally able to have that tasting, and the theme was 4 Nikka Yoichi non-age-statement single malts: the classic Single Malt one available in your usual liquor shop, and three distillery exclusives named Woody & Vanillic, Sherry & Sweet and Peaty & Salty. I’ll come back to it later, but tl;dr: it was a great evening, and the drams were really good. Oh, and I said blind tasting: well, kind of. We knew what drams we were going to taste, but had no idea of the order. Myself included. But let’s talk about Yoichi first.

Yoichi Peaty & Salty review

29th November 201929th November 2019Coldorak

As I would reveal at the end of the tasting when everyone would have made their final guesses, the fourth and last dram we tasted was the Yoichi Single Malt Peaty & Salty. It is a distillery exclusive bottled at 55% abv, without age statement, in a 50 cl bottle. I paid 130€ on auction for this bottle including 60€ in shipping cost as the seller was from Hong-Kong.

Yoichi Sherry & Sweet review

29th November 2019Coldorak

As I would reveal at the end of the tasting when everyone would have made their final guesses, the third dram we tasted was the Yoichi Single Malt Sherry & Sweet. It is a distillery exclusive bottled at 55% abv, without age statement, in a 50 cl bottle. I paid 110€ on aution for this bottle, including 60€ of shipping cost as the seller was from Hong-Kong.

Yoichi #2: Single Malt NAS

29th November 201929th November 2019Coldorak

As I would reveal at the end of the tasting when everyone would have made their final guesses, the second dram we tasted was the Yoichi Single Malt NAS. It is widely available, bottled at 45% abv in a 70cl bottle. You can find it at Master of Malt and The Whisky Exchange for about £75, and in France 75€ on Amazon.fr or LMDW.

Yoichi Woody & Vanillic review

29th November 201929th November 2019Coldorak

During a blind tasting with friends, and as I would reveal at the end of the tasting when everyone would have made their final guesses, the first dram we tasted was the Yoichi Single Malt Woody & Vanillic. It is a distillery exclusive bottled at 55% abv, without age statement, in a 50cl bottle. I bought it for 120€ on auction, half the price being shipping as it came from a Hong-Kong seller.