Dram 5 Palate: bright, juicy and sweet. Strawberries, berry cordial, apple juice. Also a bit spicy, white pepper. #BlindDrams

Dram 4 Palate: cola cubes, maraschino cherries, raspberry jam. Sweet and oily. #BlindDrams

Dram 3 Nose: (my stuffy nose doesn't let me notice much here) perhaps menthol, blue berry soft candy. #BlindDrams

Dram 2 Nose: wood varnish, grape jelly, wood shavings, petrichor #BlindDrams

Dram 1 Nose: honey, orange zest, allspice #BlindDrams

All ready for tonight's #BlindDrams (other than my stuffy nose 🤦)

Ha! Look at that, coming to St Andrews

Fife whisky festival! Great as usual

I've not been drinking much lately, but at last I managed to kill these two great bottles

Onto some serious sherry cask exploration today

While in Barcelona during the holidays I visited a vermouth bodega (Vermuts Padró). Very interesting, I learned lots that I didn't know. Lots of experimentation with their botanicals and citrics as well as maturarion.

Dram 5 Nose: whoa massive smoke right from the start. Fritos crisps. Like smelling the clothes after a bbq day. #BlindDrams

Dram 4 Nose: pov you enter the kitchen when someone's baking. Cinnamon, gingerbread. Palate: mouth coating, a bit sweet but also quite dry. Feels like the theme today, but black tea again. Pine resin, prunes. Thoughts: much better put together than the previous two. It scores a 3 for me. #BlindDrams

Dram 3 Nose: orange peel, clove, baking spices. It feels quite similar to the previous one, with a citrusy touch. #BlindDrams

Dram 2 Nose: dusty, allspice, clove, used tea leaves. Somehow it feels restrained, perhaps it needs water. #BlindDrams

Dram 1 Nose: quite herbal and floral. Honeycomb, apple skin, hay, varnish, mushroom seasoning. Interesting nose. #BlindDrams

Feeling a bit sick, but nonetheless ready to start tonight's #BlindDrams

Managed to visit Tullibardine a few days ago. I was driving so I just had a sniff and the tiniest of sips at the distillery. Looking forward to properly trying these, especially the orange wine finish single cask.

Dram 5 Nose: oh hello peat. A very strong fritos (the crisps, I believe in the UK are/were also called this way?) note. Savory, bbq spiced sausages, dry meat seasoning. #BlindDrams

Dram 4 Nose: a bit musty, mushroom seasoning, citrus, orange peel perhaps, fruity but also umami. I like this one. #BlindDrams

Dram 3 Nose: rich and dark, from a wet sherry cask. Sweet, more raisins and sultanas, toffee candy. Very approachable nose, I feel this is lower abv than the previous ones. #BlindDrams

Dram 2 Nose: apple cider vinegar, every time I nose it this is the first thing I get. Then some berry juice, dried cranberries, baking spices. #BlindDrams

Let's get onto it! Dram 1 Nose: quite dusty, vanilla, pencil shavings, caramel. A bit subdued I feel. #BlindDrams

Drams poured, all ready for tonight's #BlindDrams

Delivery day! Very happy of this auction find.

Time to get onto its neck, slàinte mhath

And there it is! Very excited to crack this one open

The summer has been a bit quiet in terms of whisky (just a couple of additions that I'll share at some point), but today I've been back in action for an expressions tour at Royal Lochnagar.

Three distilleries, one tour, a few samples and a bottle purchase. Not too shabby for a Saturday afternoon.

A couple of Glengoyne samples for tonight. For now starting with the white oak NAS and the 21yo.

I could not resist the bargain and had to order one. And I'm glad I did — it is very, very good. Slainte.

Two beautiful ex bourbon drams, fruity, floral, fragrant. Auchentoshan often gets no love, but it can be delightful.

Popped by Drinkmonger in Edinburgh today and got curious about this one, so I got a mini. It has a portion of brown malt and was fermented using red wine yeast.

Finishing off two Lindores samples, the Thiron release and a distillery exclusive ex Islay single cask.

When in Bristol... I figured I should try the local stuff

Celebrating that Eden Mill is back in production with a dram of this rather decent virgin American oak cask, part of their earlier hip flask collection.

And indeed it was a Tamdhu 18yo — happy days! I see it's still available if anyone's interested www.thegeneralwine.co.uk/products/tam...

Just placed this order at The General Wine Company. Name and description say Tamdhu 18, but the photo is a Highland Park 18. It was the last bottle so I took the gamble — and asked them to cancel the order if it's not a Tamdhu. £109 + delivery was well worth taking the risk, we'll see in a few days!

Dram 5. Very similar in appearance to dram 3. Note: oh peat hello! Bbq crisps, fritos! (they are also called this way in the UK right?) More bbq, anything bbq'ed, throw some steaks, sausages and vegs to the grill. Ashes as well. #BlindDrams

Dram 4. This is one dark dram! Port/red wine cask perhaps? Nose: feels a bit harsh, I find it hard to identify notes. Again some dates, sultanas and also cherries and dark chocolate orange spread. Spices of the likes of cinnamon as well. #BlindDrams

Dram 3. Amber color, perhaps a sherry (refill perhaps? certainly not a wet one) or a sweet wine cask. Nose: quite enticing. Almonds, dates, figs, orange peel, prunes. #BlindDrams

Dram 2. Light golden color, a more active cask or longer maturation on this one. Nose: this feels like a first fill bourbon cask. Quite tropical, with coconut and pineapple, very bright. Also some solvent, nail polish remover kind of note. #BlindDrams

Dram 1. Very light in appearance, clearly a not very active refill cask. Nose: quite fruity, lemons and limes, nectarines. Afterwards sourdough and croissant notes are also apparent. #BlindDrams

After an epic last minute 1-2 away win at the Bernabeu, I can't think of a better way to end the day. Drams poured and ready for tonight's #BlindDrams

Tonight's tipple is a Blair Athol 13yo that spent the last 2 years in a first fill marsala cask. Slainte y'all.

And that's a bottle kill. Really sad to say goodbye to this one, a true favorite of mine.

Not many left! Well, unless we find another hidden stash 😁🥃

Dram 5. Nose: first thing, sulfur! And then peat. Very savory, fritos (the crisps, not sure how common they are/were in the UK), lemon seasoning. Very enticing! #blinddrams

Dram 4. Nose: juicy, sweet, quince (the dessert, not the fruit), varnish, sawdust, rose petals. Quite a bold nose. #blinddrams

Dram 3. Nose: more raisins, clove, allspice, sticky toffee, leather. #blinddrams