An analysis of BBC news coverage over the last 4 years shows a shameless bias against Vladimir Putin, with BBC reporters insisting on calling the Special Military Operation in Ukraine “an invasion”

Episode 100 is on Spotify, Apple and Youtube (actual video, so mind your eyes) as Mike and Duncan sit down with Stephen Worral and Joel Lummi, from 3 Greek Street (Milroys), in the upstairs tasting room. www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTrR... - ps give us a follow on Youtube if you like the vids, thanks!

The nose on Ardna's Heritage Barley is quite the departure from the Dailuaine. Citrus & vanilla are in there but are accompanied by prominent savoury notes of yeast (bovril?) & porcini mushrooms. These carry across to the palette along with manuka honey & meaty, umami flavours. I like it, I think...

Neck pour of this Dailuaine hits all those classic ex-bourbon cask notes with vanilla egg custard (but no sulphur), freshly baked pastry & lemon curd on the nose. The palette benefits from a little water & offers treacle sponge, gentle oak spice & more citrus sweetness. Not quite as waxy as expected

This beauty had sold out before I discovered Loch Lomond's Distillery Editions. Thanks to Alan (aka Whisky Friend) I've been able to try it & it doesn't disappoint. Nose is green olives, oysters and lemon juice. Balanced salinity & sweetness on the palette. Like an Inchfad without too much funk.

A Christmas gift from a client which I really wasn't expecting much from. Happy to have had my preconceptions proved wrong as this is a really competent dram albeit at 40%. The Glenlivet distillate shines through w/ icing sugar, pear, apple and honeyed porridge on both nose & palette.

I can see Brendan Rodgers has spent his spare time wisely during his managerial stint at Celtic! 🥃#CabinetEnvy

Capping off a busy day with a great bourbon. Maybe it's true the Yanks keep the best bottlings for themselves as this 75cl Four Roses Select is sublime. Russet apples, rye spice & toffee on the nose; balanced astringency (i.e. English mustard), cinnamon, cherries & apple tarts tatin on the palette👌🏻

An incredible evening at the Royal Albert Hall watching the Sumo last night with brother Max. A profoundly unique and beautiful spectacle! Great catching up with old friends beforehand too 🍻 My head's a wee bit sore this morning...

Wow what a dram! Like previous batches the distillate rules supreme w/ the bourbon casks playing the perfect supporting role. Nose is citrus fruits, vanilla custard & a tad vegetal; the mouth feel's thick w/ orange fruit pastilles, Granny Smith apples & slightly drying. A H2H w/ other DEs is a must!

Belated #BlindDrams: Dram 5's a great follow up to 4 as I'm getting a lot of similar notes on the nose. Marzipan, dark cherries & black olives in there too. The palette's sweet peat (missed that on the nose somehow), lemon cheesecake & a touch vegetal/ brine. Probably a Caol Ila & my favourite. 4/5

Belated #BlindDrams: Dram 4 has the best nose so far - toffee, milk chocolate, soft oak spice, boozy raisins. Great oily texture on the palette with more oak balanced nicely with dense sponge cake & a little salted caramel. Another 4/5. 55%ish. A mix of ex-bourbon & sherry casks. Glen Scotia maybe?

Belated #BlindDrams: Dram 3 offers rich, sherry seasoned European oak on the nose suggesting decent maturity. Some walnut & a little sulphur too. Thick, resinous mouth feel with cranberry, bitter chocolate & ginger jam. Lovely single malt, at least 16YO & >56%. 4/5. Glenrothes?

Belated #BlindDrams: Dram 2. Now that's better! Cinnamon, cloudy apple juice, complex oak & freshly baked pastry on the nose. The palette's a bit disappointing - quite spicy, apple cider vinegar & minimal sweetness when neat. Water helps soften the bitterness. Royal Brackla perhaps? Deffo >57%. 2/5

Belated #BlindDrams: Dram 1 has to be a single grain based on the nose alone - vanilla beans and a little lemon zest. The palette offers more vanilla, simple sweetness & minimal oak influence. A bit hot neat, better with a little water. I'm guessing young grain (<15yo) at >60%. 2/5.

Something strong & meaty required after an unexpected trip to A&E w/ the youngest tonight (False alarm, just a bad sprain!) Took a punt on this Mortlach after sampling the 12 OB @ Blair Athol. Punchy @61% & just a neck pour, it's spirit driven & lacks that savoury Mortlach complexity 🫤 Needs time...

A fantastic afternoon and evening watching the mighty Partick Thistle and exploring the whisky bars of Glasgow, despite Storm Amy's best efforts to scupper our plans! What a fantastic city and the perfect way to cap off our Scottish trip 🥃🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Stopped off at Robertson's of Pitlochry after our tour & sampled a wee dram of the legendary 'Chestnut Wood': brainchild of Tony Reeman-Clark of Strathearn distillery fame. Delicious & totally unique, it just illustrates the endless possibilities of smell & taste through use of different wood types

An absolutely fantastic tour of Blair Athol distillery today with our amazing guide Jane. The 30 year old first-fill Oloroso sherry cask was a truly remarkable drop and both the 12 year olds Blair Athol & Mortlach were delicious too. Diageo do do some things right after all! 😉

A cracking tour of Aberfeldy distillery today & a big shout to Tim, our guide for his impressive whisky knowledge! The 21 year old ex-Pauillac red wine cask was a highlight and the 12 year old Aberfeldy and 18 year old Dewars blend were impressive too, albeit a little under strength at 40%

Topping up my infinity decanters with a few bottle ends today. Will likely replace the Circumstance as it's a belter but was slightly disappointed by the Loch Lomond Spanish Oak 14YO. Lacking balance, it's very oak forwards and a bit too bitter for my palette. The only LL I'm yet to gel with. 6/10.

What a delightful and totally bonkers drop this is. Salted caramel, seaweed, freshly baked bread, engine oil & sweet peat on the nose. More sweet peat, black pepper, oysters & smoked bacon on the pallete. Truly nothing holds a candle to a great, cask strength Laphroaig. 9/10.

This is the 2nd bottle of Cask 88's Blair Athol 26YO that I've bid on through Whisky Hammer that, mysteriously, has inspired a bidding frenzy, despite there still being 10+ of the same bottle still at starting price (£20). Not one to cast aspersions, but this smells a lot like price fixing to me....

We need to be very clear about this. Rising Christian nationalism is a threat to us all. humanists.uk/2025/09/17/r...

@lidltrek.bsky.social ya beauty! 🍻🍻🍻 (No official Lidl page, so you cycling lads will have to pass on my thanks 🤣)

I've written to Keir Starmer, Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage, urging them to join me in condemning Elon Musk's dangerous remarks inciting violence yesterday. As leaders, we must stand together and make clear Musk will face serious consequences for these actions.

Tuning into Roy's vPub as he introduces and discusses his new Ardnahoe bottling. Haven't picked it up yet so, in the meantime, I'm sipping this; their 2024 Society bottling. Beautifully oily texture w/ intense peat, stewed dark fruits and grilled red peppers coming from the PX & Oloroso casks. 8/10.

Continuing the JD theme, this single barrel barrel-proof is a truly special drop & only improves as I near the end of the bottle. Like the BiB it possesses well integrated oak, banana & peanut brittle flavours but, at 64.5%, it offers a depth of flavour unmatched by any other bourbon. Just wow. 9/10

A tasty H2H between 2 decent bourbons *ahem* Tennessee whiskies... Classic JD DNA aside (peanut, banana & cinnamon) the Sweet & Oaky does exactly what it says on the tin; nicely sweet & slightly astringent oak. However, the BiB just does it better: more integrated oak, caramelized nuts & mixed spice

High, narrow & handsome. No, not a compliment my wife gives every morning over coffee, but a mighty fine dram, which is the next best thing. Green olives, lemon zest & freshly baked bread on the nose; melon, peach & a little black pepper and brine on the palette. Yummy. 8/10.

Cheers for a cracking weekend and a delightful pub tour of London @zackgardner.bsky.social. Not my usual go-to dram, but the Balvenie Doublewood made a surprisingly good nightcap too!

Alas, not much of this intriguing blended scotch left now. Cask strength at only 45.3% & 8 yrs old suggests a high proportion of low ABV, well-aged grain mixed w/ young, >ABV malt. Nose is cream soda, creme caramel & vanilla sponge. Palette is fruitier with a little peach, melon & sweet barley. 8/10

A sunset dram to round off a top day at the beach in North Wales. This Knockdhu totally belies its young age perhaps thanks to the quality 1st-fill Marsala barrique it matured in. On the nose, stewed plums, black cherries, rich oak & dark choc. The palette offers espresso, walnuts & more dark fruit.

Thanks google AI but I meant to type “shut”…

The flavour profile of every Indian single malt I've ever had is as distinct from Scotch as most single grains & bourbons. Six-row barley combined w/ accelerated maturation produces a spirit rich in heavy esters (think Jamaican rum) that evokes ripe mango, banana & papaya, drizzled in honey. 8.5/10

I'm always intrigued to try these vintage bottles (this one's late 60s/70s) as it feels like you're tasting a snapshot in time. Despite >50 years in the bottle, this MacArthur blend tastes like it was bottled yesterday. Grain led with simple vanilla sweetness, cereal notes & coconut. Not bad.

Revisiting this beauty for my first dram post-covid. Buckets of flavour w/ glace cherries, cranberries & delightful dunnage funk on both nose & palette (no more vinegar thankfully!) The port casks lend a tannic quality plus dark chocolate & stewed dark fruits. Really opens up with a little water 😋

Well this new Covid strain has really done a number on my sense of smell 🤔 I don't remember the original ever leaving a constant smell/ sensation of vinegar in the back of my nose but this one certainly has. No whisky for me this weekend but hopefully see some improvement soon!

Solo parenting weekend warrants a stiff pour & this Ben Nevis sure does the trick; big sherry overcoat lends notes of dark chocolate, walnuts & strong espresso. On the palette, oily, slightly bitter w/stewed rhubarb, blackberries, black pepper, vegetal. Nice but distillery character somewhat hidden.

The first official whiskey release in the region. The first whiskey ever produced in Birmingham. Our first. Available 04/07/25 900 Bottles 48%abv 🥃🌾

The 3 year age statement on this Circumstance belies a complexity & depth of flavour you rarely find on young whiskies. The nose: poached pears, honeydew melon & Love Heart sweets. The same chalky quality continues on the palette alongside peaches & cream, golden syrup & a lovely oily mouthfeel-yum!

An impulse buy off the back of our favourite bothy-based whisky influencer's recent review. It's a beauty to be fair but then again I've always been a Ledaig fan boy (IYKYK...) All the maritime, smoked bacon, engine-oil funk & iodine flavours of the 18YO w/ a bit more bitterness. A bargain at £55.

Wolf Alice, take a bow. That was an incredible set. Highlight of this year's Glasto so far.

Nightcapping w/ this delightful single grain. No cask type specified but both nose & palette suggest rum; loads of milk chocolate, orange rind & clove on the former w/ dark chocolate, black pepper & maple sweetness on the latter. At 61% a drop of water tempers the alcoholic nip & improves flavours.

A real treat this evening. I've been lucky to try Westvleteren 12 once before but I'd forgotten just how epic it is. Treacly barley sweetness combined with that wonderful ester funk unique to Belgian beers. I just wish I had another 6! 🍻

9 years on from the Brexit vote, the verdict is in and predictions correct: 🕳️£40 billion hole in public finances 📉4% hit to UK productivity 📦15% drop in trade 💷 £100bn in tax rises—40% of which Brexit made necessary Happy Brexitversary! 🇬🇧🎉 www.thetimes.com/article/346e...

A vast number of Cask 88/ Braeburn whiskies going for cheap on Whisky Hammer this evening. I understand the holding company went bust ~2 months ago so presumably this is their great sell off but can anyone testify to the quality of their bottles, or were they just scam artists flogging crap?

May have a dram or two later but, given the heat, not sure anything could hit the spot quite like this hoppy little number. Crisp and refreshing and very quaffable at 4%, I might just head back to Morrison's to pick up another bottle or two 🍻

I've never understood weather forecasters putting a positive spin on conditions like this 😂 I slept all of 30 mins last night, spent the morning swatting flies then sweated copious amounts just walking Jacob to and from his swimming lessons. Give me cold, wet and windy instead any day!

I still can’t believe the UK did this to itself. Most importantly - to its youth and their opportunities, chances and aspirations.