Speyside’s future: a trio of Ballindalloch single malt The Spirit of Speyside Festival comes to an end today, and that deserves a fully packed farewell session with a trio of Ballindalloch single malt whisky. Even though the 21st century is marked by whisky distilleries popping up like mushrooms, for such a big whisky producing region…
What to do when you have one full day on Islay? It seems like an age ago already, which confronts me with the speed of everyday life, but this entry to Tom’s Dram Diary is about my visit to Islay in January 2025. With only one full day on the island, we had to cram…
Bridging the gap between Genever and Whisky Hooghoudt is a very well known name in the Dutch distilled spirits landscape. Over here, they are most famous for their Genever. The family owned business is in production since 1888 and are awarded the royal status, which is common for companies that are over 100 years of…
A nostalgic visit to whiskyshop big market in Berlin Dear diary, However much I like discovering new things and new places, I always find myself going back to where I have been before. Nostalgia is a feeling that makes me happy. The early days of my whisky passion were filled with sheer joy; the newness…
Sherried Benrinnes versus meaty (or not) Mortlach There are distilleries in Scotland that are known for some qualities that few others have. In the case of Benrinnes and Mortlach that we will be tasting today, it is a rather meaty character. This works particularly well with sherry cask maturation. The story about Mortlach is well-known,…
Two Bladnoch from very different eras Bladnoch is this wonderfully awkward distillery in the deep south of Scotland, located in a quaint little settlement called Wigtown. Still, I managed to stay there for a night that I will not quickly forget. The year was 2009 and even though most of us had already visited Scotland…
A complex mix of Bowmore Islay single malt Bowmore had such an interesting history, being not only the oldest whisky distillery on Islay, but even amongst the oldest in the whole of Scotland. Among people in the know, Bowmore is also known for that dark age, when all whisky seemed to come with a block…
Travelling through the decades with Balblair Balblair is another distillery that had not featured on this blog, but I reckon we have corrected that with the three giants we taste today. The distillery always seems to fly under the radar a little, perhaps in the shadow on next door neighbour Glenmorangie. It is, however, deserving…
Heavenly 14 years old Bunna from the Barrel Baron Funny story about this one. In January, I visited Islay for the first time in some nine years. We dropped in here and there, and also visited the Bunnahabhain Distillery on our last few hours on the island. The ferry would take us to the Kintyre…
The Balvenie Golden Cask (Frankenstein) expression It is one year since I started blogging on a brand new website called Whisky Odyssey. On Leap Day 2024 we kicked off, and last Saturday we celebrated it with a fantastic Clynelish from 1974. A few weeks ago, I started making a list of all the (active) Scottish…