Cley Whisky: a duel between smoke and sweetness Shame on me, but as an old-school single malt Scotch whisky lover, I have long neglected all else there is in the world. Even though my focus and pleasure remains primarily focused on the products coming from Scotland, I do try and slip in something worldly every…
A sunny day with Caol Ila 1972 and Bruichladdich 2004 We continue our (digital) celebration of the Feis Ile festival on Islay, that is going into its third day today. Bruichladdich Day has traditionally been one of the more popular festival days, while I have the best memories of celebrating at Caol Ila Distillery. In…
The Rare Malts Selection Caol Ila 1978 23 years old In cooperation with expert whisky retailer Best of Wines, in the next months I will publish blogs about a few expressions in Diageo’s legendary Rare Malts Selection. This was a series devised to highlight the more obscure malts in the company’s portfolio, long before the…
Blended Scotch whisky galore with Tomatin, Cadenhead, Cluny and Scottish Leader For my two hundredth tasting note blog, I decided to go back to the mother of all creation in the world of whisky, which is of course the category Blended Scotch. You know all the big brands, like Johnnie Walker, Ballentine’s, Chivas Regal, Dewar’s…
Clynelish from the legendary 1970s… rare malt indeed! In cooperation with expert whisky retailer Best of Wines, I am publishing blogs about expressions in Diageo’s legendary Rare Malts Selection. This was a series devised to highlight the more obscure malts in the company’s portfolio, long before the interest in single malt whisky rose to its…
A first introduction to the Cotswolds Distillery The Cotswolds are a beautiful region in the central parts of England and high on my list to visit one day. It was a matter of time, I suppose, that the giant surge in whisky distilleries all over the world would also take England by storm. The Cotswold…
The Whisky Odyssey Fèis Ìle 2024 SpecialCaol Ila Day: tasting a few Fèis Ìle releases My good friend Anton van K. ruined me for life when he gave me a taste of the legendary Caol Ila Manager’s Dram. A sherry monster of a whisky if there ever was one, and one of those rare occasions that…
Unpeated Malt Week:Tasting notes for the Special Releases Caol Ila Unpeated For the blogs on Long Pour Amour, I not only draw from my own archives. I also get or buy interesting examples from whisky enthusiasts all over the world. As it turned out, for this week a theme was forming: Unpeated Whisky. A strange…
Tasting notes for two 1990s Speysiders Continuing our path through the decades this week with two Speyside whiskies distilled in the 1990s. At one point, both were to be closed distilleries, but Glen Keith is nowadays back as a workhorse distillery for the Chivas blends. The distillery seems to have heritage, it was built in Speyside and…
Tasting notes for a sherried Craigellachie by Signatory Signatory is an independent bottler that has been around for ages, but I have a feeling that this year has really put them back firmly in the middle of independent bottling universe. The 100 proof series that we have tasted extensively on this blog are generally very…