Whisky Review 6 - Glenfiddich 12 Year Old

Glenfiddhich, a name that is known throughout the world.

Glenfiddich was, until recently, the world's best selling single malt whisky. A Speyside distillery that effectively started the Whisky obsession for many whisky fans and who are touted to have been the first company to actively market their single malt with target branding in the  1960's. The rest is history.

Owned by William Grant and Son who also own Balvenie and Kininvie, the 12 year old is a staple both on shop shelves and whisky cabinets from Aberdeen to Swaziland.

Malt Music

A popular Speysider of this pedigree with it's light and fruity notes matches perfectly with a good upbeat remix from 2 pedigree artists. It's fruity all right, it's Tutti Frutti by New Order (Hot Chip Remix)!

Whisky Review 5 - Octomore 6.3 Islay Barley

The concept of Octomore is a simple one... To create a whisky using the most heavily peated malted barley imaginable. This Octomore in fact contained malt peated to a staggering  258ppm (or parts per million to you and me). Just to put this into perspective, Laphroaig 10 is peated to around 50ppm, and no I'm not missing any numbers there.

The brain child of industry legend Jim McEwan, Octomore is produced and distilled at Bruichladdich on the Isle of Islay an area renowned for it's big hitting peated spirit.

Another aspect that makes this particular bottle that little bit more special is that the barley used was grown and then distilled on Islay so this really is a Islay thoroughbred.

Malt Music

For me what works alongside this big, bold and yet tuneful Islay malt is something a bit different. The Talking Fish from Ibibio Sound Machine, a big hitting and fast paced Afro Beat 8 piece band from London. Singer Eno Williams concentrates lyrical content around Southern Nigerian folk stories which for me adds to this with Bruichladdich's approach to origin and belonging. Give it a try!

Whisky Review 4 - Laphroaig 18 Year Old

I was fortunate enough to be given this sample of the Laphroaig 18 year old by a work colleague recently.

Laphroaig is arguably one of -if not the most popular of Islay's distilleries with over 80,000 cases of their whisky sold each year.

The 18 is a very fine dram indeed, it's go big or go home time. Chock full of Laphroaig and Islay character whilst retaining a refined and elegant profile!

Malt Music

Its light yet rich, it's cloying yet floral... It's all manner of things. For me the perfect musical accompaniment to this dram is Jose Gonzalez with Heartbeats

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