Sounds like you need to keep your eyes peeled.

I make $1000 AUS to be £545, which would be larger than any order I would place for whisky!

Ouch (to the tax)!

I’ve heard good things about that stuff - report back with how you get on with it?

My first thoughts are this is a pleasant enough blend but doesn't have anywhere near the claimed complexity.

You get straightforward toffee and caramel notes, spices with a pleasant, gentle whiff of smoke on the finish. But the spirit element is a little too coarse and needs smoothing out. It would have been much better with the promised 'creme brulee' notes that would help to soften its bite. It has similar elements to Ballantine 17 without anywhere near the richness, depth and finesse of that masterly blend, some of which will come with ageing of course, but at £25 is certainly good value.

There seem to be a lot of Ben Nevis on the market - could you post a pic of the one you liked?

Thanks - it's very reasonably priced too, so will try that for sure ... 

Have any of you tried Johnnie Walker green?

I think it’s a great whisky, regardless of the price or method of production.

Visit to Springbank Distillery, Campbeltown, Kintyre.

We had a few days in Argyle last week and, on Saturday we took the opportunity to visit Campbeltown for, among other things, a distillery tour. In fact, it turned out to be tours of two distilleries.


Campbeltown used to have over thirty different distilleries, which eventually dwindled to just two - apparently the US prohibition laws saw the death of most of them. It was always known as a distinct whisky region but the rules to qualify as a region were standardised and it was agreed that a region should have a minimum of three distilleries within it. The owners of the Springbank company weren't having any of that, so they bought the disused buildings of a former competitor, who just happened to be almost next door and blinkin' well built another one! So making up the required number of businesses and preserving Campbeltown's whiskey region status.

(Please excuse the strange perspective of some of the photos below - I was messing about with a new ultra wide-angle lens)



Springbank whisky is pretty unique in that every step of the process, from malting every last grain of the barley to the final bottling is carried out in-house.  All of the others contract out at least one function to someone else.  There are three single malt lines made here: Springbank, Longrow and Hazelburn (medium peated, heavy peated and non-peated respectively). 



J & A Mitchell & Company, the owners, also own the Glengyle Distillery (the one next door), a company called William Cadenhead (the oldest independent bottler), several blended scotch labels as well as a Gin manufacturing subsidiary.









Through the hole in the wall to the Glengyle Distillery, where Kilkerran whisky is produced...



After the tours there was, of course, a sampling session and some freebie minatures to take with us.  Then we walked down to the whisky shop in town and bought a bottle of the stuff straight from the cask.  HM Customs and Excise won't allow them to call this product whisky because it hasn't been bottled.  Still, it looks like whisky, smells like whisky and tastes like it too, so that's OK.



It's....erm...rather strong too!

A little Xmas present to myself.

Berry Bros Sherry Cask - got it for 24 quid delivered on Amazon!

Berry Brothers & Rudd Classic Sherry Cask Matured Blended Malt Scotch Whisky, 70 cl www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07CNQMHN5/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_PbpdCbNK75ZQ0