Reviews

"Dingle. Hand-made character. Unique Whiskey." - This is the slogan under which the still small distillery has been producing its whiskey by hand since 2012. Distillery young, whiskey young. Can that work?Dingle Single Malt Irish Whiskey from 2021 is mainly a 6-7 years spirit matured in first-fill bourbon casks and PX sherry casks and first bottling. Dingle is one of the few Irish distilleries that exclusively produce their own spirit.

Statistically, Octomore is all about the degree of peatiness. Despite its young age, however, we have an incredibly complex whisky in the glass.Why 10.3? There is a simple system behind the numbering. The 10 stands for the series, the 3 for a specific characteristic. In this case, it is the maturation in exclusively ex-American oak barrels. In the 10.3 we have a peat content of 114PPM (phenol parts per million).

The Glenfiddich 12 year is perhaps the best known classic and Scotch for beginners. However, there are also alternatives in this price range.A golden stag proudly presents its antlers on the bottle. In dark green and gold, the bottle and outer packaging look very noble. A successful and harmonious design.

Blended from over 40 different Scotch whiskies and grains, Johnnie Walker is the most widely used whisky for cocktails in bars. We take a look at whether it also delivers what it promises when neat.First bottled in 1909, the Black Label has been with us for over 100 years and has become the world's most famous Scotch blend. Over the years, the whisky, against which everyone had to measure themselves at the time, has won countless awards.

Indian Whisky - Amrut probably comes to mind most. But the distillery John Paul should also be on your mind. Although they have only been distilling there since 1992, which is rather young compared to most Scottish distilleries, the Whiskys are still worth a look.The Select Cask Whisky series is composed of selected casks, in this case Oloroso Sherry casks. The bronze colour (tinted) in the glass is also intended to reflect this maturation.

Since the beginning of 2021, Nikka Whisky From The Barrel can no longer officially call itself Japanese whisky. No reason not to taste the blend, we think.At the beginning of 2021, the Japanese Spirits and Liqueurs Association announced the standards for the labelling of Japanese whisky.This clearly defined what is and what is not Japanese Whisky. It is an open secret that many Nikka Whiskys contain a little Ben Nevis from Scotland - including Nikka Whisky From The Barrel. Nikka promises to continue producing wonderful whiskies and is making every effort to comply with the new standards, and at that time also updated its website accordingly at short notice. We think more transparency makes sense - and even knowing that we don't have real Japanese whisky in our glass, we can still enjoy it.

Whisky production as an experiment - that's something you have to dare to do. The KASC Project uses handmade hybrid casks. Let's take a look at what that means.Think of a hybrid cask as a newly assembled cask made from the staves of various other casks. Five casks of different origins are used: Portuguese oak, American oak, French oak, Hungarian oak and chestnut. This allows for unique flavours to emerge. At Kinahans, they write about it: So - if you are not ready to leave your comfort zone, the hybrid barrel whiskey releases are simply not for you.

Specialising in red wine barrels, Starward takes advantage of the Australian climate and experiments with various bottlings in Melbourne, Australia's second largest city.Australia is really not known as a whisky country. "Four seasons in a day" say the inhabitants about their own climate. In the morning, you never know whether you need a sunshade or an umbrella. But this means that the whisky works much faster with the cask than it would if the temperatures were constant. At Starward, they think in terms of projects. There is not "the one" standard bottling, as is the case with other distilleries. Basically, they bottle with a lower alcohol content than usual, which should lead to a sweeter character. In addition, the climate is drier. This in turn means that the alcohol content of the whisky increases instead of decreasing.

The 15 Years Viking Heart is supposed to fill the gap of the standard bottlings between the 12 Years and the 18 Years Highland Park and thus expand the range of the distillery from the Orkney Islands. Unfortunately, we are not entirely convinced.The topic of Vikings as a marketing tool is certainly debatable, especially since the Vikings certainly did not produce whisky in their 500 years on Orkney. Nevertheless, the legends and symbols of the Nordic people always lend themselves to an exciting all-round marketing package.The ceramic bottle is of course an eye-catcher on the shelf and feels very good. The well-known lion and snake pattern as well as a heart are embossed on the bottle. The reason for the choice of the bottle is commitment to the environment, as well as the storage of Whiksy in stone vessels, as was the rule 200 years ago - back to the roots combined with the idea of sustainability, which shapes our future. We like that.

The Hercynian single malt whisky comes from the Hammerschmiede in the German Harz Mountains. The Journey stands for the journey of the whisky through a number of cask types.Home is where the Harz is writes the distillery on the back of the outer packaging. If you do a little research on the website, you quickly get the feeling that a lot of love goes into the work there. For example, the distillery does not want to join the Association of German Whisky Distillers because they consider themselves mavericks and the whisky comes first. Somehow likeable. Hammerschmiede has been producing single malt whisky since 2002, making it one of the oldest whisky distilleries in mainland Europe. In the meantime, the range includes a not negligible selection of good to very good Whiskys. Elsburn The Journey is often named as a deputy classic and entry into the Harz whisky world.

The so-called Pure Malt Whisky (euphemism for blend) Apogee XII from the house of Bimber is described as a milestone of the London-based craft distillery founded in 2015. According to their own statements, they are reacting to the increasing demand and are extraordinarily convinced of their product.Bimber's 12-years blend consists of single malts from Speyside and the Highlands and is finished in Bimber's own ex-bourbon casks. If you believe Bimber, it took two years to give this whisky its character through the fine art of blending: "Over two years in development, Apogee stands at the apex of our blending prowess and offers a showcase of our ceaseless dedication to meticulous maturation." We are curious! The Pure Malt comes in an exciting bottle. Made from a haptic, hammered glass, it is meant to mimic the surfaces of Bimber's small copper stills.