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Welcome to Dramnation.com!Single malt scotch whisky is all about emotion, and our single malt whisky reviews are full of it! Some may offer more exhaustive whisky tasting notes. Others might trawl through distillery history. We drink single malt whisky and then write about it with feeling. |
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An Alternative View of Single Malt Whisky
Archive for October, 2011
An Alternative View of Single Malt Whisky
Tuesday, October 25th, 2011Cragganmore Single Malt Whisky Review by Warren Tennant
Tuesday, October 11th, 2011
 Review by Warren Tennant (War) |
Cragganmore 12 year old distillery bottlingWhen Lou Reed wrote ‘Perfect Day’ he probably felt a little like I do now. Not only have I just discovered a new bottle of Cragganmore, in need of a review, but my next door neighbour has just arrived home from work. Although not normally a cause for celebration, this evenings aproach produced, in me, an overwhelming rush of joy. His enormous, black 4X4 with dark tinted windows, huge wheels and ‘DESTROYER’ or ‘AVENGER” proudly emblazoned on every panel, rounded the corner at the end of our street with a new and unwanted logo. Messily spray painted on the side was the legend ‘I’M SCARED OF PRETZELS’ – a reference to the unfortunate affliction that makes Mr Brown such an entertaining party guest. Still giggling like a six year old I pour a glass of the definitive Speyside malt. Cragganmore is beautiful. Everything that makes a single malt wonderful is here; an incredibly complex aroma, a smooth firm body and a restrained suggestion of meadow herbs and grasses. As I finish the second glass I am suddenly struck by a powerful thought. Rushing up to Matthew’s bedroom I violate the chaos in an attempt to find painted evidence of his misdemeanor, but to no avail. It seems I must wait a little longer for my teenage son to make his father truly proud.. |
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Buy Cragganmore Whisky Online (UK) |
Buy Cragganmore Whisky Online (US) |
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Bowmore Single Malt Whisky Review by Warren Tennant
Tuesday, October 11th, 2011
Review by Warren Tennant (War) |
Bowmore 12 year old distillery bottlingApparently, the only day I should be asked for help or money is the ‘day the whisky arrives’. This explains the looks of despair on family faces today as I curse ‘another bloody Islay malt’ on unwrapping a bottle of Bowmore. For a moment I thought they were sensitive to my pain. It’s not that I dislike Islay malts, I hate them. Islay enjoying friends tell me these evocative malts transport the drinker to the beautiful, dramatic island of their origin. If I wanted to be battered by wind and sea on an exposed rock, mouth full of peat and seaweed, I’d build lighthouses for a living instead of working in a bank. Bowmore is a little softer than the malts from the southern Islay distilleries with less peat and a little more sweatness. Am I converted? No. Do I drink it anyway? Of course. Do my family part me from my time and money? Regretably so. |
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| Buy Bowmore Whisky Online (UK) |
Buy Bowmore Whisky Online (US) |
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Auchentoshan Single Malt Whisky Review by Warren Tennant
Sunday, October 9th, 2011
Review by Warren Tennant (War) |
Auchentoshan 12 Year OldJenny, the wonderful lady who keeps me on the expensive side of sanity, feels my love of Auchentoshan is a vindication of her belief that “the physical theory of magnetic attraction can be applied to all personal relationships”. ‘Opposites always attract’ she says. I suggest that spending more time in the company of this gentle, easy-going malt will mellow my character. She suggests I spend more time with the kids. No wonder we’re still so attracted to each other! The time I do get to spend with this fine example of a lowland malt always provides a pleasant little hole in life’s Polo of pain. If I have one critisism, it’s the trouble I have stopping before the end of the bottle. This 12 year old Auchentoshan replaces the 10 year old which used to divide opinion. Some saw the 10 year old as a little insipid with a thinness and lack of character partly caused by the triple distillation process. I saw it for £15 in Asda and instantly warmed to it. Triple distillation is often used by Irish distillers to refine and smooth their whisky but is unique to Auchentohan in Scotland where single malts are distilled twice. The result is a wonderfully sweet, gentle and delicate malt. The 12 year old retaining the qualities of the 10 year old but a greater depth of flavour and more complex finish. |
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| Buy Auchentoshan Whisky Online (UK) |
Buy Auchentoshan Whisky Online (US) |
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Ardbeg Single Malt Whisky Review by Warren Tennant
Saturday, October 8th, 2011
Review by Warren Tennant (War) |
Ardbeg 10 year old – Distillery BottlingIf you’re a fan of the Islay malts I’m sure your intrigued by the constant battle to be the biggest, peatiest, nastiest malt. Ardbeg has been extensively and expensively restored but, lacking their old fanless malting facilities, seem to be going for the ‘we’re more subtle than our neighbours’ approach. They’re probably right, but if it’s subtlety you’re after you’re in very much the wrong place. So what’s this gentle dominatrix like? I don’t like Islay malts, which is a strange thing to say for a whisky lover, but I find the predominant flavours unpleasant. The honey and citrus of Speyside malts remind me of summer meadows, but surely the tingle of phenol followed by a mouth-full of peat is the taste of the trip from hospital to grave. Ardbeg softens the journey with a pretty nurse and a spring morning burial, but it’s still only Monday mornings and children’s parties when I find this prospect appealing. |
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| Buy Ardbeg Whisky Online (UK) |
Buy Ardbeg Whisky Online (US) |
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