Ardbeg 10 vs Laphroaig 10: The Purifier That Splits Islay
— Ardbeg 10 runs a purifier at 55 ppm phenols. Laphroaig 10 has neither, at 40. Here's why the bigger smoke drinks the lighter dram.
Tasting — curated bottles with reasoning
Bottle curation that always carries the person story and the technical reason behind the dram.
Ben Nevis 10 Review: Nikka's Heavy-Bodied Highland Malt at 46%
— Ben Nevis 10 tasted against Highland Park 12 and Glenlivet 12: a 46% non-chill-filtered Highland malt from stills Nikka has left unchanged since 1989.
Bushmills Black Bush Review: Triple-Distilled Malt Meets Oloroso
— Bushmills Black Bush tasted next to Redbreast 12: triple-distilled malt at about 80% of the blend, Oloroso and bourbon casks, 40% ABV, around £25-32 in the UK.
Billy Walker's GlenDronach 15 Revival: Why the Sherry Bomb Vanished (2015-2018)
— Billy Walker's GlenDronach 15 Revival vanished 2015-2018 when demand outran mature sherry stock; post-2002 spirit brought it back at 46% full-term PX and oloroso.
Amrut Fusion Review: Bangalore Heat and Two Barleys at 50% ABV
— Amrut Fusion marries 25% peated Scottish barley with 75% Indian six-row barley, matured four years in Bangalore where the angel's share runs 11-12% a year.
Glenmorangie Original Review: Tall Stills, Peach and Citrus
— Glenmorangie Original tastes of peach and citrus because its 5.14-metre stills, the tallest in Scotland, strip heavy oils; first-fill bourbon adds vanilla.
Ardbeg 10 Review: The Purifier That Makes Clean Citrus Smoke, and What Mickey Heads Kept Running for 13 Years
— Ardbeg malts to the highest phenol level on Islay, yet drinks lighter and more citric than neighbours peated to two-thirds the strength. The reason is a small pipe on the spirit still — and the manager who spent thirteen years not touching it.
The Other Distillery: How Masataka Taketsuru Built Miyagikyo as the Opposite of Yoichi
— Miyagikyo Single Malt beside Yoichi: one man, two distilleries, two opposite engineering decisions. Steam instead of fire, soft water, the tallest pot stills in Japan, and why the spirit comes out pear instead of driftwood.
The Outsider's Island: Arran 10, Harold Currie's Retirement Distillery, and the Islay Hand of James MacTaggart
— Arran 10: the Chivas chief who built a distillery from a bare field at retirement, and the Islay veteran James MacTaggart he hired — an island malt standing on barley and sea, not peat.
Benromach 10: How Gordon & MacPhail Reverse-Engineered the Speyside the 1960s Threw Away
— Benromach 10: a lightly peated Speyside that Gordon & MacPhail reverse-engineered to rebuild a flavour spec the 1960s threw away, with the Urquhart family and a manager who started as sweeper.
Glen Scotia 15 Review: Iain McAlister's Campbeltown Malt
— Glen Scotia 15 review: 46% ABV Campbeltown single malt from Iain McAlister, bourbon-led with an oloroso finish, non-chill-filtered.
Aberfeldy 12 Review: Heather Honey, Long Fermentation, 40% ABV
— Aberfeldy 12 review: heather honey and baked apple from a 72-88 hour fermentation, tasted against Glenmorangie 10 and Glenfiddich 12, plus the master blender the label never names.
Kilkerran 12, Hedley Wright, and the Glengyle Distillery That Waited 79 Years to Bottle Its Own Single Malt
— Kilkerran 12 against Springbank 10: the Mitchell-family chairman who bought back a distillery silent since 1925, then waited twelve more years to bottle its own twelve-year single malt.
Caol Ila 12 Review: Billy Stitchell's Family Production at Islay's Largest Distillery (vs Lagavulin 16 and Bowmore 12)
— Caol Ila 12 against Lagavulin 16 and Bowmore 12: four generations of the Stitchell family ran Islay's biggest distillery, and what 35 ppm phenol does through a tall, clean spirit still.
The Speyside That Stayed Heavy: Cragganmore 12, John Smith's 1869 Choke, and Why the Worm Tubs Are Still There
— Cragganmore 12 and its worm tubs: a 22-stone distiller who ran six distilleries before building his own in 1869, and a cooling-and-lyne-arm decision four corporate owners declined to undo.
Talisker 10 Review: Worm Tubs, Five Stills and the 1960 Fire
— Talisker 10 at 45.8% beside Oban 14 and Clynelish 14: five stills in a 2:3 ratio left from triple distillation, and worm tubs that survived the 1960 fire.
Highland Park 12: Hobbister Moor Peat, Gordon Motion's 80/20
— Highland Park 12 uses Hobbister Moor heather peat, not Islay. Gordon Motion's 80/20 malt blend gives heather smoke and honey, not iodine.