Armagnac has been overlooked by me for quite some time and the reason is as simple as it is stupid: I thought Cognac was very boring so why bother with Armagnac even!? What a folly! Armagnac can be really good and offer great value for money and as this tasting shows, even Cognac has its…
2x Alambic Classique Special Scottish Gin 1997 19YO
I don’t care much about Gin. To me, it is not much more than the most recent hype with another overpriced brand that no-one really needs sprouting out of nowhere basically every day. Especially the prices of some of these unaged, mass-produced, flavoured vodkas are so incredibly ridiculous when compared to other spirits that I…
Wine cask Bruichladdich & Port Charlotte
Today’s Whiskies share many things. They are all single cask bottlings at cask strength, come from Islay’s Bruichladdich Distillery, have been distilled in 2007 and aged entirely in former wine casks. One is unpeated (Bruichladdich), two are peated (Port Charlotte). Let’s start with the former. Scotch Universe Europa A 2007 10YO “Château Caladroy” (Bruichladdich, 67,8%):…
Rum Cask finished Whiskies
I decided to dedicate the entire month of August to other spirits than rum. Naturally, this means mostly whiskies but other lovely spirits will find their way onto this blog as well. Generally, I think doing this is useful for several reasons: I also enjoy other spirits occasionally and believe that doing something else than rum…
Velier Diamond 1981 31YO
Last time we’ve had the thirty year old Rum Nation Jamaica (even though the average age is probably a bit older than that) and today we add a year to make it 31. However, these are 31 tropical years and I wonder how much rum, relative to the adulteration from the wood, has survived. The Bottling I…
Fires at Long Pond & Rum Nation Jamaica 30YO
Actually I wanted to talk about another rum today but the recent catastrophe at Jamaica‘s Long Pond distillery made me change my mind. Three days ago, on Monday 16.7.2018, fires on a sugar cane field nearby the Long Pond sugar factory spread to a pile of bagasse, a residual product of sugar cane crushing, and…
Rumexpert Blind-Tasting #12
About a year after the 11th edition of Thomas G. Rumexpert Blind Tasting I happy to present my notes from the most recent one. As a refresher, we had to guess the country of origin, distillery, abv, age, exact bottling and got bonus points for finding out about a finish or independent bottler. If you’d…
Port Mourant 2005
Is there anything that still needs to be said about the Double Wooden Port Mourant pot still? I don’t think so. If you want to learn more nevertheless, let me refer you to the Guyana country article and especially the information under Port Mourant and in the reviews you can find beneath it. For quite…
Blends, love ’em or hate ’em
Let me be honest with you. The name of this blog suggests it already but we aren’t very fond of blends at Single Cask Rum. We like distinct, characteristic and unique rums. Nevertheless, I’ve found a few blended, multi-country or at least multi-distillery rums in my sample box. Maybe we can find a hidden gem among…
Wray & Nephew 12YO (~1960s)
It’s time for another interesting, old bottling from Jamaica. Today we have the Wray & Nephew 12YO, most likely dating back to the 1960s. The Bottling Now everyone wants to know about the Wray & Nephew 17YO for obvious reasons but that one is pretty much as hard to get as it gets, if it…
Cachaça
Today I am reviewing a book on rhum agricoles brother, or cousin as some may say, cachaça. It is a spirit that is slowly but steadily gaining fans among rum aficionados. Unfortunately, there are not many books written on the subject in English. In fact, the only book I am aware of is “Cachaça” by Milton…
Caroni-cask aged Clairins
Last time I’ve said that I will be reviewing a bunch of January 1998 Caronis today but something else and way more interesting has been delivered to my place. It’s not that long ago that I’ve introduced you to Clairin – The Spirit of Haiti. Now, a few, just slightly aged, single cask Clairins have been released…
Single Cask Rum 