From Barrel To Bottle

A rich yet subtle island expression that we can’t get enough of. Ledaig 10 balances sweet maritime notes with a touch of peat smoke. Lots of great layers in each sip of this 10 year old single malt from Tobermory Distillery - a solid value for the price!

Have you explored the Green Label from Johnnie Walker’s core range? It’s certainly our favorite. Crafted from whiskies aged between 15-18 years, the Green Label brings rich woody flavours with each sip, and a smoky peat finish!

A bottle that helped us fall in love with whisky many years ago. We poured a Caribbean Cask for a friend this past weekend and loved it when his eyes lit up after his first taste! This one will forever be a special bottle for us.

Some moments will stay with you forever! ✨

We’ve been loving all things @ardnamurchandistillery these days and when we heard the Rum Cask release was set to hit the shelves we knew we needed to add one to our collection! 55%, made with a combination of both peated and unpeated malt, lush tropical fruit notes from the rum cask help to round this one out, tasty stuff, now onto the weekend!

Sunset hasn’t ever tasted better! 🥃🏔️

The Glenfiddich Grand Cru has been matured for 23 years aged in American oak and finished in French cuvée wine casks. We’d love to try this one at a slightly higher abv but as is, it’s delicious and well worth trying if you ever have the chance!

Bottled a barrel at a time and at barrel strength the Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel packs a punch for those looking for a little extra oomf from their Tennessee whiskey! Made from Jack Daniel’s typical mash bill of 80% Corn, 12% Rye, and 8% Malted Barley, expect notes of toasted brown sugar, and dark spices.

Any one of these bottles are jaw dropping, but to have all of them (and many more) together at the @rundle_bar at @fairmontbanff is an incredible experience! It makes picking one dram almost impossible, but if you had to pick which one are you enjoying?

Happy Cinqo de Mayo! Today you’ll find us reaching for some @patron to celebrate, in a classic margarita, or sipping some Añejo, neat. If you’ve been following our stories you know we were lucky enough to visit La Hacienda Patron at the end of April, and we left with a whole new appreciation for this particular spirit. To see where it’s all made, and experience the hospitality at La Casona (the guest house at the distillery) was truly special. We didn’t know too much about tequila before, but we left as raving fans. What stood out to us, is how important terroir is to Patron - everything is made on site, with Blue Weber Agave from local farmers, in the traditional small-batch process. There’s no additives at all and each bottle of Patron passes through at least 60 hands before it leaves the Hacienda. We also gained some appreciation for aged tequila - where, much like whisky, the influence of the barrel plays a vital role. Can’t wait to dive a bit deeper into the tequila world and learn more! #tequila #patron #haciendapatron #jalisco #mexico #cinqodemayo

Poured a @bunnahabhain 18 last night and it was absolutely fantastic! It’s been a while since we’ve tasted the 18 but right away it brought us right back to sipping this on Islay. It’s creamy, loads of sherry oak influence, packed with dried fruits and citrus notes. Absolutely recommend grabbing a taste of this one if you ever get the chance, it’s delicious!

The story of Cutty Sark took shape and came to be just over 100 years ago in 1923! Considered as a lighter style by wine merchants Berry Bros & Rudd with artist James McBey, its label pays tribute to the legendary tea clipper ship Cutty Sark. A cool fact is that the bright yellow color of the label came from an printing error, and they’ve stuck to it ever since!   Last summer we helped execute a campaign for the team over at Cutty Sark, we packed our bags, canoe, and headed West into the Rockies for a day of adventure and memories to make!

Caol Ila is a bit of an outlier in the whisky world. Most brands have robust core ranges of different ages and cask finishes but @caolila.distillery currently really only have a very small core range, pretty much just the 12 year. There are 15s and 18s and 25s and Distillers Editions and Stitchell Reserves but lately the 12 seems to be the only bottle to hit the shelves. And they really don’t need more than the 12. It’s a quintessential Islay dram with balanced sweet peat and briney tones that doesn’t need anything else. It’s perfect just the way it is.

Sure it’s great to chase unicorn bottles, limited edition special releases, and highly coveted whiskies. As enthusiasts we’re always looking to taste things that excite us, push our palate, expose us to new flavors. But truthfully so much of our whisky journey has centered around bottles just like these. They are widely available, affordable priced, and honestly fantastic options for those just getting into whisky, or even for those of us who’ve been around for a while. Not so limited you’re afraid to drink them, not trying too hard to be something they are not. They’re fantastic sippers, bottles easily used in a cocktail and tasty enough to sip neat. Pulling them out to share with a friend is never going to disappoint. We’ll always have a space on our shelves and in our hearts for the Glenfiddich core range, they helped us fall in love with whisky after all. ✌️🥃

It’s still a dream of ours to get to Orkney one day, to witness and capture the rugged beauty of the island. Until then, we’ll do our best with what we have here, a fresh bottle of Valknut and a bit of spring rain ☔️🥃