Coldorak's whisky blog.
We continue our series of Ardbeg Fèis Ìle releases with three more Ardbeg: Drum, Blaaack and Scotch. Between Blaaack and Scorch, Ardbeg released Arrrrrrrdbeg!, but we’ll review it another time, since for now we’re focusing on those Fèis Ìle releases, from 2019 to 2021 today.
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Today marks More Drams’ first dedicated Miltonduff session—an introduction to the distillery paired with four compelling independent Miltonduff whiskies. On the tasting table: a Malts of Scotland from 2011, a 13-year-old cask bottled for Van Wees’ 100th anniversary by Gordon & Macphail, a 2009 Whisky Mercenary release, and a 22-year-old Chieftain’s Choice from 1989. This Speyside workhorse deserves far more attention than it typically receives.
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On the tasting table today are two Glen Grants in their twenties: a Glen Grant 2003 from Royal Mile Whiskies and a 1998 from The Whisky Agency. It has been far too long since we last delved into Glen Grant at More Drams, which is a shame; this distillery can produce truly stunning whisky—as long as you look beyond the standard core range.
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It’s been a long time we had a Linkwood on More Drams, so let’s taste three of them, with a Linkwood 1979 from Vintage Malt and two 30-year-old from Signatory Vintage and the SMWS. And since, apart from a short intro a long time ago, we didn’t properly talk about Linkwood distillery’s history, let’s have an in-depth look at the distillery’s history.
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A single whisky this time, for once, at More Drams: a Pittyvaich 1979 bottled by Duncan Taylor in 2007. I wanted a final celebratory dram for my birthday – one that felt both personal and symbolic. Choosing a whisky from a closed distillery I’d never tasted before, and from my own birth year, seemed like the perfect way to mark the occasion.
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We move on to four more Caol Ila, ranging from 10 to 40 years old – partly because there’s no good reason not to, and partly because Caol Ila is hard to resist. After last week’s birthday, marked with two 47‑year‑old single grains that I reviewed on Monday, it feels only natural to keep the celebration going with a line‑up of both youthful and venerable Caol Ila.
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On the table today: a Girvan 1964 from Scott’s Selection and an Invergordon 1975 bottled in 2022 by Alambic Classique. I indulge in two 47‑year‑old single grains to mark a personal milestone. After another year quietly added itself to the tally – reaching a number that still feels implausibly large – what better way to acknowledge the passage of time than with a pair of whiskies that share the same depth and maturity (I’ll concede, in my case, nothing’s won yet)?
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We introduce two new distilleries at the same time, as we taste a Dornoch 5-year-old from the Mystery Malt Batch 3 and a Clydeside 2023 Limited Edition. And, as we add these distilleries to the blog, it’s also our first time trying whisky from these distilleries. As its ABV is the lowest of the two, we’ll start with the Dornoch, then the Clydeside, but first, let’s talk about these distilleries, in that same order.
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After last week’s deep dive into Ardbeg’s Ardbog, Auriverdes and Perpetuum, the journey down Islay’s Feis Ile memory lane continues. The next three stops – Dark Cove, Kelpie and Grooves – each capture a distinct moment in Ardbeg’s modern festival history, revealing how the distillery has played with sherry darkness, Black Sea oak experiments and heavily charred wine casks to push boundaries while keeping its signature smoke at the core.
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We explore how alcohol strength shapes whisky’s sensory profile through three Domaine des Hautes Glaces Epistémè R15D24 rye whiskies. Cereal type, fermentation, distillation, and wood maturation all shape the final dram you drink. But what about ABV? Water drops often transform whisky – sometimes improving it, sometimes not. Domaine des Hautes Glaces, already committed to true terroir expression (unlike Waterford’s cask-heavy chaos), bottled identical spirits from one cask at three strengths to test this. First, we unpack their Epistémè range. Then we taste the three R15D24 ryes to discover ABV’s impact.
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