A basic but accurate primer, on the different types of whiskies that exist.

Click the link for the Article: Whiskey Basics Explained

World Whisky: Australian Malt Whisky

James Stuart Geary shared an entertaining and informative video on The Tasmanian whisky industry on the M.R.I. Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MaltResearchInstitute

You can check out this video by clicking the link: Single Malt, The Tasmanian Whisky Industry (Reporter: Pip Courtney)

While I've had no personal experience with whiskies from Australia, I am looking forward to exploring this growing source of Single Malts soon!

Someone with far more expertise in whiskies from "The Land Down Under" is my friend and fellow blogger "SquidgyAsh, The Whisky Fiend"!

A fellow "Yank living in Aussie land", he has written extensively on the Whisky Industry of his adopted home country. He has also reviewed whiskies from all over the world, and just returned from Scotland, where he got to explore some of the most iconic places a Scotch Whisky lover could dream of visiting. Lucky bastard! 

He's a very prolific reviewer, so there's plenty to read. Please visit his blog: http://squidgyashwhiskyfiend.blogspot.com.au

Blog FAQs

Blog FAQs. 

This blog will primarily focus on whiskies that use malted barley. That will include, but not be limited to, Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Blended Malt Scotch Whisky, Blended Scotch Whisky, and any Pot Still, Single Malt and Blended Whiskies from Ireland, Single Malts and Blends from Japan, Whiskies from North America (the US and Canada), and from around the world. 

Each review will only be made on whiskies where multiple tastings were taken from an individual bottle. No single dram tasting will be given a full review. 

The focus on these reviews will be on whiskeys the average consumer can find and afford. Therefore, expensive specialty releases will rarely if ever be reviewed because it isn't practical or interesting to this reviewer. 

All reviews will include personal images of the bottle being reviewed, and include information on the distillery or blender, specifics such as strength and chill filtering, nosing and tasting notes, and a score based on the industry standard 100 point scale. 

It will not include notes on the color of the whiskies being reviewed! Why? Because too much emphasis has been placed on color, to the point where some in the industry feel the need to add coloring to their offerings to make them look "older" or more "finished". They claim they do this for simple consistency, but I don't agree, and feel the best thing I can do is concentrate on the important stuff, like the smells and flavors of the whiskies, and ignore the trivial details like color. Maybe then the higher ups will quit worrying about chill filtering and carmel coloring, and other things that do more harm than good to what's inside the bottle!

Please drink responsibly!

Why This Blog?

Why am I writing this blog?

Am I some expert, living in Scotland and working around distilleries for years? Nope. I was born and raised in the US. I'm currently living in a mid-western city, less than 25 miles from the hospital where I was born. 

There's a world famous Victorian era beer brewery, and a grain alcohol producer better known for it's proof than it's flavor profile, both less than a 40 minute drive east into downtown from where I live. So I'm a beer and mixed cocktail fan right? No, not really! I never developed a taste for beer, and cocktails usually bore me. I'll admit, a cold margarita on a hot summer's day, or with good mexican food is a big exception! 

Our country's first official "Wine Viticultural Area", is a 30 minute drive south from here, and there are a half a dozen wineries with tasting rooms and spectacular views of vineyards and the river valley to enjoy! So I'm a wine drinker? Yes, I'll admit to that. I drink wine often enough, and I can even say I appreciate the different types of wine and their vast range of flavors, but I'm not passionate about it.

Did I get my interest in Scotch and other whiskies from my family? No. My grandparents were teetotalers, who believed drinking any alcohol was a sin. My dad's favorite uncle was a U.S. Treasury Agent, who was part of the group of feds that took down Capone in Chicago during prohibition. Dad? He was a cocktail drinker. His drink of choice? A dry vodka martini, garnished with two olives. Mom, now in her eighties, a light cocktail and wine drinker. 

Where did my interest in Scotch start? Lets start with my name. My given names are Scott MacKenzie. It would seem my family wanted me to be aware of my family's heritage, and to the fact that much of the roots of our family tree originate in Scotland. Given that heritage, I found myself studying Scotland, it's industries, and it's people. One thing that I noticed beyond the kilts, clans and the castles, was the pride the Scot's took in their whisky industry. The sheer number of distilleries, and the uniqueness of each distillery's product. How it not only varied from region to region, or from distillery to distillery, but from cask to cask! How blending gave even more choices, and yet offered consistency too! How each distillery could have several different and unique products that had their own style and flavor. 

After years of trying beers, cocktails and wines, and not finding anything to get passionate about, I decided to plunk down the money, and try out this whisky the Scot's seemed so proud of! Being new to all of this, I knew just enough to avoid the basic mixer blends, and to get something with age to it. I went to my local grocer and selected the best choice their limited inventory offered, and bought a bottle of Chivas Regal 12 year old blended Scotch! Not a bad place to start. It's was a perfectly approachable blended whisky for someone new to Scotch. Not terribly complex, but it did have interesting flavors, and I kinda liked the burn as it went down. The next time I went to buy a bottle, a went to a specialty store, with a much wider selection, and a knowledgeable staff. I was given a basic understanding of proper tasting. How to nose the whisky, how a little water could open up the flavors, while ice just dulled the smell and tastes. It was suggested that I try a single malt next, and though I can't really remember which was purchased first, I do know my first single malts were a Glenlivet 12 and a Glenfiddich 12. Both good starter malts, and both with their own unique flavor profile that I found fascinating! This was a spirit worthy of further exploration! This Scotch whisky was worthy of interest, possibly even research. I hadn't even heard of different cask finishes or the wonders of peat yet! The exploration was just beginning........

Please drink responsibly!