A Scot on Scotch Whisky Reviews

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A Scot on Scotch Whisky Reviews WHISKY REVIEWS, NEWS, HISTORY & FOLKLORE Reviews of affordable whisky with some entertaining tales along the way... written by Neill Murphy
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A young peated malt from Arran’s Lochranza distillery - bottled by Watt WhiskyFull review in comments.
08/08/2024

A young peated malt from Arran’s Lochranza distillery - bottled by Watt Whisky

Full review in comments.

Kilmory is the first core expression from Lagg Distillery in Arran. It’s named after an area that once saw a dramatic co...
06/08/2024

Kilmory is the first core expression from Lagg Distillery in Arran. It’s named after an area that once saw a dramatic confrontation between the excisemen and the people of Arran. In his song “Paul Campbell”, Robin Laing sings…

The Government’s agents, those parasitic gaugers
Have pestered this island for a year
They’re ruthless and they’re wicked and they killed Isa Nicholl
And left her poor children in tears
They come in the night and they break things for spite
And they think that the people will crumble, out of fear

Read More here:
https://ascotonscotch.com/2023/12/14/lagg-kilmory/

The Islay Whisky Academy is working on a cool project just now - Beyond the Barley is a comic that will chronicle the jo...
05/08/2024

The Islay Whisky Academy is working on a cool project just now - Beyond the Barley is a comic that will chronicle the journey of the first people to settle in Islay and explore the coming of Bere Barley, the alembic and with it, uisge beatha.

The Kickstarter to fund this exciting project is more than 80% towards its target but we need to get to 100%! Every little helps so please check it out, and support if it interests you.

Slàinte Mhath!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/whiskycomic/whisky-comics-beyondthebarley-seachad-an-eorna-the-girls?ref=nav_search&result=project&term=WHISKY+&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3iS8fvD6bvRJ6Re4G25Re7fRUUhWfok4m45LrbnpTj3otRlN9874hMbBs_aem_XUiqqL6mMo9cswfAZ_o-xg

Fib is an independent bottler with a unique approach to single cask Scotch whisky. Rather than bottling one cask at a ti...
05/08/2024

Fib is an independent bottler with a unique approach to single cask Scotch whisky. Rather than bottling one cask at a time, Fib prefers to get creative with the spirit it acquires. Half of the cask is bottled as it comes whilst the other half is given an additional maturation in a second cask. In this review, I’ll be looking at two old single grains from Girvan, including one finished in PX cask that previously held an Islay malt.

https://ascotonscotch.com/2024/08/05/fib-whisky-girvan-review/

Bunnahabhain is the most northerly distillery on the isle of Islay and therefore not what you could easily describe as a...
04/08/2024

Bunnahabhain is the most northerly distillery on the isle of Islay and therefore not what you could easily describe as accessible. Nowadays, the distillery is reached by traversing an 8 mile long stretch of single track road but when it was first established in 1881, there was no such passage. The only way to get there, other than cross-country, was by boat.

This notion places the distillery in rather an isolated position and you could be forgiven for imagining the life of a distillery worker as being akin to that of a lighthouse keeper on some rocky isle in the middle of the churning ocean. In truth, however, there are records that paint rather a different picture.

Read More:
https://ascotonscotch.com/2023/11/30/bunnahabhain-moine/

Friday Face-Off! Just for fun, which would you choose out of the new Small Batch Glasgow 1770 Malts?Cognac finish or Tok...
02/08/2024

Friday Face-Off! Just for fun, which would you choose out of the new Small Batch Glasgow 1770 Malts?

Cognac finish or Tokaji finish?

Throughout my time writing this blog, I’ve tried to keep one eye on the lower end of the price spectrum. Sampling whiski...
01/08/2024

Throughout my time writing this blog, I’ve tried to keep one eye on the lower end of the price spectrum. Sampling whiskies that cost an arm and a leg is wonderful but a luxury in life that not everyone gets to experience. I’m always keen to see what else is out there. To see what bargains can be found. The whiskies of supermarket chains like Aldi and Lidl have often hit the spot before so I thought it was about time I revisited their selections. The only single malt currently in stock at my local branch of Aldi was the Glen Marnoch Highland.

Read more:

https://ascotonscotch.com/2024/07/31/glen-marnoch-highland-review-aldi/

Perhaps more than any other new distillery, the story of Raasay is tightly linked with the story of co-founder Alasdair ...
01/08/2024

Perhaps more than any other new distillery, the story of Raasay is tightly linked with the story of co-founder Alasdair Day. Day was encouraged to venture into the whisky industry when he inherited an old ledger that once belonged to his great-grandfather.

Read More:

https://ascotonscotch.com/2024/07/23/raasay-r-01-review/

It’s nice to stay in touch with the lower end of the price spectrum and this Aldi single malt very much ticks that box.C...
31/07/2024

It’s nice to stay in touch with the lower end of the price spectrum and this Aldi single malt very much ticks that box.

Check out the full review in the comments.

I was reminded of this curiosity whilst writing a review of a Raasay single malt. R&B Distillers originally intended to ...
30/07/2024

I was reminded of this curiosity whilst writing a review of a Raasay single malt. R&B Distillers originally intended to build distilleries in Raasay and the Borders. This sherry-matured single grain Scotch was released as a glimpse of the Borders’ project future style. The project was later shelved and the whisky discontinued but it’s fun to think what might have been.

https://ascotonscotch.com/2017/02/23/borders-single-grain/

Napier is the new sherry cask matured release from The Clydeside Distillery in Glasgow.Full review in the comments.
29/07/2024

Napier is the new sherry cask matured release from The Clydeside Distillery in Glasgow.

Full review in the comments.

Ardnahoe Inaugural Release.Thoughts: The nose is excellent from the start – a wonderful combination of fruit and malt an...
28/07/2024

Ardnahoe Inaugural Release.

Thoughts: The nose is excellent from the start – a wonderful combination of fruit and malt and smoke. I felt it needed some water to wake up on the palate, but wake up it did and what a treat it became. There’s a feeling here of not reinventing the wheel – Islay whisky isn’t broken so don’t try to fix it – but that’s not a criticism or an accusation of playing it safe. It’s actually the greatest compliment I can give. It stands shoulder to shoulder with its neighbours. The Ardnahoe Inaugural Release doesn’t feel like a debut from a new distillery. It feels like a dram that’s been perfected over multiple batches. Obviously I have to hold my hands up, declare my fanboy status and admit to a potential bias in my views, but this feels like an astonishing debut.

Machir Bay, Islay. A beautiful place. The whisky isn’t bad either. 🥃
28/07/2024

Machir Bay, Islay. A beautiful place. The whisky isn’t bad either. 🥃

A 12 year old Blair Athol single malt from Thompson Bros. Full review in comments.
26/07/2024

A 12 year old Blair Athol single malt from Thompson Bros.

Full review in comments.

The Glendronach has rebranded with a new look for the core range:Full story in comments.
25/07/2024

The Glendronach has rebranded with a new look for the core range:

Full story in comments.

Raasay R-01 Single Malt. Full review on A Scot on Scotch.Link in comments.
23/07/2024

Raasay R-01 Single Malt. Full review on A Scot on Scotch.

Link in comments.

The Lost Distillery Company create blended malts, inspired by long dead distilleries. Dalaruan was one of the many Campb...
22/07/2024

The Lost Distillery Company create blended malts, inspired by long dead distilleries. Dalaruan was one of the many Campbeltown distilleries lost in the early part of the 20th century.

Full review in the comments.

“Spey has always been a hard brand to categorise – it doesn’t feel like a typical Speyside malt – and in such a crowded ...
20/07/2024

“Spey has always been a hard brand to categorise – it doesn’t feel like a typical Speyside malt – and in such a crowded market, that unique identity should be seen as a positive thing. Similarly, where Trilogia is concerned, I can’t think of anything else like it and maybe that will add to its appeal.”

Spey Trilogia on A Scot on Scotch. Full review in the comments.

A different Speyside dram! Trilogia is the latest release from Spey. It features peated and unpeated malts married in ta...
19/07/2024

A different Speyside dram! Trilogia is the latest release from Spey. It features peated and unpeated malts married in tawny port casks!

Full review in comments.

Monkey Shoulder Blended Malt (reviewed back in December 2015).Monkey Shoulder is a blended malt from Wm. Grant & Sons – ...
16/07/2024

Monkey Shoulder Blended Malt (reviewed back in December 2015).

Monkey Shoulder is a blended malt from Wm. Grant & Sons – owner of the Glenfiddich and Balvenie single malts.

Whisky, it is fair to say, can make for an expensive hobby. Even more so, if you end up disappointed by the bottle you bring home. There are things we can do to reduce the risks of such an outcome – like seeking out opinions through blogs like this one – but there’s no substitute for experiencing a whisky first hand. Sampling before buying is invaluable and should be pursued at every opportunity whether through local tasting events or dedicated whisky clubs, at a well-stocked bar or through a respectable retailer, who’s happy to pour a nip or two to loyal customers.

Then there are miniatures. Handy and affordable 5cl bottles which provide a dram or two with which to inform one’s purchase. Sadly, the fashion for bottling miniatures has largely died out but a few well-known brands still utilise them and in those cases, they make for a handy sampler for the curious shopper.

A 70cl bottle of Monkey Shoulder will set you back as little as £25, but for the purposes of this review I was able to buy a miniature for the paltry sum of just £3. That’s not a lot to risk on trying a new dram.

Monkey Shoulder is produced by William Grant & Sons. It’s a blend of three single malts: Glenfiddich, Kininvie and Balvenie. The rather bizarre name derives from an injury suffered by distillery workers in the old days… Working the malting floor, turning grain with shovels all day long was back-breaking work and often led to a painful injury which was dubbed “monkey shoulder”. While very few distilleries operate their own malt floor today, the name supposedly serves as an affectionate tribute to the hardy maltmen of old.

Monkey Shoulder is bottled at just 40%, though, in fairness, it is intended and marketed as an easy drinker and uses its own website to highlight the drink’s usefulness as a cocktail ingredient.

Smell: Honey, toffee and fudge. Malty. Some light fruits. Slightly floral. Little bit of chocolate.

Taste: More honeyed malt. Orchard fruits. Salted caramel. Some cocoa, coffee and dark chocolate at the back.

Thoughts: Monkey Shoulder’s flavour profile is a bit light for my personal taste but you certainly can’t argue with the asking price of just £25. It’s affordable, approachable and ultimately inoffensive, which means it won’t scare anyone away. Scotch whisky will always need crowd-pleaser bottles and Monkey Shoulder does that pretty well. As always, I can’t help wondering what it might be like at 46% but I suppose that’s rather irrelevant. As it stands, Monkey Shoulder isn’t something I buy for the home but I have enjoyed the odd dram in a bar here and there.

I’m just back from a holiday in Cape Verde, there wasn’t a lot of whisky around but I did sample plenty of beer and some...
15/07/2024

I’m just back from a holiday in Cape Verde, there wasn’t a lot of whisky around but I did sample plenty of beer and some of the local rum - known as grogue.

I know there have been a lot of spam comments on the page while I was away. Normally I try to delete them as soon as they appear but with being on holiday some were around longer than normal.

This is becoming an increasing problem on Facebook but Meta don’t seem able or willing to do anything about it. Now that I’m back, any such comments should be deleted promptly and the commenter blocked.

In the meantime I just wanted to put out a reminder not to engage with these comments. They’re all fake accounts anyway, created by con artists trying to rob you of your cash. Please just ignore them and I’ll get them removed asap.

Thanks for your continued support. Lots of new reviews coming soon!

Ardbeg and Oysters - heaven for some, hell for others 😂 👼😈Ardbeg
12/07/2024

Ardbeg and Oysters - heaven for some, hell for others 😂 👼😈

Ardbeg

A moody Benriach Distillery at the heart of the famous Speyside region.Benriach
10/07/2024

A moody Benriach Distillery at the heart of the famous Speyside region.

Benriach

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Why are Bowmore still pushing their Fèis release three months later? And have you checked out the @islaywhiskyacademy Beyond the Barley project?

Not done one of these in ages! #ascotonscotch #dogwalkmusings #lifeofawhiskyblogger #glasgow #scotland #dogwalk #scotch #whisky #whiskyreviews #whiskyblog #clydeside #clydesidenapier

Dog walk musings - first in a while! #dogwalkmusings #ascotonscotch #scotch #whisky #turntablespirits #ladyoftheglen #stbridgetskirk #scotland #euros #scoswi #euro2024 #whiskyreviews #whiskyblog

Another wee Scotch Whisky 101 video from TikTok. This time I’m talking about the use of artificial colouring in Scotch! #scotchwhisky101 #scotch #whisky #ascotonscotch #scotland #scottish #whiskygram #scotchwhisky #scottishwhisky #scotchincontext

Some more Scotch Whisky 101 - this time I’m talking about regions! #scotchwhisky101 #ascotonscotch #scotch #whisky #scotchwhisky #scotland #scottish #whiskygram

This morning made up for yesterday’s hungover dog walk in the rain 😭😂 #ascotonscotch #scotchwhisky101 #scotch #whisky #glasgow #scotland #piperwhiskybar #oldpulteney #islaywhiskyclub #woodrowswhisky

@barley_baxter talks sherry casks - @oldpulteneymalt tasting at the @piperwhiskybarglasgow #thepiperwhiskybar #oldpulteney #sherrycasks #whiskytasting #ascotonscotch #scotchwhisky101 #scotch #whisky #scotland #glasgow

Scotch Whisky 101: Examples of the different categories of Scotch. #ascotonscotch #scotch #whisky #scotchwhisky101 #whiskyeducation #scotland

A wee video series for those new to Scotch whisky… #scotch #whisky #scotchwhisky #scotchwhisky101 #ascotonscotch #scotland

Still beautiful in the rain. #scotland #scotlandscenery #scotland_greatshots #scotland_insta #scotland_lover #scotlandexplore #scotlandhighlands #scotlandsbeauty

A wee dog walk before a trip to the Highlands. #glasgow #scotland #highlands #dogwalk

Lots of whisky gatherings to look forward to on this beautiful day! #ascotonscotch #whiskyreviews #scotch #whisky #scotland #whiskyblog #whiskylover #blogger #writer #whiskygram #scotchwhisky #singlemalt #uisgebeatha #slàinte #islaywhiskyacademy #glasgowwhiskygroup #dram

Busy times = fun times. Looking forward to a tasting tonight at @piperwhiskybarglasgow with CVH Spirits bringing a selection of @bunnahabhain @deanston and @tobermorydistillery drams.

Some thoughts on some new whisky releases on this morning’s dog walk… #ardnahoe #mortlach #ascotonscotch #whiskyreviews #scotch #whisky #scotland #whiskyblog #whiskylover #blogger #writer #whiskygram #scotchwhisky #singlemalt #uisgebeatha #slàinte #islaywhiskyacademy #glasgowwhiskygroup #dram

For the record I think there’s a lot of cool things happening at Port Ellen but the pretentious exclusivity isn’t one of them 😕😂 #diageo #portellen #scotch #whisky #distillery #islay #couponday

Nice dog walk this morning after last night’s Bunnahabhain tasting with @islaywhiskyclub #dogwalkmusings #lifeofawhiskyblogger #bunnahabhain #islaywhiskyclub #islay #whisky #scotch #scotland #glasgow

Another beautiful day in Scotland 🙌 #dogwalkmusings #lifeofawhiskyblogger #glasgow #scotch #whisky #bunnahabhain #islay #thestoryofislay #islaywhiskyclub #dogwalk

Next online whisky tasting for the Glasgow Whisky Group is on 10th May. Open to all - can post anywhere in UK. This time we’ll be exploring the history of Islay! If you’d like to get involved, drop me a DM 🙌🏻 Over 18 only 🔞 of course. #whiskytasting #glasgowwhiskygroup #islay #islaywhisky #scotch #scotland #storyofislay

Home after time in Islay and Lochgoilhead. Lots of whisky content coming up but for now, hunkering down for Storm Kathleen 💨 #scotland #scotch #whisky #islay #glasgow #lochgoilhead #dogwalkmusings #lifeofawhiskyblogger #stormkathleen

A morning that reminds you it’s a privilege to be alive. #dogwalkmusings #lifeofawhiskyblogger #scotland #travelscotland #lochgoilhead #drimsynie #dogwalk #beautifulmorning

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WhiskyReviews.net is a website dedicated to reviewing affordable whisky in an entertaining and informative way.