2022 in words, pictures and whisky
So this is the time of year when we all look back and reflect on all the highs and lows of the year gone by, together with making our plans and resolutions for the year ahead.
It would be safe to say 2022 hasn’t been an easy year, with the ongoing pandemic, Ukraine, the environment and the financial crisis dominating the headlines. From a whisky perspective, we’ve seen the trend for flipping continue, making it difficult for the rest of us to get the most interesting releases at a decent price, if at all. Whisky retail prices have also seen huge increases, particularly in some areas…Diageo, yes I am looking at you. Rather than have me going on (and on) about it, I suggest you read this brilliantly written article by Neill Murphy, who has captured the thoughts of many of us far more eloquently than I could ever manage.
My own whisky year has been eventful, with incredible tasting sessions, distillery visits, whisky festivals and some exceptional whiskies among the major highlights.
So let’s start with those tasting sessions…
The Blind Tasting Consortium continued to be one of the high points in the calendar, with different members taking it in turns to bring 5 whiskies to the group to taste completely blind. Sometimes good, sometimes amazing and sometimes absolutely dreadful..but always an education and great fun.
I was also fortunate to be invited onto several @TweetTastings organised by Steve Rush @TheWhiskyWire and involving some great distilleries. Although always enjoyable, the major highlights for me would have to be;
Glasgow Distillery, which was my first introduction to their very special 1770 Peated Sauternes finish. I was so impressed with the sample I managed to get hold of a bottle shortly afterwards.
The Whisky Cellar provided us with a range of great whiskies, including the sublime Bruichladdich 10yo Jurançon Vin Doux.
AD Rattray, always a favourite here so it was a real pleasure to get to try more from their range, including the excellent 25yo Glenburn blended malt.
And of course, the very special Bowmore tasting in December which treated us to the 33 year old Changeling, a rare opportunity to get to try something normally out of reach for most of us.
I also participated in many of the online tasting sessions with The Spirits Embassy throughout the year. With some stellar offerings from AnCnoc, Distell and Duncan Taylor Octave bottlings it would be hard to choose the favourite moments if they hadn’t brought out the big guns with the final tasting of the year, a line up containing the latest releases from Springbank including the 10yo PX cask finish.
However, the award for favourite online tasting session of the year has to go to @pswhisky for the incredible lineup he put together to celebrate his 40th birthday. Although we had to postpone a couple of times, I can safely say it was worth the wait!
Impossible to pick a favourite, although the Ardmore 30 and Benriach 22 Moscatel are serious candidates.
We also attended a couple of Whisky Festivals this year, and I have to admit we went a bit overboard in Stoke although I blame Mackmyra for being more than a little generous! However, it did give us the opportunity to try a lot of whiskies we hadn’t sampled before, together with one or two very special drams and meet a few well-known faces.
Kendal Whisky Festival proved to be a very different type of event, providing an opportunity to finally meet with people I’ve got to know through the Blind Tasting Consortium and Twitter over the last few years. By this point, the blog had only been up and running for just over a year so it was really surprising to see how well known it had become among the exhibitors. Needless to say, there were more than a few excellent drams available to try too!
And so we move on to the major highlight of the year, a week exploring the West Coast of Scotland followed by a return to Islay after a few years away.
The West Coast part of the trip was originally supposed to be all about scenery and wildlife but gradually evolved to allow visits to Glengoyne, Nc’nean, Ardnamurchan and Ben Nevis distilleries. (New Year’s Resolution: finish writing up the trips!). We were based in a great cottage in Port Appin, although the neighbours were a little unusual.
Nc’nean was probably the highlight of the distillery tours, providing an insight into how they are findings ways to produce whisky more sustainably.
After a week of whisky, sightseeing, wildlife spotting and trips to the Corryvreckan and the Isles of Lismore and Gigha it was time to move on to the main event and, after an overnight stop in Tarbert, we hit the road for the early morning Kennacraig ferry. Thankfully by the time we arrived in Port Ellen the mist had lifted and we were treated to plenty of sunshine. We even managed to get our first view of our (very remote) home on The Oa for the next week.
We intended to make the most of our time on Islay so we combined standard tours with a couple of full-on tasting sessions. Schedule, in order of appearance was as follows:
Day 1: Bowmore and check in at the cottage. As we were staying on The Oa we took the opportunity for a look at the building work at Port Ellen as we were passing. Our neighbours this time we’re a little more ‘local’.
Day 2: Caol Ila Flavour Journey tour
Day 3: Ferry to Jura - the distillery was closed due to refurbishments but we still visited the shop and tried a few drams before heading to the north of the island to visit the Lussa Gin distillery.
Day 4: Ardbeg & Lagavulin
Day 5: Ardnahoe & Bunnahabhain Warehouse 9 tasting
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| Not a bad way to spend your birthday! |
Day 6: Kilchoman & Bruichladdich.
Strangely, there was no Octomore available in the visitor centre at Bruichladdich so I took the difficult decision to drag everyone over to the Bowmore Hotel to try a few more drams. (New Year’s Resolution 2: Type up the rest of my tasting notes!)
Day 7: Laphroaig Distillers Wares tour and tasting.
So we get down to the hard part, what were my favourite whiskies of the year?
It’s been tough to get it down to a Top 3, in the end I decided to limit myself to those whiskies I’ve tried that really stuck in the memory for offering excellent quality without an extortionate price tag.
In third place is the Gently Smoked Sherry Hogshead from the English Whisky Company. Full of flavour and an incredible mouthfeel, it’s a great example how far they’ve come in such a short time.
In second place comes one from Firkin Whiskies. Last year it was their Ledaig Marsala Cask which broke into my top 3, this time round it’s the turn of their Firkin Islay: Caol Ila 2010 Marsala
And finally (…drumroll…), my whisky of the year is….(dramatic pause)…
The Whisky Cellar Bruichladdich 10yo Jurançon Vin Doux, just a fantastic example of what an Independent bottler can do.
So there you have it, my 2022. All that remains is to wish you a happy, successful and dram-filled 2023.
